Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Yes, Its Actually a GunZ Blog ...


Are you looking for a free online game where you can run around, shoot and slash other people? Do you want to test your hand-eye skills against people from all over the world? Then GunZ the Duel is the game for you. Gunz the Duel is a free online game that can be downloaded legally from several site and server locations.


There are several game modes in GunZ the Duel. These game modes include the following: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Gladiator, Team Gladiator, Assassination, Duel, Training and Quest. Deathmatch is exactly like it sounds. It is an all out war where your only ally is yourself. You slash and shoot your way to the top player in that match by killing as much as you can and dying as little as possible. Team Deathmatch is similar to Deathmatch, except you have a team. Whether on red team or blue team, your task is to work together with your teammates, and kill every player on the opposing team. Gladiator and Team Gladiator are somewhat like Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch except you cannot use both ranged weapons and melee weapons. In these modes, all you are given is swords. You have to slash your way to the top, getting the best score you can. There is also another team based game mode in GunZ the Duel called Assassination. In this mode, each team has a VIP that must be protected in order for your team to survive. However, the same goes for the opposing team. This means you must kill the opposing teams VIP in order for your team to win.


Dueling in GunZ the Duel is by far the biggest and most challenging game mode. It is the place to show off your solo skills. Through 1v1, it is simply you and the enemy. If you win your match, you then face off against the next player in line. If you lose, you go to the “end of the line” and wait for your turn again. Training is best for practicing moves or just relaxing. If you’re not up for fighting intense battles, yet you want to still play, just make or join a training game. If you have three friends that want to quest with you, the Quest mode is always fun. You can take down goblins, skeletons, lizards. If that isn’t good enough, you can even fight the strong and challenging bosses.


GunZ the Duel overall is a fun game. I personally have a level 64, 43, 36, and 21. There aren’t many players that reach level 64, so being such a high level, makes the game even more pleasurable. To be honest, it’s enjoyable for me to kill enemies and then taunt them. If you get better, I’m sure you will get this satisfaction too.
Play GunZ the Duel NOW! READY? LETS FIGHT!

Rock Band 2: Mmmmmm Rockbizzle


For those of you who enjoyed the rhythm based party game Rock Band, many Xbox360 owners will be glad to know that Rock Band 2 has arrived on the market. So what makes Rock Band such a great game? It allows gamers to take control of their favourite instrument and rock out to huge collection of songs from different genres. With a couple of electronic guitars, an electronic drum set, and a microphone, users can literally spend hours jamming with their friends. The selection of music is fantastic with the new Rock Band boasting a collection of over 100 songs, and promising that by the holiday season to have over 500 songs available for download via Xbox live.


Developed by the creators of Guitar Hero 1 and 2, Rock Band takes what made Guitar Hero successful and adds much more, making it a powerhouse on the gaming market. The singing component of the game lets you belt out your favourite tunes karaoke style while trying to stay on pitch for the best score possible. This can be extremely fun, even if most of the fun is being had laughing at your friend’s attempt to sing. The drum kit peripheral has four electronic drum pads and a foot pedal. This lets you keep the rhythm to all your favourite songs just like Lars Ulrich. The guitar peripherals let gamers take control of either the lead guitar or bass tracks of the song. Together with a group of people this game literally allows you to form a Rock Band and take it on tour. The career mode allows you to go from playing small time gigs to huge shows. You can dress up your characters, customize their instruments and give them piercings and tattoos that you wouldn’t dream of giving yourself.


So for all you 360 owners Rock Band 2 is definitely a must have for any gamer. Those of you who are waiting for the PS3 and WII versions later this year, this game is definitely worth the wait.

Online Shopping

Today, because its easy, fast, convenience to modern busy people, online shopping is so common that somebody rely on it forgetting the regular store shopping.

There are so many advantages to do online shopping. First, it is easy to compare the same product among the different online stores. You can get the product with the good price. Second, sometimes, you can get the feedback about the product from other customers. According that, you can make a better choice. Third, if you change your mind after ordering and before shipping, you can easily cancel your order just through few clicks.

On the other hand, online shopping is not perfect. First of all, sometimes it is insecurity. A lot of customers use credit card to pay the items bought by them. For some unknown reasons, some customers lost their card information. Second thing is hard to take a look at the product through its limited size picture. Occasionally, the real thing is different from the picture. When you receive your order, you find the product is not the one you really want.

Although it has some weaknesses, online shopping is more and more popular and becomes a part of daily life for certain number people in modern society. At the same time, some people still trust the regular stores in the real world. Some smart businessmen build both regular store in the real world and the visual one online to keep all customers with different shopping habits. Which way do you prefer to do your shopping?

Photosynth - New Way of Looking at Pictures


Photography has come a long as technology has advanced, and now with relatively inexpensive digital cameras and processors, something as powerful as Photosynth is born and is now accessible for even consumers. Developed in 2006, Microsoft showed off a tech preview of the software that allowed users to view generated models developed by Microsoft. Now as of August 20, 2008, the software is officially released to the public allowing users to generate their own Photosynth models.


Photosynth is a recent development by Microsoft, it is a program that allows users to view their images in a 3D model, giving way for revolutionary way at storing, viewing and sharing pictures. A matching algorithm developed by Microsoft, is a process that identifies specific features in a photo for example a certain part of the building, and compares it with other similar pictures containing that specific feature.


With the data, a process called Bundle Adjustment analyzes the subtle angle, lighting, and distance differences to be able to figure out spatially in a 3D environment where it belongs relative to the other pictures. The algorithm can then match the pictures together and display them in their respective location in 3D.


Using Seadragon technology, the Photosynth viewer allows users to zoom into pictures smoothly without it being downloaded to the client’s computer. It also allows for changing pictures smoothly between nearby photos and even walk and fly through a scene for a seamless experience.


This inspiring technology allows people from all around the world to combine and share pictures of the same area in a very novel way never though of before and it allows the images to be uploaded into a virtual world.


Monday, September 29, 2008

World of MMO's


People around the world love to play video games, some on the other hand do not. Those who do either play games on gaming consoles such as X-box and Playstation or they have a game for computer which they enjoy and each of those have many different types of games that are available. For me the best kind of gaming are the MMO’s that are found though computer games.

