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  • XNA Seeing through heightmap problem

    - by Jesse Emond
    I've recently started learning how to program in 3D with XNA and I've been trying to implement a Terrain3D class(a very simple height map). I've managed to draw a simple terrain, but I'm getting a weird bug where I can see through the terrain. This bug happens when I'm looking through a hill from the map. Here is a picture of what happens: I was wondering if this is a common mistake for starters and if any of you ever experienced the same problem and could tell me what I'm doing wrong. If it's not such an obvious problem, here is my Draw method: public override void Draw() { Parent.Engine.SpriteBatch.Begin(SpriteBlendMode.None, SpriteSortMode.Immediate, SaveStateMode.SaveState); Camera3D cam = (Camera3D)Parent.Engine.Services.GetService(typeof(Camera3D)); if (cam == null) throw new Exception("Camera3D couldn't be found. Drawing a 3D terrain requires a 3D camera."); float triangleCount = indices.Length / 3f; basicEffect.Begin(); basicEffect.World = worldMatrix; basicEffect.View = cam.ViewMatrix; basicEffect.Projection = cam.ProjectionMatrix; basicEffect.VertexColorEnabled = true; Parent.Engine.GraphicsDevice.VertexDeclaration = new VertexDeclaration( Parent.Engine.GraphicsDevice, VertexPositionColor.VertexElements); foreach (EffectPass pass in basicEffect.CurrentTechnique.Passes) { pass.Begin(); Parent.Engine.GraphicsDevice.Vertices[0].SetSource(vertexBuffer, 0, VertexPositionColor.SizeInBytes); Parent.Engine.GraphicsDevice.Indices = indexBuffer; Parent.Engine.GraphicsDevice.DrawIndexedPrimitives(PrimitiveType.TriangleList, 0, 0, vertices.Length, 0, (int)triangleCount); pass.End(); } basicEffect.End(); Parent.Engine.SpriteBatch.End(); } Parent is just a property holding the screen that the component belongs to. Engine is a property of that parent screen holding the engine that it belongs to. If I should post more code(like the initialization code), then just leave a comment and I will.

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  • Learning C, C++ and C#

    - by Zac
    I'm sure you guys are tired of this question but after wading through hours of similar posts and questions I've really not made any progress to my specific concerns. I was hoping you guys could shed some light on a couple of questions I have before I decide on a course of action. BACKGROUND: I'm wanting to enroll in some type of program to learn a programming language/get a certificate/degree to work in the field. I've always been interested and bought a book on VB back in high school and dabbled. Now I want to get serious after a huge hiatus. Question 1: I've read it's counter-productive to learn C first, then C++ or C# because you develop bad habits. In a lot of college courses I've looked at, learning C/C++ is mandatory to advance. Should I ever bother learning C? On a related note, I really don't understand the difference between C and C++, or C# for the matter other than it incorporates .NET (which, I understand, is a compilation of tools and libraries that make programming easier and faster). Question 2: Where did you guys learn to program? Where do you recommend? Is it possible to land a job programming being self-taught? Is my best chance an ITT tech or a regular college? I was going to enroll in a JC and go from there but I can't decide what to do. LAST question :) I heard C++ is being "ported" to .NET. True? And if so, is this going to make C++ a solid, in-demand language to learn? Thanks for looking. :)

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  • Strategy for managing lots of pictures for a website

    - by Nate
    I'm starting a new website that will (hopefully) have a lot of user generated pictures. I'm trying to figure out the best way to store and serve these pictures. The CMS I'm using (umbraco) has a media library that puts a folder on the server for each image. Inside of there you can have different sizes of that same image. That folder has an ID on it and the database has additional information for that image along with the ID of the folder. This works great for small sites, but what if the pictures get up to 10,000, 100,000 or 1,000,000? It seems like the lookup on the directory would take a long time to find the correct folder. I'm on windows 2008 if that makes a difference. I'm not so worried about load. I can load balance my server pretty easily and replicate the images across the servers. The nature of the site won't have a lot of users on it either, but it could have a lot of pics. Thanks. -Nate EDIT After some thought I think I'm going to create a directory for each user under a root image folder then have user's pictures under that. I would be pretty stoked if I had even 5,000 users, so that shouldn't be too bad of a linear lookup. If it does get slow I will break it down into folders like /media/a/adam/image123.png. If it ever gets really big I will expand the above method to build a bigger tree. That would take a LOT of content though.

