May 8th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
SocialFlow Company Blog – Breaking Bin Laden: visualizing the power of a single tweet.
The above article is a fascinating, empirical insight into how Twitter users were exposed to news of Bin Laden’s death at least an hour before the Presidential address was given.
May 3rd, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink
E: First of all let me say that this is actually the first interview I’ve been asked to give. I am happy about that! So lets jump right into it.
Q: Just to start things off – I’ve noticed that you sport a cigar in some of your profile pictures – do you have any favourite stogies, and what do you enjoy most about sitting down for a good smoke?
E: Well, beside from Cigars I was smoking cigarettes as well but roughly one year ago I stopped smoking. A (good) cigar from time is still very much appreciated. My favourite cigar is the Cohiba Siglo III it’s a relatively strong one but not too strong though. One more important thing is that you have to pay attention to smoke it with the right technique or you will not be able to enjoy it. That’s actually the reason why a lot of people don’t enjoy a good cigar. Also a good Single Malt Whisky is something you don’t wanna miss there too. I prefer Highland Park 18 YO.
Q: You open many of your casts with a string of welcome phrases in various languages; how many do you speak?
E: So beside from German and English I speak a little French and some broken Russian. When I was five I lived in Moscow for 7 years but there I went to a German school and lived in some sort of German area. Unfortunately at school it was enough to tell the alphabet at the end of the semester to get a good grade. But my basic understanding and for a lot of languages is actually not too bad. I worked in the Italian part of Switzerland for several weeks so I picked up some Italian as well, since it’s sort of similar to French it was not too hard.
About the “Special Endrey’s All International Introduction ©” - I currently greet people in 24 different languages. I am still working on my Finnish pronunciation but there are so many ä,h,a in there. But I will get the job done!
Q: What do you make of the massive popularity of SC2 all around the world, and its fascinating capacity for spectating by viewers who may not even possess a functional understanding of the game itself?
E: I think it’s just awesome! A couple of days ago when I was watching the GSL, there was someone in the audience (in Korea!) with a sign in his hands saying “I am here watching GSL and I don’t even have the game”. This basically sums it up. I (especially as a German, hehe) enjoy a good football game on TV with some beers and some friends. And yeah it’s called football not soccer! But when I discovered SC2 with the beta I immediately started to enjoy VODs made for SC2 in the same way. Sitting on the couch enjoying some great games is just so much fun. I honestly can’t tell why this fascination is there with SC2 and not with other games that much in the past (I think the popularity of the casters helps out a lot) for RTS games. And considering that the game is still very young there is so much room for improvement and growth. The professionalism in the SC2 scene right now compared to other games is quite advanced as well.
» Read the rest of this entry «
April 22nd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
Make online poker legal? It already is. – The Washington Post.
An excellent write-up by former senator Al D’Amato revolving around the recent American fiasco, in which the DOJ seized online poker domains and froze bank accounts. Many thousands of American poker players panicked over their supplementary income being temporarily put on ice (or ICEd) and have become victims of a pastime that really should be legal. Antigua is asserting that the seizures contravene international law, and is considering filing with the WTO.
April 4th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
It has been a few weeks (I believe) since I’ve posted anything of note, and that’s been the result of a confluence of circumstances, some out of my control. Nonetheless, much has happened – the Oxford term has ended, I’m currently working as an intern with Dalberg Consulting in Mumbai, India for the next few weeks – and – I managed to find a TVS Electronics Gold Bharat (MX Blue) mechanical keyboard here. Unfortunately it currently isn’t playing nice and refuses to work, but I think that might be the PS2 –> USB connector, rather than the board itself. Still, that completes my collection of Cherry MX switches that aren’t now defunct (i.e. everything but clears) – the KBC Poker with red switches is on order with Deskthority.net (Geekhack.org only handles US shipping).
Firstly, Mumbai is fantastic; as a kid I’d travel to Delhi with my parents, to visit relatives and occasionally do touristy cultural things, like visit Agra, temples, etc. I was, however, too young to appreciate how much India had changed; Mumbai is a testament to that. It’s basically a modern city on the level that Sydney is – sure, it has crazy traffic and crappy internet, but it’s arguably a greater ‘land of opportunity’ economically. The commercial, industrial and retail sectors have seen figuratively exponential growth over the last decade. Malls in the vein of Macquarie Centre and Castle Hill Megaplex have been springing up consecutively seemingly without fail – one which I visited recently was the Phoenix mall; one word: wow. The cinema was nicer than any Greater Union I’ve been too and it was _huge_. Barney’s Version is an excellent movie by the way – highly recommended. Great utilisation of Cuban cigars.