The world of MMO’s is a vast community that brings people from the around the world together in one spot to play an epic game which cannot be played in 5 or 10 minute spurts. These are the kinds of games where you clear your schedule in a day to put aside many hours of your time to commit to playing these games. For me it was Dark Age of Camelot and now Warhammer. Others are involved in other MMO’s such as World of Warcraft but when it comes down to it they’re all the same. MMO’s are a place where you can find a community type environment, somewhere you can go outside of reality but at the same time is reality. By playing MMO’s over a long period of time you come to make friends, join guilds, fight battles with the same select people that you call your friends. Over time that friendship turns into a family type setting. I played Dark Age of Camelot from time of release which was 2001 to the time when WOW pretty much emptied the servers. During that time I ran with a group of people known as KT or Knights Templar. These people become my second family, people that actually cared about you, worried about you and cared for you. These are people where chances are you have never seen these people except through an animated toon on a screen but none the less you feel that sense of family and I guess you could say love for your guild members.

The days of Dark Age of Camelot are long over but the family that was Knight Templars remained and after all the years of KT being apart, Warhammer has brought us all back together again. The family known as KT to those who were members of it are back together sharing good times, remember old times and making new memories. Those who look at MMO’s and say “Those games are retarded,” or “Why would you want to play a game like?” and most importantly, “I don’t’ understand why you waste so much of your time on a stupid computer game.” You want to know why I “waste” my time on an MMO’s? Because other then my real family, I have a second family that will always live on no matter where we are or what we are doing, you are always missed and welcomed. If you have never been a part of something as special as that you will never understand why people truly have a love for MMO’s. Technology and Animation creating families via a virtual world, amazing isn’t it?

Asus goes "Ultra small"





Asus unveils their all new Eee PC 701 earlier this year, which ,surprisingly enough, has awe stricken the mobile computer market. This 7" wide, 20 grams short of a kilo gram piece of plastic packs quite the punch with the options it has to offer to the "on the go" user. An unofficial source believes that Asus originally intended to target children below the age of 10 whom may have an interest in using a laptop for simple tasks. However, it has come to show that the European and North American markets have favoured ultra light weight laptops for the past decade. It seems that the ideal traveling business man is not complete without the Eee PC Asus has to offer. An unofficial source also claims that the Ultra light weight laptop earned its name from a simple marketing strategy: "Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play."



Furthermore, the Eee series comes preloaded with Linux and some open-sourced, user friendly, and fun to use applications for all type of users. In fact, the laptop also uses state of the art solid state memory as a mean of digital real estate. The user also has the option to load Microsoft Windows 95,98,ME,2000 NT, and or XP. What is more, Asus has managed to offer the consumer a low price point which makes everyone happy. I should remind you that today's technology only seems to get more and more expensive as the device gets smaller in size. Comparable products from competing companies typically sell for $1000.00 CAD at the least. Nonetheless, a minimum price tag of approximately $350 CAD will get you in one their lower end Eee PC laptops. Lacking superb video rendering capabilities and multi core processing, this little piece of plastic does have a lot to offer. It was designed to have extreme mobility in mind. Asus claims an incredible 2.5 to 8 hour battery life depending on the task being performed. It also offer the user access to wireless internet and wireless Bluetooth technology. It seems, however, that the keyboard should be used with aid of 2 pencils for ease of typing as it is a compressed version of the real thing. Regardless of which, the user does have the option of plugging in any USB device. All in all, not a bad piece of technology for the price, the weight, and ridiculously small size.


Yacoub Husseini

Asus Eee PC - Learn more

A Double Team Of Epic Proportions!


Ever since the introduction of computer graphics, the scale and detail of the art created has increased in direct correlation to computational power. When it comes to modern computing, the CPU (Central Processing Unit) used to be the king of the hill, but recently GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) power has increased significantly. So much so, that most if not all new GPU’s can easily ‘out-math’ CPU’s without breaking a sweat. With this metaphorical nitrous added to the computing-engine; engineers at Adobe and NVIDIA have teamed up to harness GPU processing power in a way never thought possible. When questioned on the addition of GPU power into the Adobe CS4 project, John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe had this to say:

"A critical element of CS4 was to capture the enormous power of the GPU. The
difference is astounding. Performance is important to creative professionals and
with the NVIDIA GPU, they are assured to be able to interact with images and
videos in a much faster, smoother, more engaging way."

And so, enter Adobe CS4, a new addition to the Adobe Photoshop suite of software that is rumoured to blow socks off. With all the extra power of the GPU on hand (of NVIDIA design only) CS4 promises to deliver new features and improve on old ones. Whether it be precise photo editing with new depth-of-field blur effects from Photoshop that tickle your fancy. Or, perhaps it’s the real-time editing and movie effects of Premier at blazing speeds that does it for you. Yes, Adobe and NVIDIA are defiantly throwing a party, and were all invited.

Anyone interested, is encouraged to check our more (especially the cool video) at:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/adobe.html

Open source leads innovation



Do-It-Yourself, and Open-source have become a major player in this information age, thanks to the average Joe. While community driven websites exist purely for DIYers like, DIY Network, MakeZine BLOG, Hobby Robotics, the potential for solving our every day problems is getting closer thanks to these 'thinkers'. At the people’s fingertips, we all have the ability to create projects like a Wii-Mote controlled interactive whiteboard. These small projects and details provide us everything we need to know for creating them ourselves. The open-source community will be a deciding factor in our spread of free knowledge. The information age is at its peak once true communities of people are able to spread ideas and innovations freely without censorship. These websites provoke free thought, and push us to discover, innovate, create and do.

Instead of buying a game controller for $50, the open source community gives the average Joe a way to make his own controller, which could only consist of the taking apart of old equipment, costing nothing. How about an electronic drum set? There are hundreds of websites with specs to create your own drum set with simple electronics using a drum brain, or an Arduino microcontroller, which happens to be an open-source programmable interface. Using simple C code to program this microcontroller, we all have the ability to cheaply create electronics with freely available source code with specs. Even businesses like Microsoft, they have identified the community as providing quality products by introducing XNA Game Studio, freely available to create games for Windows and Xbox360.

The major contenders in this information age happen to be the every day person, thanks to open communities of doers and thinkers. Pick yourself up an Arduino and start making your own robot or Google a DIY website and create your own stuff.

World of Warcraft - an elite gaming experience


World of Warcraft is a commonly known MMORPG. Its leading edge game design makes it one of the best MMORPGs on the market. As a whole, the game is made up of two key parts, PVE (Player Vs Environment) and PVP (Player Vs Player). Let’s take a look at how each part has a large roll in this game.