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  • Is it just me or is this a baffling tech interview question

    - by Matthew Patrick Cashatt
    Background I was just asked in a tech interview to write an algorithm to traverse an "object" (notice the quotes) where A is equal to B and B is equal to C and A is equal to C. That's it. That is all the information I was given. I asked the interviewer what the goal was but apparently there wasn't one, just "traverse" the "object". I don't know about anyone else, but this seems like a silly question to me. I asked again, "am I searching for a value?". Nope. Just "traverse" it. Why would I ever want to endlessly loop through this "object"?? To melt my processor maybe?? The answer according to the interviewer was that I should have written a recursive function. OK, so why not simply ask me to write a recursive function? And who would write a recursive function that never ends? My question: Is this a valid question to the rest of you and, if so, can you provide a hint as to what I might be missing? Perhaps I am thinking too hard about solving real world problems. I have been successfully coding for a long time but this tech interview process makes me feel like I don't know anything. Final Answer: CLOWN TRAVERSAL!!! (See @Matt's answer below) Thanks! Matt

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  • Mac OS needs Windows Live Writer &ndash; badly!

    - by digitaldias
    I recently bought a new  Macbook Pro (the 13” one) to dive into a new world of programming challenges as well as to get a more powerful netbook than my Packard Bell Dot which I’ve been using since last year. I’ve had immense pleasure using the netbook format and their small size in meetings (taking notes with XMind), surfing “anywhere”, and, of course blogging with windows live writer. So far the Mac is holding up, it’s sleek, responsive, and I’ve even begun looking at coding in Objective C with it, but in one arena, it is severely lacking: Blogging software. There is nothing that even comes close to Live Writer for getting your blog posts out. The few blogger applications that do exist on mac both look and feel medieval in comparison, AND some even cost money! It looks like some mac users actually install a virtual machine on their mac to run Windows XP just so they can use WLW. I’m not that extreme; instead, I’m hoping that the WLW team will write it’s awesome application as a Silverlight 4 app. That way, it would run on Mac and Windows (as a desktop app). I wonder if it will ever happen though…   PS: The image is of me, took it with the built-in camera on the mac and emailed it to the windows PC that I am writing on :)

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  • Is there any evidence that drugs can actually help programmers produce "better" code? [closed]

    - by sytycs
    I just read this quote from Steve Jobs: "Doing LSD was one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." Also a quote from that article: He was hardly alone among computer scientists in his appreciation of hallucinogenics and their capacity to liberate human thought from the prison of the mind. Now I'm wondering if there's any evidence to support the theory that drugs can help make a "better" programmer. Has there ever been a study where programmers have been given drugs to see if they could produce "better" code? Is there a well-known programming concept or piece of code which originated from people who were on drugs? EDIT So I did a little more research and it turns out Dennis R. Wier actually documented how he took LSD to wrap his head around a coding project: "At one point in the project I could not get an overall viewpoint for the operation of the entire system. It really was too much for my brain to keep all the subtle aspects and processing nuances clear so I could get a processing and design overview. After struggling with this problem for a few weeks, I decided to use a little acid to see if it would enable a breakthrough, because otherwise, I would not be able to complete the project and be certain of a consistent overall design"[1] There is also an interesting article on wired about Kevin Herbet, who used LSD to solve tough technical problems and chemist Kary Mullis even said "...that LSD had helped him develop the polymerase chain reaction that helps amplify specific DNA sequences." [2]

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  • How old is "too old"?

