CHLF: Video Games

       Video games have been one of the driving forces for technology improvements, and it is because of gamers that we do have what we got today in the world of technology. I mean think about it, if it was not for gamers we would not have been able to fund certain core technology from artificial intelligence to faster equipment. When gaming was first peaking it's head out of the world, technology also was just popping up. Things was marvelous at that time.
       The very first video game was actually NOT pong like most people believe it is. It was a game by the name of "Tennis for Two" that was only available to play at a university. They was of course trying to push the limits of technology thus far, and what better way then to play with it to do things that we think are impossible at the time. Now some may say that this is a one and a lifetime thing, as in after this, games must have just been created for fun right? Wrong! Games like Star Fox was orginally built to test new parts of computer history, it is just that they became so popular with not only the developers but anyone who touched it.
        The evolution of the game is pretty vast and wonderful, and gets more exiting and complicated as time goes by. There are the ASCII adventures played on someones computer, where one would have to make decisions, and effectively follow the set in stone story line that the creator of the game had made; To the arcade games where there was less story and more of just trying to be better than the person before you. If one watches, they can see the two {Story driven and Competition driven} games start to merge, into what we have know.
        The technology that we have used to play these games have become better as well. Thanks to video games we have created faster computers, vast systems for entertainment at home, and 'smart' handheld devices that can, guess what, play games!\

Your Fellow Technomancer,

Kyle Atterson

How to: Create a PC Toolkit

       So, you are playing around on your computer, on windows, and suddenly your computer starts freaking out and you don't know what is going on? What do you do? Well, there is a chance that you just got a virus, or if you are lucky something else went wrong. Todays post I am going to talk and explain how to create a PC First Aid Kit.

       First question is what does a computer first aid kit need? Well, that is elementary my dear reader! A first aid kit needs to be able not only to help a computer when it goes whacky but also to help keeping it maintained. This means tools to help clean its' physical self, and also tools to keep its software self clean.

Without further ado, what is needed to start:

*A good size Container

*Windex (Or some screen cleaner)

*All-purpose cleaner (something relativity weak to be honest)

* Some pretty soft but strong paper towels

*A USB

*A Multi-tool

*Anti-Static Wrist Band

       Most of these are pretty self explanatory. You need both Windex and all-purpose cleaner because screen cleaners are always more effective than any all-purpose cleaners when it comes to cleaning screens. Those tools allow someone to clean someones computer so to kill germs, and prevent sticky keys if they spill something, like soda, on it. When working on a computer you should always wear a Anti-Static Wrist Band because if there is any static discharge on a computer you are trying to fix, bad things happen. Multi-tools allow portablity of a good amount of useful tools on the go, which is good for any quick fixes. Lastly, the one that needs most preparation but will be your defense for when you are working in the software realm of a computer: the usb.

       I suggest a USB with a good amount of memory for a good amount of tools. I usually use portable apps from portableapps.com but I am going to give a jist of what sort of portable apps one should get as well as what I usually grab myself.

Security:

* Antivirus:

       Always need a antivirus! Clamwin

* Spyware detection:

       I have used the portable of Spybot: S&D

* Eraser tool:

       I suggest something different on a usb just in case the eraser program on your computer found itself to have been modified. I do suggest another tool from portable apps: Eraser Portable.

Utilities:

* WinDirStat:

      WinDirStat allows someone to check what is taking up most memory on the computer at hand. 

       There are other things that would be nice to get, but I suggest to add what you feel like you need yourself, checking out the portableapps by yourself and seeing what you like. There is some very useful tools and fun things to get from there.

Before I go I would also like to mention that if you have a suggestion, or a question you can send it to me so I can make a post (maybe featuring it as one of the main, or even having an extra post for it). I do tend to want more idea's for the How To posts for Fridays so I know what is needed.

Your Fellow Technomancer,

Kyle Atterson

The internet's surfboard

     What is your favorite web browser? I enjoy most myself, but I also like to use each one as they each have better features than some in some area's. On my Windows I enjoy using Rockmelt because of the neat little chat features and also updates for my favorite things to read (like web comics and news sites). On my Linux I use chromium because of it's super speed compared to trying to use Firefox on it. But we can go on all day about different web browsers, but how often do we think about web browsers?
      The topic of web browsers is pretty broad in and of itself, there are how can one speed up a web browser, also topics of how does one test a web browser to see if it is any good, and also how does one work. I am going to try and cover some basic stuff here on this topic.