First, let’s tackle PVE. In PVE, the objective is to band together with other players and conquer difficult dungeons. This is called a Raid. Raids can be comprised anywhere from 10 to 25 players. Lead by a raid leader, a raid bands together with the common goal of vanquishing challenging bosses and receive the rare treasures hidden in the dungeon. Some dungeons are too challenging to face with out decent gear (items your character wears to make them stronger). To advance to the harder dungeons, raids need to utilize the treasures from the easier dungeons until they get strong enough to move on. This is one of the challenging parts of PVE. The most difficult part of PVE is learning the boss fights. Each boss in the game has different abilities and thus requires different strategies to beat them. Some fights require lots of practice and team work to beat, and can prove to be difficult. Both the difficultly of the dungeons as well as the different strategies of the bosses, add to the PVE experience.

Now let’s talk about PVP. PVP is known as a fast paced battle royal. Two sides of the battle, the Horde and the Alliance, battle for the objective of the battleground. There are four different battlegrounds, Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley, Eye of the Storm and Arathi Basin. All 4 of these battlegrounds have different objectives.

Warsong Gulch - Capture the flag
Alterac Valley - Destroy the enemies base
Arathi Basin – Capture territories
Eye of the Storm – combination of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin
The dynamic battles in each battleground keep you on the edge of your seat as fight to win.

The difference between PVE and PVE describe two different game experiences. Some choose to stick to just one side, while others choose to do both. Personally I find PVP more thrilling than PVE but it’s up to you to try out World of Warcraft find out which aspect of the game adds the most to its award winning design.

Hubble Space Telescope


It looks as though the Hubble Telescopes life is just about done. Just prior to a scheduled repair and upgrade mission of October 14th, 2008, the Hubble Telescope took a turn for the worst. Not only are the main navigation systems responsible for maintaining an orbit malfunctioning, but more recently, the command and data-handling systems responsible for transmitting images back to earth have broken down. Interestingly enough, NASA has absolutely no idea what the cause is, although it is believed that the angry aliens finally put an end to the equipment used by the galactic peeping toms.

As a temporary solution NASA will be firing up the back up systems which have not been used since the late 1980s. Despite the set back, NASA is thrilled that the malfunction has occurred. Ed Weiler states:

“Think about if this failure had occurred two weeks after the servicing mission, we had just put two brand new instruments in and thought we extended the lifetime for five, 10 years and this thing failed after the last shuttle mission to Hubble. So in some sense, if this had to happen, it couldn't have happened at a better time.”

The much needed upgrades and repairs will have to be placed on hold while scientists back on Earth prepare the modules required to replace the old command and data relays. As a result, the mission will be scheduled to launch at the earliest date of the first quarter of 2009.

The Leica S2 Digital SLR

The German camera company, Leica, has been making premium quality 35mm cameras since 1925.  On September 23, 2008, Leica announced their brand new autofocus Digital SLR system, which has been branded the “S” System.  The Leica S2 is the first camera to be released in the S system.  The S2 features a 37.5 megapixel CCD sensor, in a weatherproof camera body that is similar in size to most current DSLR systems that are already available.  The gigantic sensor measures 30x45mm, which is 56% larger than a traditional full-frame sensor, and an industry first.


Although the statistics of the new Leica sensor are impressive, they introduce a few new problems.  The biggest problem created by this relatively massive sensor is also its main selling point.  Traditional lenses are designed to fill a 35mm frame, however, because the Leica sensor is so much bigger, new lenses must be designed to properly focus an image to fill the entire frame.  Because Leica is the only manufacturer of this sensor, and therefore, these lenses; they can charge an astronomical price for the lenses, and professional photographers will have no choice but to pay up if they want to remain competitive in their industry. 


On the topic of price, there’s the camera body itself.  There’s really no gentle way to put this, so I’m just going to say it; this camera costs $45,000.  Once again, because Leica has this unique market all to themselves right now, they can afford to charge this much and still expect to receive a large number of customers.  Although the price is outrageous, and the potential for problems is high, there is unfortunately no compromise for any professional photographer who is in the market for a large-format digital SLR.

Technology & Oscar

When people think of technology I think the first thing they think of is the newest “toy” out in the market, an iPod, a camera phone, or what have you. Usually these things are just distractions that people use to occupy their time. I think it is important to remember that technology is also deconstructing peoples’ preconceived notions, notably regarding the disabled.


I think everyone is familiar with Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter with no legs, who, this Olympics in Beijing almost qualified to compete in the 100m dash but was denied because the IOC deemed his prosthetics to be an unfair technological advantage. Interesting, the artificial limbs he uses are not the most technologically advanced. Oscar notes that he uses a lesser quality prosthetic because he grew up using them and feels most comfortable using them to compete. Even with the prosthetics, Oscar was still a second short for qualifying for the Olympics. Oscar is affectionately dubbed “the fastest man with no legs”.


What I find most intriguing about Oscar’s story is the paradox it poses. Can a man with prosthetic legs really be considered disabled anymore? Can we really look at a man with artificial limbs, someone who essentially stands shoulder to shoulder with the world’s most physically gifted athletes, and attach the title “disabled” to him? No. Technology has afforded him the liberty to, not only, live a normal life but to compete in the highest test of physical ability in the world. 20 years ago, society would see a man with prosthetic limbs and have pity for him, now we look at him with revere… because of technology.

Past and Present of Music Storage

Most people have a good time listening to music. Throughout history, music has been a symbolic way of showing many things; from signs of war to ways of celebrating. There are many different genres of music in the world and every song has a meaning. That being said, as our technology has increased, we have developed new means of storing, listening, and creating our many different types of music.


In the 1870’s, Thomas Edison created a working Phonograph (Record Player). This invention used a rotating disk and an arm to navigate to the section of data on the disk. If we are to look at this invention of a vinyl disk that uses grooves to store memory and look at current hard drives that use a navigational arm and magnetic memory, we see a striking similarity. This pays homage to the older ways of invention.


In 1935, Joseph Bagun invented the first magnetic tape player called the Sound Mirror and then created the first cassette player the Dailygraph. In 1962, compact versions of cassettes (Polyester tape with magnetic dust) were available allowing people to even carry music on the go using Walkman’s (created by Sony in 1979) that were around six by four inches. This changed the way music was stored from large records to a smaller more portable packages. Music has become a convenience to many people in their cars, at home, and in their ears on the go. As is with all technology, when it progresses and is sold to consumers; it will become cheap.