    - by Dori
    I've been told that to be taken seriously as a job applicant, I should drop years of relevant experience off my résumé, remove the year I got my degree, or both. Or not even bother applying, because no one wants to hire programmers older than them.1 Or that I should found a company, not because I want to, or because I have a product I care about, but because that way I can get a job if/when my company is acquired. Or that I should focus more on management jobs (which I've successfully done in the past) because… well, they couldn't really explain this one, except the implication was that over a certain age you're a loser if you're still writing code. But I like writing code. Have you seen this? Is this only a local (Northern California) issue? If you've ever hired programmers:2 Of the résumés you've received, how old was the eldest applicant? What was the age of the oldest person you've interviewed? How old (when hired) was the oldest person you hired? How old is "too old" to employed as a programmer? 1 I'm assuming all applicants have equivalent applicable experience. This isn't about someone with three decades of COBOL applying for a Java guru job. 2 Yes, I know that (at least in the US) you aren't supposed to ask how old an applicant is. In my experience, though, you can get a general idea from a résumé.

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  • What is the ideal length of a method?

    - by iPhoneDeveloper
    In object-oriented programming, there is no exact rule on the maximum length of a method , but I still found these two qutes somewhat contradicting each other, so I would like to hear what you think. In Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship, Robert Martin says: The first rule of functions is that they should be small. The second rule of functions is that they should be smaller than that. Functions should not be 100 lines long. Functions should hardly ever be 20 lines long. and he gives an example from Java code he sees from Kent Beck: Every function in his program was just two, or three, or four lines long. Each was transparently obvious. Each told a story. And each led you to the next in a compelling order. That’s how short your functions should be! This sounds great, but on the other hand, in Code Complete, Steve McConnell says something very different: The routine should be allowed to grow organically up to 100-200 lines, decades of evidence say that routines of such length no more error prone then shorter routines. And he gives a reference to a study that says routines 65 lines or long are cheaper to develop. So while there are diverging opinions about the matter, is there a functional best-practice towards determining the ideal length of a method for you?

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  • How to Setup Birthday Reminders for Your Facebook Friends in Google Calendar

    - by The Geek
    If you want to keep on top of birthdays for all your Facebook friends, but you don’t want to check Facebook all the time, you can import those birthdays into Google Calendar, where you can then setup reminders. To accomplish this, we’ll use fdCal to pull the calendars from Facebook and then import them. Read on to know about how you can get this accomplished in a matter of a few minutes. Editor’s Note: of course, if you just want to get an email when your Facebook friends have a birthday coming up, Facebook has that feature under Account Settings –> Notifications. If you want to consolidate everything into Google Calendar, this also works. This is a guest post by Shankar Ganesh. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 DriveSafe.ly Reads Your Text Messages Aloud The Likability of Angry Birds [Infographic] Dim an Overly Bright Alarm Clock with a Binder Divider Preliminary List of Keyboard Shortcuts for Unity Now Available Bring a Touch of the Wild West to Your Desktop with the Rango Theme for Windows 7 Manage Your Favorite Social Accounts in Chrome and Iron with Seesmic

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  • Content Catalog Live!

    - by marius.ciortea
    tweetmeme_url = 'http://blogs.oracle.com/javaone/2010/06/content_catalog_live.html'; Share .FBConnectButton_Small{background-position:-5px -232px !important;border-left:1px solid #1A356E;} .FBConnectButton_Text{margin-left:12px !important ;padding:2px 3px 3px !important;} The Oracle OpenWorld, JavaOne and Oracle Develop 2010 content catalog is live. You can peruse most of the almost 2,000 sessions available this year at OpenWorld, JavaOne and Oracle Develop, including session titles, abstracts, track info, and confirmed speakers.You can find the latest on JDK 7, deep dives on the JVM, REST, JavaFX, JSF, Enterprise Java, Seam, OSGi, HTTP, Swing, GWT, Groovy, JRuby, Unit Testing, Metro, Lift, Comet, jclouds, Hudson, Scala, [insert technology here], etc. To access the Content Catalog, just look under Tools on the right side of this page. You can tag content in the catalog so you--and others who do what you do, or think the way you think--can easily find this year's don't-miss sessions. Take a few minutes to look around, and start planning your most productive/informative/valuable JavaOne ever! Schedule Builder, where you can sign up for sessions, will be up in July.