The internet speeds are perhaps my main problem here (queue firstworldproblems subreddit), with prices like 100 pounds/150 AUD for 4mbps. That’s a pretty serious disconnect from the Western world’s bandwidth, speeds and pricing. If India wants to raise its QOL and GDP even further, perhaps adopting a project similar to Australia’s NBN may be in order. Increased connectivity leads to increases in both of the aforementioned, as a recent study demonstrated.1 Also, the reliability of connections and subpar hardware hold the user experience back. MTNLs supplied routers, for example, have a single antenna, and look like they were manufactured in the late 70s. They also have a stodgy configuration interface that isn’t very useful. Some MTNL routers seem to block even ICMP requests between clients on the same access point, precluding the possibility of file or printer sharing… very annoying. This isn’t a configuration issue by the way – the routers just bork up the routing tables, depending on which WPA encryption setting you choose. In any case, I haven’t been able to figure out exactly what’s going on in that department.
Technology aside, I’ve been enjoying the quintessential Indian pastime – cricket. The 2011 World Cup was hosted in the sub-continent, and coincidentally I managed to be in India at the same time. For anyone familiar with the region, you know how much India winning on the world stage means to the vast majority of the country. Cricket is the opium of the people here; when India beat Australia, then Pakistan, and finally Sri Lanka to attain the Cup after 28 years, it was as if a revolution was occurring on the streets. There really was an incredible atmosphere; cars loaded with people waving flags, playing drums, standing on the roof blowing trumpets and so forth. The sheer cacophony of car horns (over and above the standard Mumbai norm) was almost overwhelming. I’ve attached a short video below that supports the above observations!
In particular, check out the surreal images of the dude with the dinosaur at the end. That’s some wacky shit. Sights like these are what make Mumbai as bombastic as it really is; a curiously composed city that also never sleeps.
March 4th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
‘Anonymous’ is an entity made up of thousands of individuals, mostly aware of each other via a number of internet and IRC meeting locations which can be in forms such as forums, textbins, chat channels and so forth. They are technically minded, generally have a reputation for engaging in hacktivism, and subscribe to only one real mandate: the protection of the freedom of speech. Anonymous is characterised, as one could guess, by the connotations of their name. They attempt to maintain a faceless image,1 and rely on decentralised mediums for communication in order to resist profiling and potentially, in some cases, prosecution.
One source of inspiration for the 'Legion'.
Anonymous is also truly democratic. Absolutely anyone can claim to be, and post on behalf of Anonymous. Only those ideas which gain mass appeal amongst the ‘hivemind’ will be taken on as a primary cause. A perfect example of this phenomenon working in an unexpected way surfaced recently, in that AnonNews.org was utilised to post a letter to the Westboro Baptist Church urging other Anonymous activists to action. The letter, whilst initially gaining some traction due to misrepresentation by many media outlets, was discredited as a hoax by dissenting groups also within Anonymous, who believed that the other operations occurring at the same time were important, and that resources would be stretched too thin going after a hate-group, which would likely use the ensuing persecution to their own advantage – further publicising WBC’s ridiculous stance on such things as homosexuality and war. In any case, a second letter was written by an established press corps of Anonymous which, while withdrawing from the battle-like terms of the original letter, promised to ’play another day’.
In the following days, the media sought some clarity on the situation, and this resulted in an interview between Shirley Phelps, and ATopiary2 which was moderated by David Pakman. You can watch it on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZJwSjor4hM
» Read the rest of this entry «
March 2nd, 2011 § 2 comments § permalink
Crysis and its sister release, Crysis: Warhead, were some of the most celebrated first person shooter games released on PC in quite some time. The PC community fell in love with the CryEngine as a benchmarking tool, and the quintessential phrase of comparison for the last few years has been, ‘but can it run Crysis’? The graphical beauty and engaging gameplay of these titles were highly valued by the majority of the enthusiasts that make up the core of the PC gaming community.