Around the same time that Sony invented Walkman’s (1979) they also with the Philips Company invented the compact disc. The Compact Disc uses Digital a data storage approach, adding more quality and convenience. The quality of the discs compared to a tape is greatly increased, a disc can have from seventy to eighty minutes of music but the quality can vary, this is not the case with cassettes as their quality cannot be changed from the original tape material. CD’s (Compact Disc) could also be stored more effectively due to their small disc shape and stack ability. Upgrading from magnetic to digital also made the usage of the CD’s more users friendly and lead to capability of computer based music storage. For example, people could now skip a song instead of fast-forwarding and you could store and burn songs on your computer.


Computers allow the management of music in many different formats stored in both solid state chips and on hard disks. A computer can store masses of music in a small portion of space, making CD’s only convenient for mobile purposes. As technology grew - as it always does - it reduced the size of physical components, allowing devices to do more. This progression of technology and the worlds love of music lead to the MP3 player. MP3 Players (Created by Saehan Information Systems in 1998) are small portable devices that store music similar to the way that computers, Digital memory on Hard Drives and Chip Boards do. This has made mobile music playing easier and in greater amounts. For example, instead of carrying a stack of CD’s, the user can carry three by two inch devices that can store more music than needed (over one thousand songs). In today’s world, it is highly unlikely to go to a public area and see anyone without headphones in their ears and an MP3 strapped to their body.

The Internet and the Decline of Individual Thought

The Internet is a powerful invention of the 20th Century. It has changed the way that information is transmitted and has opened up a wealth of knowledge to those that choose to use it. Through blogs and social networking sites, like Facebook and forums, people can share ideas and discuss the latest news. However, with this level of connectedness, there is a danger that our minds will become homogenized and that individual thought will grow increasingly less important.

In the Internet age, if someone wants to know something, they can find the desired information immediately through websites like Google or Wikipedia. This is convenient, but doesn’t foster original thought. In the past, when information was harder to come by, people had to put more effort into finding answers to their questions. Nowadays, you can find information nearly effortlessly, with a machine doing all the work. If you can come to a conclusion without thinking, then you aren’t really learning. Furthermore, if you can simply find whatever you want through a quick Google search, then you don’t really need to retain that information either. Because of this, people may become content to let their mind stagnate.

By the very fact that we are all connected to each other and to the world’s information, each of us is in danger of becoming less individual in our thoughts and opinions. You can already see a group mentality in the Internet through memes. There are thousands of Internet memes, all very annoying. The very nature of a meme encourages endless repetition for no reason except for the propagation of worthless information. Instead of thinking about an issue or topic, it is easy for a person to use a meme or image that provides a cookie cutter answer. This can be humorous and fun, but if this is what the entire world turns into, we will not advance. If, for every conversation, you could have an automated system provide you with suitable sentences, then you wouldn’t be thinking for yourself.

The Internet age holds a lot of promise. There are endless things to see and countless things to learn, but there is a risk that we may actually lose our ability to think for ourselves. There is a sea of knowledge on the web, but we should use it to augment our own capabilities, rather than replace them.

Image taken from Wikipedia.

The Wikipedia Conspiracy

Wikipedia is a popular web encyclopedia which is has lots on information on various topics. The way it gets its information is through users that write and edit articles freely. This is an advantage to the site because people can share knowledge with one another freely, however, this can be a big disadvantage because anyone can either add false information to the site or edit existing information to give a certain impression on the topic. Such organizations that take advantage of Wikipedia’s disadvantages include the C.I.A., the Democratic Party (United States), Microsoft and Diebold whose reasoning is to hide the truth from the masses.

These organizations were discovered editing articles thanks to a web tool known as Wikipedia Scanner. This tool works by tracking the IP addresses of anonymous edititors.

Diebold is a voting machine company in the United States. In October 2005, an anonymous user using the company’s IP address deleted many paragraphs on an article about them that questioned the integrity of their voting machines and their CEO’s fund raising for President George W. Bush. One month later, another edit was made by an anonymous user using the company’s IP address. This edit was the removal of paragraphs and links to stories about the alleged rigging of the 2000 United States elections.

The C.I.A. was responsible for a number of edits on the site. One article edited was about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and another article about former C.I.A. chief Porter Goss.

In 2007 Microsoft offered money to go through articles on document standards that other companies and Microsoft are using.

The reason why major organizations such as these would want to edit articles about themselves or of other subjects is because of propaganda. They want to make themselves look as close to perfect as possible in the public eye in order to promote the illusion that there are no flaws with whatever person, organization or system that the public complain about. This is done by manipulating different forms of media whenever they can so that they can cover up the truth from the masses. That truth is that they want to enslave the general public using technologies such as the internet (targeting popular web sites such as Wikipedia) as seen in the paragraphs above as a medium for diverting the public from having a freedom of choice when it comes to the products that they want, what injustices they choose to fight (if they choose) and which person they want to lead the country and so forth. In order for the masses to make their decision effectively, they must be exposed to the truth and not be trapped in the illusions that these organizations are creating.

Info Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6947532.stm
http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/08/wiki_tracker

Pornography: A Driving Force of Technology


While many people may disapprove of pornography, few can say they have never looked at it and nobody can deny the profound impact it has had on technology. In the 16th century pornography helped to popularize the printing press, and in the 19th century it left its mark on photography. Again in the 20th century legend has it that Sony’s unwillingness to work with porn producers led to the demise of the Betamax and the rise of VHS. And again it was porn that drove sales of DVDs. Unlike VHS, DVDs allow users to quickly skip to their favourite scenes and change angles at their will. Do you ever watch pay-per-view? Can you guess who pioneered that? That’s right the porn industry. Today pornography’s impact on the internet is undeniable. Pornography fuels the need for high speed internet connections, as well as video streaming technology. The amount of revenue generated by pornography is absurd. That revenue is then used to develop new and innovative technologies. The porn industry’s massive success on the internet has led other online businesses to look to porn leaders for advice. Danni Ashe, a one time nude model, turned entrepreneur, now serves as a consultant to other companies looking to emulate her e-commerce model. Take a look at this article to find out more about her http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/arssashe.htm (yes this link is safe for work). To further illustrate my point, here are some interesting statistics about porn and the internet.
  • Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography
  • Every second - 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography
  • Every second - 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines
  • The pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies
    combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink.
So the next time you look at porn (if you do indeed look at porn), think about the many contributions it has made to your daily life. From the printing press to the internet, porn will always be a major player in the development of new technologies. (All statistics taken from http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics)

The Benefits of VNC

Virtual Network Computing is a protocol used to control one computer’s keyboard and mouse over a network from a different computer. This protocol creates many advantages and disadvantages for those who use it. Since VNC is simply a protocol, many software developers have created programs for many platforms making the protocol cross-platform. The implementation of VNC for businesses allows IT departments located anywhere on a wide or local area network able to diagnose and fix problems. Many people have also discovered VNC to be a valuable protocol to use at home for personal uses Once fully set up and configured, VNC is powerful and extremely stable but the set up for many users tends to be difficult.