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  • Data Networks Visualized via Light Paintings [Video]

    - by ETC
    All around you are wireless data networks: cellular networks, Wi-Fi networks, a world of wireless communication. Check out this awesome video of network signals mapped over a cityscape. What would happen if you made a device that allowed you to map signal strength onto film? In the following video electronics tinkerers craft an LED meter and use it to paint onto long exposure photographs with phenomenal results. Immaterials: light painting Wi-Fi [via Make] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions Add a “Textmate Style” Lightweight Text Editor with Dropbox Syncing to Chrome and Iron Is the Forcefield Really On or Not? [Star Wars Parody Video] Google Updates Picasa Web Albums; Emphasis on Sharing and Showcasing Uwall.tv Turns YouTube into a Video Jukebox Early Morning Sunrise at the Beach Wallpaper Data Networks Visualized via Light Paintings [Video]

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  • How to change CapsLock key to produce "a"?

    - by Pit
    While typing I often hit the CapsLock key instead of the a key. (QWERTZU keyboard) This is quite annoying because the moment I realise that I hit the wrong key, I will have to delete multiple character/lines of text an rewrite them in the right form. I am searching for a way to prevent this. I have found a possibility to disable the CapsLock key in Keyboard Layout Options. But this would in my case mean that instead of writing an a I would write nothing. Positive - I don't have to rewrite a whole line, but only one character Negative - It's not that obvious that I hit the wrong key, as a missing character is not perceivable as an upper-case line of text. I would therefore prefer a possibility to map CapsLock to a . Thus when hitting CapsLock an a character would be written. Positive - If I hit CapsLock instead of a I get the output I actually wanted to type. Negative - If I hit CapsLock in any other context I will get an a character. As I don't ever intentionally use the CapsLock key this would not really pose a problem. (I think, or does it?) My Question: So how do I change to a ? And is there any case where this could be dangerous/provoke unwanted behaviour?

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  • SQL – Crossword Puzzle Based on Course Building Successful High Traffic Profitable Blog

    - by Pinal Dave
    Do you like Crossword Puzzles? I personally love it. Everytime I open the newspaper, I try to resolve at least one crossword or sudoku. It is just fun to tease a brain little and stretch its limits. Regular readers of the blogs are aware that I have recently published two courses on how to build successful high traffic profitable blog. Here are the links to watch both the courses: Course 1, Course 2. Do watch them in order as both the courses have unique content, which can help you build a better blog. On my birthday July 30th, there was an interesting blog post posted on Pluralsight blog. It was a crossword build from my two courses. I encourage you try to solve the crossword which I have built. Giveaway: There is a cool gift for the winner – it is melting clock. Do not confuse this as a dummy or not working clock. This looks like melting but it always shows accurate time and it is perfectly balanced to hang off of any flat surface. How to Participate: Well, it is very simple, you just have to complete the crossword and send it to me at pinal at sqlauthority.com with all valid answers. The deadline is that you must send it before Monday August 5, 2013 or before the valid answer keys are posted on Pluralsight blog. Hints: Though the crossword is very easy and intuitive, if you ever get stuck anywhere here are two hints: Hint 1, Hint 2. Login to Pluralsight courses and watch both the courses. Watching the course will not only help you to easily complete crossword but there are hidden gems and secrets to build a high traffic profitable blog. Here is the link to download the crossword: Download Crossword. Alternatively you can download the image displayed below and print it as well.   Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: About Me, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Blogging

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  • The How-To Geek Video Guide to Using Windows 7 Speech Recognition