So it is with sadness and chagrin that as a member of the PC gaming community, I have to assert that Crysis 2 seems to follow not in the footsteps of the original series, but in the bastard vein of Activision’s much maligned console port, Modern Warfare 2. Instead of embracing the group of people that made Crytek successful (i.e. PC gamers), it is clear to see (as will be supported below) that the union of EA and Crytek has led to a complete rejection of the values that matter to the PC audience.
Let us deal firstly with the side-issue of piracy, which Crytek seems to cite regularly for its newfound reluctance to engage with the PC community. Yes, the original Crysis, and also Warhead, were pirated extensively, but many other technology journalist have expanded on these ‘lost sales’ as not necessarily being ‘lost’ at all. Many PC gamers use game leaks as a way to test out the full title before release, and if they like it, they buy it. Those that pirate the game but don’t end up buying it may not have bought the game in the first place anyway – one cannot simply assert that one event of piracy is equivalent to a specific fiscal loss. This is not logically the case and fails to take into account the nature of the intellectual property we are dealing with. Nonetheless, let us not get into the specifics of this argument, which has been expounded on in far greater detail before by many other authors.1
Instead, let us turn to what Crytek decided to do to combat this perceived threat for the PC version of Crysis 2. In short, they released a demo which had only DirectX 9 support, included a loading screen that states “Press Start to Begin”, includes auto-aim as “on” by default, runs perfectly on graphics hardware that is three generations old despite being on ‘Hardcore’ GFX settings2, has Gamespy as the multiplayer provider despite being available on Steam, has numerous user registration issues and randomly does not allow users to log in to the Gamespy network. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Does Crytek really expect PC gamers to respect them as a company when the demo is a blatant console port which respects none of the needs of the PC community?
Here’s a video which perfectly summarises most of these issues:
How about providing PC gamers, who play games generally on superior technology than console gamers, with DX11 support, dedicated servers that aren’t associated with gamespy, and some spit and polish that demonstrates the game has actually been coded somewhat for PC, rather than having a loading screen that denotes the title should be played with a controller? What has it come to when one of the greatest PC developers turns it back on the format that made them successful?
This is, in essence, a repeat of Modern Warfare 2 and Activision/Infinity Ward. We all saw how that turned out on PC, and what happened to the company (IW) afterwards. I, for one, will certainly not be buying the game – and I’m sure many members of the PC community will not be either. Here’s to effecting your own demise, Crytek, it’s been nice, but c’est la vie.
February 23rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
Not many people know a lot about the differences between keyboards. Most computer users will happily coexist with the standard keyboard that shipped with their computer, blissfully unaware of the more efficient and comfortable alternatives. Despite being the single most utilised peripheral connected to a computer, the humble keyboard generally doesn’t receive much attention. Until I discovered Geekhack I remained in this wallet-friendly state of unawareness, but that all changed when I realised that keyboards are, in fact, some of the most complex ‘simple’ devices out there.
Did you know, for example, that there are entire subcultures related to certain types of keyboards? Websites such as OTD (a Korean keyboard site) have massive followings in Asia, and in Japan, entire stores covering the floor space of a John Lewis sell solely keyboards and mice. In the US, elitekeyboards.com has seen great business, and in the UK, the Keyboard company has had steady interest since 1989. You may ask, why all the fuss about ‘mechanical’ keyboards. A mechanical keyboard differs from a conventional rubber dome ‘board1 in that each key press triggers an individual switch, and these switches can be chosen based on the users preference for tactile feedback and actuation force, to name two variables only. A rubber membrane board, on the other hand, relies on the user bottoming out the keys on each key press in order to have the stroke register, and thus can result in more effort and less actions/words per minute, depending on the situation. The more technical differences between the two can be found here. Mechanical keyboards tend to last longer than their rubbery brethren, with Cherry, a popular and reliable maker of the famed MX switches, rating its Black, Brown and Blue switches at 20-50 million actuations.