The VNC protocol is very functional and robust as a cross platform solution. With many software solutions for many platforms, interchangeability is a clear advantage. Most of the business world runs Windows while some users prefer Mac OS X. The majority of IT setups run a variation of UNIX or Linux for their operating systems, this creates incompatibility in a business environment. Luckily VNC allows users running one operating system control and interact as if they are using a different operating system. This allows IT departments to help other areas of a business with any problems they run into with software they may be unfamiliar with.

In a personal setting, VNC isn’t as flexible when compared to a business setting. Many users use VNC to access a desktop computer with intense applications from a less powerful laptop somewhere else in the house. The average user will have difficulty setting up a VNC server, especially if they don’t understand the basics of networking. The only way to make a connection to a VNC server is through a direct IP address. This makes both local and remote access rather difficult to set up. If a user wants to control a computer on a local network from the Internet they need to worry about dynamic IPs and port forwarding but with the simplicity of modern hardware and software, most people can overcome these initial issues.


Users interested in using VNC should check out some freeware VNC applications. For Windows and Linux, a simple but powerful VNC server and client is
TightVNC. For Mac users, A VNC server is built right into OS X but a compatible client such as Chicken of the VNC must be used to connect using OS X. Each of these examples can connect to each other this makes them interchangeable. Sure the set up is a little tedious but anybody can benefit from a VNC setup. Don’t be shy, give VNC a go sometime.

Retrogaming

Given the raw processing power at our fingertips these days, why is it that we hold dear those games with pixelated graphics, 8 bit sound, and only two buttons? Some would hold it to nostalgia, of the classic games of our youth. Super Mario Bros is something that most of us would know from our childhoods, and would happily play again given some free time. Some attribute it to sheer game design. They accuse modern games of overlooking gameplay in favour of graphics and marketing, preferring the simple and intuitive controls offered by having only a few buttons.

However, these factors are not enough by themselves. Nostalgia cannot be the answer, as gamers explore old games they have never tried before, and many newer games deliberately use 8 bit technology. Citing the recently released (Sept 08) Megaman 9 as an example, its cover is made to be purposely retro, and it even includes graphical glitches from older technologies, such as enemies flickering when too many of them are on screen.

Game design cannot be solely responsible either, as innovative new games are undoubtedly still in production, as video gaming is seeing unprecedented levels of support from all demographics. Most gamers have a mix of old and new games in their collection to suit their tastes.

For whatever reason, it just seems that simple, pixelated, retro-games hold a certain place in our hearts. The three major consoles have all adapted their own versions of support for old games; the Wii's Virtual Console, X-Box Live Arcade, and the Playstation Network. In addition, retro enthusiasts go the extra mile and own the original systems and their cartridges for their favorite games. It is safe to say that the classics are not disappearing anytime soon.
Physicists draw up plans for real 'cloaking device

19:00 25 May 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Zeeya Merali
NewScientist.com

Physicists are attempting to create a device that could render objects invisible to the human eye. Objects become visible to our eyes due to the way light normally bounces off its surface. Physicist John Pendry and colleagues at Imperial College London, UK, are attempting to create materials, know as metamaterials that will have abnormal optical properties. Metamaterials are composites that are made from electronic components that can be engineered to control the way light travels through them. Pendry's team are calculating that due to its unique shape, light could pass around an object and make it appear as if it was not there. Pendry and his colleagues have drawn up plans for a spherical metamaterial that could potentially render an enclosed object invisible to the eye. In theory; Pendry’s team discusses the types of material properties needed at each point, but the challenge is to match the theory requirements with actual material.

In the past, others have drawn designs for invisibility cloaks. The idea was to calculate exactly how light is scattered off an objects surface, and attempt to design a material to exactly cancel the light reflection. Pendry says that his idea will be different because past designs could not be used for cloaking multiple objects under the same cloak. The difficulty with Pendry’s team design is that it will only work at wavelength larger than visible light. To get by this obstacle Pendry’s team will have to create metamaterials at the nanoscale. Working with materials at a nanoscale makes it “far more difficult to control the metal’s properties,” said team member David Smith. However, he believes that cloaking could become a reality within the next decade.

By: Danny Brown

Will iPod ever stop?


When I first saw iPod released on the market, I never thought that it could become today best sold mp3 player on the market. Apple has been developing their iPod to be one of the most fantastic mp3 players ever in the digital music world. The most recent release of new iPod nano really draws my attention to “want” it, although I already have a 30G iPod video. They design the new iPod nano into a really slick and thin that hold up to 16G of digital files, including music, videos, pictures and games… etc. The quality is amazing, with the Apple technologies, the new iPod nano has some cool features, like shaking to shuffle your songs, games that use some sort of sensor and manipulate the way you tilt the device itself, which I found very interesting. There are 9 different colours you can choose from and it is very nice, I personally would love to have the purple one. I have seen so many different kinds of iPod ever since and this new one really draw my attention to it (not to mention I am still considering iPhone but still waiting for the price drop), because the price is affordable 8Gb for $149, 16Gb for $199. If you loved music, you would definitely need to consider this new device as your toy. Apple has been developing their iPod since 2001 and never stops since then. I am thinking when will iPod ever stop being developed?

Source: apple.com

Xenogears: A Diamond in the Rough


Some of you may be familiar with the role playing game (RPG) Xenosaga released in 2002 for the PS2. This game well primarily known for its excellent presentation and heavy use of cut scenes was not technically the first to bear the ‘Xeno’ name. This would have to go the often forgotten but excellent game Xenogears for the PS1.