    - by YatriTrivedi
    Ever get the desire to control your computer, Star Trek-style? With Windows 7’s Speech Recognition, it’s easier than you might think. Microsoft has been working on its voice command steadily over the years. XP introduced it, Vista smoothed it, and 7 has it polished. It’s strangely not advertised as a feature, even though other voice command and speech recognition programs are hundreds of dollars. It may not be as perfect as some of them, but there’s definitely something amazing about vocally telling your computer to do things and it actually working Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How To Create Your Own Custom ASCII Art from Any Image How To Process Camera Raw Without Paying for Adobe Photoshop How Do You Block Annoying Text Message (SMS) Spam? How to Use and Master the Notoriously Difficult Pen Tool in Photoshop HTG Explains: What Are the Differences Between All Those Audio Formats? How To Use Layer Masks and Vector Masks to Remove Complex Backgrounds in Photoshop Bring Summer Back to Your Desktop with the LandscapeTheme for Chrome and Iron The Prospector – Home Dash Extension Creates a Whole New Browsing Experience in Firefox KinEmote Links Kinect to Windows Why Nobody Reads Web Site Privacy Policies [Infographic] Asian Temple in the Snow Wallpaper 10 Weird Gaming Records from the Guinness Book

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  • crunchbang: it takes up *how* much memory?!?!

    - by Theo Moore
    I've been trying many distros of Linux lately, trying to find something I like for my netbook. I started out with Ubuntu, and I can tell you I am a big fan. Ubuntu is now fast to install, much simpler to administer, and pretty light resource-wise. My original install was the standard 32 bit version of 9.04. I tried the netbook remix version of this release, but it was very, very slow. Even the full-blown version used only about 200mb. Much better than the almost 800 that the recommended Windows y version took. Once the newest release of Ubuntu was released, I decided to try the netbook remx of 10.04. It used even less RAM; only about 150mb. I thought I'd found my OS. I certainly settled in and prepared to use it forever. Then, someone I know suggested I try cunchbang. It is the most minimalistic UI I've ever seen, using Openbox rather than Gnome or KDE. Very slick, simple and clean. Since I am using the alpha of the most recent version (using Debian Squeeze), the apps provided for you are few...although more will be provided soon. You do have a word processor, etc., although not the OpenOffice you would normally get in Ubuntu. But the best part? 48MB. That's it. 48mb fully loaded, supporting what I can "hotel services". It's fast, boots quick, and believe it or not, I can even do Java-based development....on my netbook! Pretty slick.   More on it as I use it.

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  • LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology

    - by Eric Z Goodnight
    With image technology progressing faster than ever, High-Def has become the standard, giving TV buyers more options at cheaper prices. But what’s different in all these confusing TVs, and what should you know before buying one? If you’re considering buying a television this Holiday season for a loved one (or simply for yourself), it can be a big help to know what to look for. Take a look to find out what sets HD televisions apart, learn some of the confusing jargon associated with them, and see a comparison of four of the types of HDTVs commonly sold today. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Get the Complete Android Guide eBook for Only 99 Cents [Update: Expired] Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 7: Design and Typography How to Choose What to Back Up on Your Linux Home Server How To Harmonize Your Dual-Boot Setup for Windows and Ubuntu Hang in There Scrat! – Ice Age Wallpaper How Do You Know When You’ve Passed Geek and Headed to Nerd? On The Tip – A Lamborghini Theme for Chrome and Iron What if Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner were Human? [Video] Peaceful Winter Cabin Wallpaper Store Tabs for Later Viewing in Opera with Tab Vault

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  • Friday Fun: Doom Triple Pack

    - by Mysticgeek
    Thankfully it was only a 4 day work week, but that is enough to get sick of the TPS reports. Today we go retro and experience three classic first-person PC shooter games with the Doom Triple Pack. Doom Triple Pack The Doom Triple Pack brings you your favorite classic first-person PC shooter games in Flash format. The games include Doom, Heretic, and Hexen…just select which one you want to play. Click on Controls to learn how to navigate your characters through the games.   Each on has in-game options you can use to control the style of play. The ever famous DOOM…each game runs smoothly for what they are provided you have a decent internet connection. If you’re tired of spreadsheets and meetings and want to live some of you favorite retro PC gaming days, the Doom Triple Pack can be a lot of fun. If you’re looking for other fun ways to waste time at the office check out the games in the How-To Geek Arcade. Play the Doom Triple Pack Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Transform your XP Computer to a Modern LookSupport for Some Versions of Windows is EndingSet Automatic Defrag Options for All Drives in Vista Service Pack 1Friday Fun: Portal, the Flash VersionHow to Play .OGM Video Files in Windows Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 Use ILovePDF To Split and Merge PDF Files TimeToMeet is a Simple Online Meeting Planning Tool Easily Create More Bookmark Toolbars in Firefox Filevo is a Cool File Hosting & Sharing Site Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule

