Deadline

Update: Even your GPU has a 2 sec timeout.

How do you estimate time?

1. Get data: writing down starting and stopping times
2. Shrink to fit: stick to that (good enough) and finish the task in that amount of time

• Nothing makes a person more productive than the last minute. – see other witty qoutes

• Only features used all the time should be perfect
• Truly unique features must be perfect
• Features that make customers talk about your solution must be perfect

See also:

• The Planning Fallacy by Marelisa
• Estimations are futile by Ramiro
• Examples of deadlines by James
• Quotes on time
• The power of tight deadlines by Craig

Amazon EC2 Hint

While I was playing around with Amazon EC2 I thought to highlight the following:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer

fSingleSessionPerUser

0×0

Allow multiple sessions per user

0×1

[...] Using a cmd window to type “shadow 0” to shadow to the console window. to exit the shadow on this session just press “Ctrl + * ” (the * seems have to use the * key at the number pad, which is not there if using most of notebook keyboard. wondering if there are settings to change the key map.)

See also: Scaled Remote Desktop

Update: You cannot enable Aero between Windows Server 2008 (remote) and Windows 7 (client). I wish I could have

Debugger.Launch

Whenever a .NET exception is thrown (Ctrl-D + E) or a breakpoint is tripped – OpCodes.Break –  asm int 3h -you may experience the following:

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.

Note: Sometimes the Debug button is missing.

Note: You can skip this dialog like this:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\DbgJITDebugLaunchSetting]

REG_DWORD

0×02

No registered JIT debugger was specified.

While I do not have Visual Studio Professional installed on this machine I thought I had it covered by installing .NET 4 SDK. No dice?

It seems I have to install .NET 2 SDK to get CLR Debugger.

Guess what, I have to uninstall (takes an hour?) .NET 4 SDK now because I ran out of memory and you simply cannot extend boot partition.

Note: This is a CLR 2 debugger and may not work win CLR 4 targets.

PS. This took me almost a day to come up with. I barely remember what I was trying to debug to begin with.

Update: You can also get the Solution Configuration back and here is how:

Be productive

Melanie talks about improving effectiveness by removing extra steps.

1. Broken Things
2. Ineffective Team
3. Outdated Billing Processes
4. Overly Complicated Systems
5. Poor Boundaries
6. Lack of Communication

 

See also: Increase your productivity through crowdsourcing by Rhea

Error loading jvm

When I was trying to use jsc to build a flash component the mxmlc compiler failed to launch with this message:

[exec] Error loading: C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\client\jvm.dll

Error loading: C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\client\jvm.dll

To fix that I copied from:

“C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\msvcr71.dll”

to (x86)

“C:\Windows\System32\msvcr71.dll”

to (x86) on 64bit windows

“C:\Windows\SysWOW64\msvcr71.dll”

 

Then I ran the generated swf file in the flash player which told me the following:

VerifyError: Error #1014: Class mx.core::BitmapAsset could not be found.

As this component was not part of the new BrowserApplication project template it had a custom build.bat which needed a new flag to be passed mxmlc.

-static-link-runtime-shared-libraries=true

Update from the future: While setting up a build environment in Amazon EC the same problem occurs.

Payment

See also: Android market In-app Billing

See also: MonetizationUseCase

Shader Smoke

How can I do that in WebGL?

And how do I visualize functions in WebGL?

Update: There is a library for that – WebGLOT by Dan!

Write WebGL in C# with JSC

In the following gallery you will be shown just how easy it is to download JSC, install, create a WebGL application (see the original) and run it in your WebGL enabled browser.

Would you want to program your shaders in C# instead? It would look something like this once implemented:

Update: See GLSL overview

Update: See WebGL Awesomeness

More examples: Shadertoy and Collada tron tank

More examples: Chocolux and take screenshot from 3d and Cubepaint

More examples: Raycolor and more and some dancing frogs? and a whale?

Something simple:

Shortest WebGL example

More examples: Ethanol

Update: GLSL minifier, and a small c++ demo

Can we port XNA to WebGL?

Update: For debugging and see WPF OpenGL.

Update: Photoshop effects

Update: Can we have COLLADA within HTML?

See also:

• Convert JavaScript to GLSL?
• WebGL Demoscene by Adrian
• Collada WebGL
• WebGL GPU Acceleration for the open web by Patrick
• WebGL Hands On  DevCon 2011 Slides
• Blender Cave Tileset by Clint
• Blender Zombie Sprites by Clint

If Games Had Super-Easy Mode

See also: multitouch space invader concept demo

GTA with better graphics

Sergeant, where is my bazooka.

Augmented Super Mario

Awesome!

I can already see. A looping background HTML Video element with WebGL elements transformed and layered on top.