Released in 1998 by Squaresoft Xenogears was a very different experience in terms of what was on the market at the time. First off it should be mentioned that this game almost did not get released in North America. This is heavily do to the amount of religious content in the game that the developers felt would not go over well in the US. The storyline deals with a wide variety of themes such as human nature, the struggle between man and machine, and of course love. To avoid spoiling any of the storyline I will sum up that the story is very rich and full of character. In terms of Xenogears presentation it seems very dated by today’s standards. All environments in the game are in 3D while the characters are 2D sprites. While some may be turned off by this aspect I have no problems with dated graphics since it does not take away from the overall quality of the game. One of the major aspects of Xenogears presentation that garners a lot of praise is the music in the game. Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda famous for his work on video game soundtracks he contributed what many consider to be a masterpiece. Moving onto the gameplay in Xenogears, one can say that it is a traditional RPG with random battles and leveling up. At the same time it has its own gimmick like any other game. In Xenogears you either have the option of fighting battles hand to hand or in your giant robots called ‘gears’. So not only do you have varied customization of your characters but also of their respective gears they pilot.


It is truly not an easy task to summarize such a great game like Xenogears and give it the justice it deserves. From my brief comments on the game I hope it will convince you to check it out sometime. You surely will not be disappointed!

Review: Mass Effect


From the developers of one of the greatest Star Wars games, BioWare has given us yet another work of art in the form of a video game. I have been a gamer ever since I was able to pick up a controller and i can say with confidence that Mass Effect is one of the best games I have ever played. You start off the game as Commander Sherpard, customizing not only your appearance, gender, and class but you also choose how you were brought up and what defining role you played in various military battles. From there the fun begins as you get launched into an in depth and interactive story. The game has an innovative conversation system where when people talk to you you choose what point you want to get across to them from an easy to use menu. You can even choose your dialog before the person stops talking so the conversation will remain fluent. This and the amazing story line, filled with twists and turns, make the game one of the most immersive gaming experiences ive played thus far.

The combat takes shape in the Third-person shooter type and is very well structured, having you command two other party members of your choosing, issuing them orders like what skills to and weapons to use. This takes place in a menu that pauses the fight where you also choose what skills you would like to utilize. It has a variety of weapons, armor and skills that will make every fight fun and many since there are many difficulties to choose from so you can play the game with a challenge.

The progression of your character and of those in your squad is very unique to most RPGs. You can choose whether or not to talk to each character and learn about their history and background and even have intimate relations with them. The skills trees add a good amount of depth to the game and will make you strategically choose your squad members to help synergize your own skills.

Mass Effect graphics are extremely realistic having characters look and move as if they were real, beautiful and lush scenery and very cool skill effects. This brings me to the only bad point of this game that I could find and that is the occasional FPS drop and texture pop-ins.

With playing the majority of the optional side missions along with the main storyline this game can easily clock in at around 35-40 hours. With all of the bonus content and DLC you will want to play through this game again and again. I myself have played through it almost 3 times and I am always finding new things that I never found before. If you havent played this game by now and have an Xbox360 I recommend buying it, because trust me, it is worth your money.

iPhone and Its Flaws



The iPhone was release in Canada on July of 2008 and it has a lot of issues that surrounded it. I was one of the user that was in line to get one on that day. Activation, connectivity and some features are some of the problems that arose. The data plan was also in question and was largely unacceptable to most of the potential users.

On July 11, 2008, I was in line for 2 hours just to have my very own iPhone. This in itself requires patience because it is not fun at all standing in one spot for that long. After being entertained by a customer representative, I still have to wait another hour and a half to have it set up. Their reasoning is that their servers were having a lot of traffic congestion due to the launch. I call that laziness on their IT department. They know that the iPhone is going to be huge and they didn't do any preparations or precautions for its launch. Getting my phone after that hassle gave me a bit of relief however, a month later, I was shocked that they billed me $900 because they forgot to activate my data plan! Calling the help desk was a pain in the behind too since they had to redirect my already redirected call to another person which in turn preceded to inform me that I have to go to a Rogers Center to have it fixed.

Connectivity also is an issue with the iPhone. For some unknown reason, I can’t use my Bluetooth. It can't detect or be detected by other bluetooth operating phones. The phone also tends to drop calls and is somewhat slow in recovering data from the Internet. Video recording app is currently unavailable from iTunes which in my opinion is stupid since almost all phones now have that capability.

Overall, perfection attained through fixing flaws and I believe in the near future that the iPhone will be a flawless smart phone that is slick, stylish, catchy and affordable. Regardless of its flaws, I still love my phone and would still recommend it to my friends. Friends that can afford the data plan that is.

Picture Source: http://www.apple.com/ca/

Lineage II True Satisfaction

For many North Americans Lineage II is an unfamiliar and unheard of game. They are captured by other MMORPG’s that dominate their life and blind them from other possibilities. In truth Lineage is one of the most popular MMORPG's in the world. In Korea it is a dominating force and continues to swell in popularity, this swell has moved towards Europe and is now starting to be seen in North America.

The game is not for all, it takes a certain type of player to enjoy this game. There is little room for players that want to wander the world with a care free spirit, you have to move your way to the top or be killed. The game is highly based on community play; it involves mass siege wars between several clans and allies. Battles turn into epic chaos when sieges consist of more than 150 players at a time. These mass pvp’s are just one of the interesting parts of L2. Working together as a clan is the main point of the game; few players can succeed by going out on their own. Nothing in the game comes with ease, players must work hard to get the goods they want and the satisfaction that comes with it is great.

Besides interesting game play Lineage II is a world designed with rich and refreshing graphics. True to the Korean spirit it is a very flashy and vivid world which is one of the reasons it is so captivating. In my opinion Lineage II is an addicting, challenging world always changing, with great rewards. Working your way up from the bottom lets you have a sense of satisfaction, the world can be harsh but eventually you look back see what you have accomplished and say “DAMN THAT WAS AN EXCELLENT WASTE OF TIME!”