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  • Craftsmanship Tour Day 1: Didit Long Island

    - by Liam McLennan
    On Monday I was at Didit for my first ever craftsmanship visit. Didit seem to occupy a good part of a non-descript building in Rockville Centre Long Island. Since I had arrived early from Seattle I had some time to kill, so I stopped at the Rockville Diner on the corner of N Park Ave and Sunrise Hwy. I thoroughly enjoyed the pancakes and the friendly service. After walking to the Didit office I met Rik Dryfoos, the Didit Engineering Manager who organised my visit, and got the introduction to Didit and the work they are doing. I spent the morning in the room shared by the Didit developers, who are working on some fascinating deep engineering problems. After lunch at a local Thai place I setup a webcam to record an interview with Rik and Matt Roman (Didit VP of Engineering). I had a lot of trouble with the webcam, including losing several minutes of conversation, but in the end I was very happy the result. Here are the full interviews with Rik and Matt: Interview with Rik Dryfoos Interview with Matt Roman We had a great chat, much of which is captured in the recording. It was such great conversation that I almost missed my train to Manhattan. I’m sure Didit will continue to do well with such a dedicated and enthusiastic team. I sincerely thank them for hosting me for the day. If you are looking for a true agile environment and the opportunity to work with a high quality team then you should talk to Didit.

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  • What You Said: Malware Fighting Tips and Tricks

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite malware fighting tricks. Now we’re back to highlight some of the tips and tricks you shared. Our Ask the Readers series gives our awesome and technologically literate readers a chance to show off their know-how. Today we’re rounding up some of the tips and tricks from Wednesday’s Ask the Reader post What Are Your Best Malware Fighting Tricks and highlighting them here. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions Awesome 10 Meter Curved Touchscreen at the University of Groningen [Video] TV Antenna Helper Makes HDTV Antenna Calibration a Snap Turn a Green Laser into a Microscope Projector [Science] The Open Road Awaits [Wallpaper] N64oid Brings N64 Emulation to Android Devices Super-Charge GIMP’s Image Editing Capabilities with G’MIC [Cross-Platform]

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  • Platformer Enemy AI

    - by hayer
    I'm currently developing a platformer shooter. The game is multiplayer and while my net code could use some real work I have put that off for the time, so currently I'm trying to implement the AI. The game is pretty simple; Players run around on a map filled with a X amount of zombies that try to eat their brains, classic and overused I know. Weapons spawn at random intervals around the map. The problem is that the zombies, when they find their pray the have to follow it for some while.. And here is the problem, running the AI navcode seems to take for ever. So here is the ideas I have come up with so far Have the AI update at different intervals with a maximum of Y ms with no updates. Have the zombies assigned to groups of zombies. One is appointed the leader of the group who finds the way to the player - the rest just follows the leader. If the leader dies another one of the zombies in the group is appointed president of the zombie swarm. If there is less than five zombies in a group they try to meet up with other zombies.(Aka they are assigned to a different group and therefor a new leader) Multi-threading option one or two? For navigation I have some kinda navmesh(since the game is not tile-based) that tells the zombies where they can walk etc. If anyone else got some ideas on how to do navigation I would love some input. For LoS(zombie - player) I have split the map into grids. If the players grid is connected to the zombies grid(if I go with option two I would only need to check if leader zombies grid is connected to player, aka less checks) - if they are connected and there is more than 250ms since last check do a raytrace.. This is my first time programming AI so input on any field is appreciated.