Cherry tends to be the most referenced mechanical switch manufacturer, with most branded mechanical ‘boards making use of the MX Brown and Blue series. Gamers have found the MX Black switches particularly enticing due to their linear feel, as opposed to the Brown and Blue’s clickier feedback. As I type quite a lot, being a literature student, and additionally enjoy the odd FPS and RTS, I thought it necessary to get both an MX Black ‘board (in the form of a Filco Majestouch Linear), and a MX Brown tenkeyless (in the form of a Noppoo Choc Mini). As I have a netbook and desktop, I often find my Filco being utilised on the latter, and my Choc Mini on the former.
A somewhat dusty Choc Mini.
Filco Quality.
The stereotype of MX Black switches being difficult to type on for long periods of time (due to perceived greater actuation force and lack of tactile feedback) is somewhat true. However, if you’re able to give your fingers a couple of weeks to get used to the greater force required and you’re an accurate typist, you’ll find the blacks can actually be ‘quicker’ to type on than the MX Blue or Brown models. This has been my experience in any case. When it comes to the ‘experience’ of typing, and what feels and sounds good, the MX Brown switch is likely going to be your preferred option. Personally I don’t mind either for typing, but I tend to game more on the MX Black switch, certainly for FPS titles. Something like Starcraft 2 is better suited to the clickier MX Brown board, however, as not knowing how many SCVs you’ve queued up based on the tactile feedback given to your fingers whilst in the heat of battle can be irritating.
Eventually I plan to get an MX Blue tenkeyless (something like the Plu M-87 perhaps), as I am still searching for that ‘purist’ typing board.
February 14th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
In the couple of days that have passed since my original Irssi how-to, I’ve come across a couple of useful scripts that really deserve ‘essential’ status. These are adv_windowlist.pl and trackbar.pl. The former replaces the normal status bar, and the latter adds a dashed line to your chat window indicating where you last left off when switching windows. The advantage of the advanced status bar is that it allows you to customise the way in which you interact with channels. You can choose to have them highlighted in a different colour when there is activity occurring, and you can choose to have the listing of the channels formatted in a way that suits your fancy. If you would like to see how it could look with many channels, click here. You can find the windowlist script here and the trackbar script at the irssi.org scripts repository. To set-up the adv_windowlist script, navigate to http://quadpoint.org/articles/irssi#statusbar and follow the instructions. I personally use the same config as is listed there. The trackbar script should work automatically, just type in
/script load trackbar.pl
Make sure you place it in your /scripts/autorun directory if you would like it to run automatically future sessions.
February 13th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
OR, The story of a Windows user who moves his communication apps to the Linux command line.
Firstly, I have always found applications that run in the text-only environment of terminal or CMD (in Windows) to be aesthetically pleasing – minimalist and monochrome, they generally hide a serious amount of firepower behind what appears to be a simple and limited user interface. There is a certain amount of functional beauty in them as well – relying on a single physical input device (generally the keyboard in some variation or another) – which, if configured correctly, allows for high levels of efficiency. One only needs to look to the hardcore programmer’s choice of emacs or vim, both of which are pinnacles of coding and text-editing efficiency, for evidence of the GUI-less appeal. Simultaneously, these immensely configurable editors can be incredibly hard to master – recently I read of one user who had spent thirteen years on emacs, only feeling truly efficient and productive after the first five.
Fortunately, for a newcomer like myself, irssi and alpine don’t pose the same challenges as emacs would if I were trying to jump headfirst into coding. Irssi is an IRC client, which you can find at http://www.irssi.org, and it is a fine one at that. Sure, setting it up on both Windows or Linux is a little harder than mIRC for Windows, but the benefits can be far greater. Alpine, similarly, is a rather fine mail client which supports POP and IMAP very well. Now, the question from new users to Linux, and in my case Ubuntu, tends to be “why bother with terminal apps at all when there are perfectly good GUI ones available?”
The answer is simple… system resources. Alpine, unlike Outlook 2010, loads instantly on my diminutive Lenovo netbook. Irssi, unlike mIRC, loads instantly also. Additionally, unlike mIRC or Outlook, because one can run Irssi and Alpine under screen in terminal, it becomes easy, via SSH, to maintain access to either program from pretty much anywhere.
February 13th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
My lovely and talented girlfriend was kind enough to send me the front page print for the upcoming issue of Tharunka, a UNSW student magazine. She is the graphic designer for the aforementioned publication.
Click the image for a higher resolution.