Technology & Art

Art was once a giant mural on the roof of a church, art has progress from paintings to photography and finally to digital images and animation. When we look at photographs online they may have been edited to suit the photographer’s need, they may also have been completely rendered in a digital environment. Animation has been taken to a whole new level. Where animation was once only cartoon characters, actors are now able to do physically impossible moves or be in imaginary places because an animator can digitally create the scenes or moves. Dinosaurs can move; they have skin and muscle, something only possible through animation. If an engineer created a dinosaur, it would appear less realistic. Animation can show sweat and movement much better than fabric and machines. Animation can also allow people to see something as more of a story, not existent in our daily world. If we look at the movie ‘Beowulf’ originally when you watched the movie you may have believed that the characters were completely human. Animators spent a great deal of time on this movie, if you look closely at the characters’ hair you can see each individual strand, something you would probably never notice with truly real actors. The characters’ skin also appears too flawless to be real. These small details make the movie more believable as a story. If the movie was created without these effects it would appear false and unappealing, technology has allowed for a more fantasy based appeal. While highly realistic there is something missing from an animated character that allows us to accept the possibilities of the story.


Shadow Hearts best game ever!!!

This game was pleasant surprise when I bought it. For the time it came out its graphics where pretty crappy, but it is able to set a mood so creepy it makes up for this fact. This game is an RPG, where you choose characters to make up a team. The main character is this guy with the ability to fuse with demon souls making freaky hybrids. The battle system is pretty cool in that it is much more interactive then your standard RPG of the time, you have this thing called the judgment ring. An arm swings around the ring and has certain parts where you must hit the button, this parts have small red slices at the end and if you hit it in the red you get a critical strike. As well you have sanity points which slowly runs down after each move, when you run out you go berserk and attack anything including your own guys. The story of this game revolves around demons and sorcery. It has monsters from both western and eastern myths and religions. Because of the epic story, interesting battle mechanics, and overall feel of the game this ended up being one of the best games I have ever played.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Game programming has never been easier

In recent days, game programming has become near impossible for a solo or small group to accomplish. Unless you can afford to pay for a game engine, a huge amount of time is spent setting up an environment before you can even start thinking about the game logic or graphical implementation. For console game development it was financially impossible as the physical development kit required would cost a fortune for a budding game designer. Microsoft has now developed a way to make it viable for everyone and the best part is that it is virtually free.

XNA Game Studio, an addition to Visual C# Express Edition, has given hope to game designers around the world. It provides a developer with all of the tools that they require to jump right into game development without the need to worry about the down and dirty parts of game programming. After loading the XNA Game template, it is now possible that after a tutorial or two you could start bouncing sprites around the default Cornflower Blue screen. However, if you are brand new to everything in game programming it won’t write a game for you and a certain degree of vector mathematics and logical design will be required but there are many sites and books that can help in this department.

Microsoft also hosts a giant resource of tutorials specifically for XNA within the XNA Creators Club. Within the forums you will also find a plethora of information regarding programming within XNA. Making Windows games has never been easier or better supported and a $99 yearly fee for the premium membership with the creators clubs gives you the ability to play your creations on your own Xbox. Developing games has never been as affordable or easy as it is now.

How to build a computer

More and more people build computers nowadays. Many of them do this as a hobby, for some of them this is dedication, and for some this is just a job. I would say that building a computer is fun if you follow certain steps. Soon as you learn them you will notice that the only thing that stops you of building your dream computer is money. Because of this, building any computer starts on a paper.

First you have to decide what will be the major purpose of the computer. It will be for gaming, multimedia, business, or it will be a server? By doing this you choose on which computer’s parts you will spend most of your money. The next step is to put on paper what kind of parts you would like to have. What kind of processor you will use. Do you want AMD or Intel? Do you want solo, dual or quad core? By choosing the processor, you choose the certain types of motherboards that you could use with this processor. That depends on the number of pins and the bus speed required by the processor. But before you choose your motherboard, you should decide on what type of RAM memory and video card you need. Do you want DDR, DDR2, or DDR3 memory? Do you want single channel or double channel, and what memory speed you need? How many memory slots do you need? Next, you have to decide on type of video card. Do you want AGP or PSI-Express video card? Most people will choose PCI-Express, and if you are gamer this will raise another question. How many video card you want on your motherboard? Do you want motherboard with SLI support? Then, you have to determine, how important is sound card or network card for you? Nowadays, most motherboards come with built-in sound and network cards, and most of the people are satisfied with it.

After making these decisions, it will be much easier to choose right motherboard for your computer. Now you have to only decide on what kind and how many hard drive and input-output devices (floppy, CD, DVD, Blue Ray) you will use? Do you want IDE or SATA connectors? From here you will choose your power supply, because more cards and drives you use, more cooling fans and more power you will need for your computer. Also, for some people are very important numbers of E-SATA, USB, IEEE 1394 (fire wire) and chassis fan connectors on motherboard. But these connectors, except for the fans, you can always add to the computer.

Finally, you can select the motherboard, and it’s time to choose proper casing. For the gamers and servers it will be full tower. For everybody else medium size is more than enough. With this you decide on most of your compute parts. Now, you have to somehow put the parts in your price-range, buy them, put computer together, and have a fun. Good luck!

Energy: Every solution is faced with a difficult decision

Revolutionary thinker and theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku, talks about the year 2057 being a tremendous footprint on the technological advancement of mankind. From various pieces of literature, he alludes to this incumbent year in which we receive true salvation from our ancestral counterparts. It is projected that by this time, we will have finally been able to manipulate the energy from the sun with enough efficiency to power planet Earth’s ever-growing energy demands.

Currently, solar technologies being used are already becoming household and inexpensive in nature. The lights in my backyard, for example, are powered by batteries which are recharged by four small solar panels made mostly from silicon. However, the efficiency level of silicon-based solar technology is rated at a mere 14%, due largely to the fact that silicon is mainly capable of only absorbing infrared light, while ignoring the rest of the color spectrum, such as ultra-violet and visible light. In order for this technology to replace oil or coal for our energy demands, it is estimated that our efficiency levels will need a roughly 50% level of diffusion.

So this brings us to our current year, 2008. What will happen in the next 49 years? Well the current energy powerhouses of the world are already investing millions into technological research and development of solar energy. Much like the human genome project, where it took several years to simply map 3% of the human genome, skeptics were rampant with their degradation of the project. It was considered a waste of resources as it would take hundreds of years to accomplish such as a task. This example of skepticism lies deep within linear thinkers who did not realize one simple concept: Exponential growth. With exponential growth, we can easily foresee a future (in as little as 49 years) where mankind is finally able to harness the limitless power of the sun.