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  • What Poor Project Management Might Be Costing You

    - by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP
    For project-intensive organizations, capital investment decisions define both success and failure. Getting them wrong—the risk of delays and schedule and cost overruns are ever present—introduces the potential for huge financial losses. The resulting consequences can be significant, and directly impact both a company’s profit outlook and its share price performance—which in turn is the fundamental measure of executive performance. This intrinsic link between long-term investment planning and short-term market performance is investigated in the independent report Stock Shock, written by a consultant from Clarity Economics and commissioned by the EPPM Board. A new international steering group organized by Oracle, the EPPM Board brings together senior executives from leading public and private sector organizations to explore the critical role played by enterprise project and portfolio management (EPPM). Stock Shock reviews several high-profile recent project failures, and combined with other research reviews the lessons to be learned. It analyzes how portfolio management is an exercise in balancing risk and reward, a process that places the emphasis firmly on executives to correctly determine which potential investments will deliver the greatest value and contribute most to the bottom line. Conversely, it also details how poor evaluation decisions can quickly impact the overall value of an organization’s project portfolio and compromise long-range capital planning goals. Failure to Deliver—In Search of ROI The report also cites figures from the Economist Intelligence Unit survey that found that more organizations (12 percent) expected to deliver planned ROI less than half the time, than those (11 percent) who claim to deliver it 90 percent or more of the time. This fact is linked to a recent report from Booz & Co. that shows how the average tenure of a global chief executive has fallen from 8.1 years to 6.3 years. “Senior executives need to begin looking at effective project delivery not as a bonus, but as an essential facet of business success,” according to Stock Shock author Phil Thornton. “Consolidated and integrated visibility into individual projects is the most practical solution to overcoming these challenges, which explains the increasing popularity of PPM technologies as an effective oversight and delivery platform.” Stock Shock is available for download on the EPPM microsite at http://www.oracle.com/oms/eppm/us/stock-shock-report-1691569.html

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  • Oracle OpenWorld Kicks Off Today Delivering A Full Week of Insight, Education, and Unique Experiences

    - by Jeri Kelley
    San Francisco has been transformed into a sea of red and more than 50,000 attendees from 140 countries will converge in the Bay Area for a week of education and insight into Oracle's strategy and roadmap on today’s leading technology initiatives, including engineered systems, cloud computing, business analytics and big data, and customer experience.  Tonight kicked off with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison discussing how Oracle is taking a fundamentally different approach to delivering technology that is engineered to work together to give customers extreme performance, simplicity, and cost savings.  The jam-packed week continues with: More than 2,500 educational sessions Nearly 3,500 customer and partner speakers from marquee brands sharing how they are using Oracle technology to power their businesses Over 400 Oracle product demonstrations in the DEMOgrounds – make sure to stop by to see the latest demonstrations for our Customer Experience solutions including Oracle Commerce, Oracle RightNow, Oracle WebCenter, Oracle Fusion CRM, Oracle Social Relationship Management, and more. With more educational content than ever before, OpenWorld also expands to include six sub-conferences within the main OpenWorld umbrella including the Customer Experience Summit @ OpenWorld which runs October 3rd-5th.  All of this education and insight comes with some fun as well.  OpenWorld has become an exciting destination with new experiences unveiled each year including the debut of the first annual Oracle OpenWorld Music Festival, featuring some of today’s hottest acts, emerging bands and DJs over five nights playing at locations throughout San Francisco. Our Customer Experience team will be blogging and tweeting all week to keep you up-to-date so be sure to subscribe to our Customer Experience blog and follow us on Twitter and Facebook: @OracleCX @OracleCommerce @OracleCRM Facebook.com/OracleCustomerExperience If you are at OpenWorld, we hope you have a great week and get the knowledge you need to take your Oracle applications to the next level.  And, if you were not able to make it this year, be sure to tune into the sessions that are broadcast live online. 

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  • How can I strip down Ubuntu?