See this motion tracker demo in Firefox nightly build. What if the video source is a webcam input from over the stratus p2p network? Could there be a game which could detect the opponents face gestures?

See this tracking realtime demo.

Applying the tech above a multiplayer game could look like this:

In the picture above the following items are distinguishable:

• Laptop
• TV or a PC with a large screen
• Mobile Device
  • Location and orientation awareness
• Camera
  • Face Gesture Recognition
  • Motion Detection
  • Augmented Actor or Marker Detection
• Microphone
  • Voice Recognition

In the end you will have multiple displays. A widescreen TV, your personal mobile device and the space visible to the camera.

Update:

Dynamic Content Injection

TV + Phone = Multiplayer

[...] This has lead to the development of what I feel is a strong framework for creating public installations and experiences that will allow smart phone users (on multiple platforms) to connect in an adhoc fashion.

Thanks Andrei!

WebGL Camp

In case you missed (like me) the webcasts – here they are.

1. Peterson Trethewey O3D “[...] WebGL is for making games”
2. Paul Brunt GLGE, WebGL via XML
3. Mark Barnes COLLADA
4. Giles Thomas Learning WebGL
5. Daniel Horn Sirikata
6. Daniel B. Miller WebM, Physics in 3D on WebGL
7. Trevor Smith Ten minutes to fun (tweakable examples)
8. Ewen Cheslack-Postava Scripts and simulation (Object space?)
9. Vladimir Vukicevic (File IO makes your app also an Offline Tool)
10. Alan Chaney Think Browser! REST!
11. Ken Russell Chrome, ANGLE

What is truth

[...] Truth can have a variety of meanings, from the state of being the case, being in accord with a particular fact or reality, being in accord with the body of real things, events, actuality, or fidelity to an

original or to a standard. …

Guess what, your truth may differ from the guy standing next to you because you precieve the world differently. So it appears to change your truth all one has to do is to change your reality. In our digital age it gets simpler by the minute.

What is “real”? How do you define “real”?

[...] the reality principle is one of the two major principles that govern the functioning of the mind. It designates the psyche’s necessary awareness of information concerning reality and stands in contradistinction to the pleasure/unpleasure principle, which seeks the discharge or elimination of …

Don’t trust reality. After all, it’s only a collective hunch. [oneliners]

Do you prefer comfort, consequences or truth? Below you will find a list of quotes by Nea.

1. “People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty.”  -Richard J. Needham
2. “A half truth is a whole lie.”  -Yiddish Proverb
3. “A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” -William Blake
4. “No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth.” -Francis Bacon
5. “A harmful truth is better than a useful lie.” -Thomas Mann
6. “The only way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard.” -Henry David Thoreau
7. “Some people will not tolerate such emotional honesty in communication.  They would rather defend their dishonesty on the grounds that it might hurt others.  Therefore, having rationalized their phoniness into nobility, they settle for superficial relationships.” -Unknown
8. “I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.” –Pietro Ariteno
9. “You can’t undo anything you’ve already done, but you can face up to it. You can tell the truth. You can seek forgiveness. And then let God do the rest.” –Unknown
10. “Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected” – Mahatma Gandhi
11. “Truth never tranquilizes. The defining property of truth is its ability to disturb.” -Solomon Short
12. “It is not nearly so important how well a message is received as how well it is sent. You cannot take responsibility for how well another accepts your truth; you can only ensure how well it is communicated. And by how well, I don’t mean merely how clearly; I mean how lovingly, how compassionately, how sensitively, how courageously, and how completely.” -Neale Donald Walsch
13. “Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence.” -Henri-Frederic Amiel
14. “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you” -Friedrich Nietzsche
15. “Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” -Maya Angelou
16. “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic” -John F. Kennedy
17. “Truth comes as conqueror only to those who have lost the art of receiving it as friend.” -Rabindranath Tagore
18. “We tell lies when we are afraid… afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us.  But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.”  -Tad Williams
19. “The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie.” –Ann Landers
20. “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
21. “Falsehood is easy, truth so difficult.” -George Elliot
22. “It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship.” – Henry Ward Beecher
23. “A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity” -Baltasar Gracian
24. “Peace if possible, truth at all costs.” -Martin Luther
25. “Honesty has a beautiful and refreshing simplicity about it. No ulterior motives. No hidden meanings. An absence of hypocrisy, duplicity, political games, and verbal superficiality. As honesty and real integrity characterize our lives, there will be no need to manipulate others.” -Chuck Swindoll

See also:

• Little lies and small promises.
• It’s time to tell the truth by Jeff
• Godfathers advice on lying by Ariston

 

Cardboard Warfare

Having done such warfare videos in the past check out this new masterpiece from CBE Films!

PS. Check out how the end menu is created. I like it It would me more awesome if it were also in a loop tho.

Awesome!

[...] mid-night nude tank-driving!