Corporations such as TÜV Rhineland and Daniel Vanmaekelbergh from the University of Utrecht are currently researching and developing new materials comprised mainly of cadmium and selenium, then heating them to 570 degrees Fahrenheit. At this extreme heat, the molecules arrange themselves into crystal lattices known as “nano crystals”. The light absorbing properties of these crystals have finally given scientists the material needed to harness greater potential of the suns spectrum of light. However, this answer to a problem has simply created a new and more complex problem. Think of your LCD monitor, where it contains several hundred-thousand pixels. What happens if you have a dead pixel? Well it simply cannot be fixed and must either be replaced or ignored. Now, let us replace the complexity of your LCD monitor with the billions upon billions of nano-crystals contained upon a single solar cell. Do we just ignore these flaws and deem them as acceptable losses?

The trend of the future seems to be, the greater the solution; comes a more complex theory with an equally opposite amount of room for error.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Don't Be Evil


In the modern world, corporations are everywhere. Real competition is increasingly scarce, with great conglomerates controlling whole industries. Where there is competition, it is usually only between a hand-full of giants. Broadcast media is a good example, with AOL Time Warner and Viacom controlling much of the traditional media people interact with. One of the newest of these omnipresent corporations is Google.

Google came to prominence as an internet search engine, but has since expanded to consume other areas of people’s lives by offering services such as e-mail, and document management. Through Picasa and Youtube, Google also has a hand in video and photo sharing. But Google’s reach does not, and will not, end there. With the launch of Google’s Chrome web browser, and Android, their operating system for smart phones, Google is edging their way into the daily lives of people around the world. They pledge to organize all of the world’s data, as can be observed through their Book, and Earth Services, and their initiative to scan old newspapers for purposes of posterity.


So is Google’s omnipresence positive or negative? It is clear that Google has already done a great deal for increasing the availability of information. In this regard, they have already improved our lives by controlling the presentation of the world’s data. But when one entity is given such power it should be a cause for concern. Google’s unofficial motto is “Don’t Be Evil”, but there are already privacy concerns being voiced over what rights Google has over the use of collected data and how long it can be retained. Google is also being ridiculed for censoring web content in China in cooperation with the Chinese government.


When it comes to the Chinese censorship issue, Google’s motto has shifted more towards “Do the Lesser Evil”. Google concluded that it would be better to give the Chinese some access to their search tools, even if the access was limited. As the company continues to grow, we can only hope that Google chooses to follow its original mantra, while refraining from falling victim to the culture of neglect we’ve come to expect from corporations. A collapse of core values could mean trouble, giving them a poor public image such as that which Microsoft has gained. As Google gains increasing levels of power throughout the world they should be reminded, “Don’t Be Evil”.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Computers of the Future

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In the next couple of years, computers will use more and more cores. Intel’s new 6-core processor is proof of this. The question I have is whether our operating systems can support that many cores. Windows Vista can support an unlimited number of cores, but there is a limit to the number of physical processors (a processor contains at least one core).

In my opinion, there is a problem because adding cores does not make your computer that much faster (speaking from personal experience) except when you are running multiple programmes at the same time. In that case, it is a bit faster. I have a 2 Gigahertz dual-core computer and a 2.4 single-core computer. They both take a long time to boot up because that is one task. Once running, the dual-core is faster because it is doing multiple tasks at the same time. Even running MSN in the background is a task to the computer. The individual programmes themselves don’t run much faster. If they do, it is because the dual-core computer also has a lot more ram and a better video card, which have nothing to do with the processor.

In a few years, people will 300 terabyte hard disks instead of 300 gigabyte ones. www.tigerdirect.ca has 1 terabyte hard disks for $149.99 as of September 23rd, 2008. Imagine what the price for a terabyte will be in a few years! Of course, with terabytes of hard disk space, we will also have terabytes of ram. Blue-Ray™ readers are around $180 (www.tigerdirect.ca) and I am sure that they will become standard in five years or less.

With all the changes to hardware, I estimate that, within a few more years, people will be running windows Vista as comfortably as they are running windows XP today.

-Jamie Marchant

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Blog Assignment Instructions

1. In order to post to this blog, you will need to authorize yourself using the email which I sent from Blogger inviting all of you to join this blog. If you do not click on the link presented in the email, then you will not be able to post to 4K Is Enough

1. If you do not yet have a Google or Blogger ID, then you need to Create An Account.

2. Login to www.blogger.com using your Google or Blogger ID.

3. You should see a list of blogs associated with your account. One of them should be "4K Is Enough". If you do not see thisblog entry, then you need to recheck your email for the invitation which I sent so that you can authorize yourself to Blogger.

4. Under the title for the 4K blog are several commands. Click and you will be able to submit a post to the blog.

5. Define your topic. You need to decide what you are going to write. Anything relating to the world of technology is allowed -- hardware, software, programming, networking, P2P and ISPs, gaming, digital art, consumer electronics devices, how people interact with technology, mobile computing, etc. The only thing which I do not want to see are previews. You can write about trends in technology which may have to do with the future, but do not write previews of consumer items such as upcoming video cards or MMO expansions.

6. Define your purpose. Are you reviewing something? Are you providing a How-To guide (how to set up a wireless network, for example)? Are you trying to inform readers of how something works? Are you providing your opinion in an editorial, or are you relaying information objectively?

7. Write your article in full paragraph format using full sentences. Check the style guide provided in the class lecture powerpoints for details. I recommend writing your post in a word processor before copying it to the Blogger post screen in your browser. Word processors back up your files as you work, while web browsers do not. You do not want to lose an hour or two of work because of a crash. Furthermore, word processors have spell check functions which you will find useful. Since HTML does not respect formatting as produced by a word processor, please leave a blank line between each paragraph.

8. I expect this assignment to be between 250 - 500 words. If you wish to go longer you can, but under no condition will I accept blog posts shorter than 250 words.

9. You can include pictures, video, sound, and any html scripts which you would like to include. At the very least, try to find some pictures which work with your text.

10. If you wish me to check your work before you make it public on this website, then submit your post no later than 48 hours before Tuesday's class.

Welcome to 4k Is Enough

Welcome to the blog for the Fall 2008 COMM 16565 class. 4k Is Enough will examine a wide variety of issues related to the world of technology and digital culture. Over the next few months, we will present a variety of articles for your perusal.

Students, feel free to post above and beyond the limits of class assignments. Have fun!

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