    - by Thomas Owens
    I'm trying to fix what I consider a bloated install of Ubuntu. When I install Ubuntu on a machine, I get things that I don't want - web browsers, office applications, media players, accessibility utilities, Ubuntu One, and so on. My goal is to create a way that I can have an install of Ubuntu that contains only the most minimal packages - the administrative tools and package manager, a GUI (my preference would be GNOME), a text editor, core drivers (video cards, network cards - wired and wireless, input devices), and anything else that I have to have to run a stable distribution. From there, I would like to pick and choose which packages I install to create my own customized system. After playing around with other distros like Arch and Slackware, like how they provide a barebones install by default. However, I get trapped in a "configuration hell" - right now, I tried moving away from Ubuntu and to Arch, but after spending 6 hours with it, I still don't have a usable system. It's half configured and I don't have any usable software packages to enable me to work. Is anything that can help me available? Either something like the OpenSUSE builder that lets you choose applications and packages for the CD, an advanced installation mode where I can choose the packages to install and which to ignore, or a guide on how to strip Ubuntu down to its bare bones? And I suppose a natural follow up to this is once I have a stripped down Ubuntu, will this affect updating at all? When Canonical releases the next version of Ubuntu, I don't want any bloatware reinstalled. And yes, most of the applications that come with Ubuntu, I simply don't use. Ever.

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  • Semantic Form Markup for Yes or No Questions - Or Should I Tell my Designers to Bugger Off?

    - by sholsinger
    I frequently receive mock-ups of HTML forms with the following prototype: Some long winded yes or no question?   (o) Yes   ( ) No The (o) and ( ) in this prototype represent radio buttons. My personal view is that if the question has only a true or false value then it should be a check box. That said, I have seen this sort of "layout" from almost every designer I've ever worked with. If I were not to question their decision, or question the client's decision, I'd probably mark it up like this: <p class="pseudo_label">Some long winded yes or no question?</p> <input type="radio" name="the_question" id="the_question_yes" value="1"> <label for="the_question_yes" class="after_radio">Yes</label> <input type="radio" name="the_question" id="the_question_no" value="0"> <label for="the_question_no" class="after_radio">No</label> I really don't want to do that. I want to push back and convince them that this should really be a check box and not two radio buttons. But my question is, if I can't convince them – you're welcome to help me try – how should I code that original design requirement such that it is semantic and at least understandable for screen reader users? If I were able to convince my tormentors to change their minds, I would likely code it in the following fashion: <label for="the_question">Some long winded yes or no question?</label> <input type="checkbox" name="the_question" id="the_question" value="1"> What do you think about this issue? Should I push back? Possibly more importantly is either way semantically correct?

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  • Linux Journal Best Virtualization Solution Readers' Choice 2012

    - by Chris Kawalek
    I'm proud to report that in the latest issue of Linux Journal their readers named Oracle VM VirtualBox the "Best Virtualization Solution" for 2012. We're excited to receive this honor and want to thank Linux Journal and their readers for recognizing us!  This is the latest award won by Oracle VM VirtualBox, following a 2011 Bossie Award (best open source software) from InfoWorld, a 2012 Readers' Choice award from Virtualization Review, and several others. These awards help us know that people are using Oracle VM VirtualBox in their day to day work and that it's really useful to them. We truly appreciate their (your!) support. If you already use Oracle VM VirtualBox, you will know all this. But, just in case you haven't tried it yet, here's a few reasons you should download it: Free for personal use and open source. You can download it in minutes and start running multiple operating systems on your Windows PC, Mac, Oracle Solaris system, or Linux PC. It's fast and powerful, and easy to install and use. It has in-depth support for client technologies like USB, virtual CD/DVD, virtual display adapters with various flavors of 2D and 3D acceleration, and much more. If you've ever found yourself in a situation where you were concerned about installing a piece of software because it might be too buggy, or wanted to have a dedicated system to test things on, or wanted to run Windows on a Mac or Oracle Solaris on a PC (or hundreds of other combinations!), or didn't want to install your company's VPN software directly on your home system, then you should definitely give Oracle VM VirtualBox a try. Once you install it, you'll find a myriad of other uses, too. Thanks again to the readers of Linux Journal for selecting Oracle VM VirtualBox as the Best Virtualization Solution for 2012. If you'd like to read the whole article, you can purchase this month's issue over at the Linux Journal website. -Chris

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