What is a good web browser:
     A good web browser is any good program/suite that you personally enjoy using. With how many different flavors there are there is no reason for one to be the ultimate browser. They each have their own good things about them. Some people enjoy just keeping with what is auto for their computers, so then they don't have to look around for something new, and that is ok. Some people enjoy sticking with something that is top of the line with features, and that is ok, and some people just enjoy ones that their friends use to keep their own lives simple when they have a problem, and that is ok.
     Some web browsers that are out right now:
         *Firefox: this one has a huge room for people who enjoy it. There are many different things that come with it, for people who are web developers, to people who are not. It has a form of itself on all operating systems as well, so if you dual boot one could keep the same feel of web browsers.
          *Chrome/Chromium: this one is growing rapidly, with the speed that it updates, and some of the nifty features that it comes with for simplicity of searching for things on the internet, even having a feature to allow you to search certain sites you been to before. It also allows people to use their accounts to save things to allow their settings to be saved.
           *Opera: Opera has been one that I have seen grow in only 4 years, and I do like what I have seen. In most cases it has some neat intiatives, while have a good strong community. Let us not forget to talk about the past of it with the ACID3 test. It was the first browser to ever get 100%, of course at that time it was a memory hog.
           *Safari: Safari is what I would suggest for someone who just wants to get online for one second and then get off. It has the fastest start up time light, but what was really amazing was the page load time for both uncached and cached sites, of which it is the fastest as well. It does not have many features, and your not going to see the Safari browser out side of a Mac OS very often.
           *Internet Explorer: IE is an ok browser, but its main focus today is for the average user. It is outstanding in only light memory management and Flash, so one should not focus to much with using this browser if you want to do some fun stuff with the internet. However, because it is built into Windows operating systems, it does have some features some web browsers can't dream of on a windows machine.

These are the two most common I have seen around, but certainly not the best, there are some that are really good that people don't use as much because they are unheard of.

Review Wednesday: Blender

Blender 2.62 Review

        In this day and age we all have watched 3D movies, especially the kids movies of this time. I enjoyed the amount of features, and how all one can do. The rendering of your projects are pretty clean as well. I also enjoyed the good support. But, the user friendliness is not that user friendly. It has awkward commands, and unless you want to spend a good amount of time being trained or reading/watching tutorials it is not that much fun

The good:
* Abundance of features!
* Nice clean cut 3D models
* Good support

The bad:
* Not user friendly

* Over whelming for starters


Last comment:
        I rate the program about 7/10. Not that great, but not that bad. There are things that need to be worked on so that it will be a top of the line of anything, but that is a good reason why it is Open Sourced.

Your Fellow Technomancer,

Kyle Atterson

What is the deal with ads?

So we have all seen ads and some of use have even an ad blocker, but how often do we even think about ads? Not like, "Oh, that is a pretty little ad." But how often do we think why ads exist? Why do most of us hate them? Is it because we find them annoying, or because we dislike what they stand for?

Ads to most people are annoying, they take up the space of a site where the creator could have used to add more content (or for game/video sites, it wastes our time). They also just have annoying color designs or makes annoying sounds, maybe they are even in such a place that would force us to think that they themselves are content that we need should click on.

Well, to be fair they do have their own place, they are a necessary evil if you will. They allow people who decide to take a chance and build a site, or do something wasting their own time and money, to try and get a little bit back. It gives some people the traffic they need to know that what they are doing is likable to some extent.

Why it is needed for a Creator:
    A creator needs ads so that they can get their stuff out there, because without that then no one would really know what they have made. Word of mouth can only go so far, and so can putting your site on a search engine, a good amount of traffic is going to come from ads, because some people will see something they like and click it.
    A creator also needs it so that they can have some way of getting money so that they can do what they love to do (create things for their audience). We all most likely have tried to do something in our lives, but found that the lack of money to support it usually was the defeat of the project whatever it was. Some people try and make sure that they save up to not only what they believe they need, but a lot more; while some go and put ads so that the fire they have for the fire does not burn out before they can get that money to do it.

Why it is needed for the Audience:
   The Audience needs them so that they know of what current new projects are going around. What new fun stuff is going around, so that they may go there and explore what they have. They need them so that they can be knowledgeable of what is going on else where.


So given those idea's and all, ads are a necessary evil but yet they do come in handy for some purposes.

CHLF: The Blogosphere

YTF Note: Sorry for short story, tired from doing a lot today, but still is pretty a interesting topic.

In 1997, the word "weblog" was coined by a Mr. Jorn Barger. The term was used for pages that held within them links to actual sites. One way to think of how this is, is think of your bookmark function on your browser. Now take that idea, and put it on a web page for the world to view. That was weblogging, the father to the blogosphere. The blogophere (a term that stands for the links between all blogs), is something that will always exist because of how the internet works with the interconnectedness.

Blogs soon started becoming adding more and more content to where they soon left what they started. They added more and more words and reviews and feelings and grew to they. Then as a joke someone said on his site "we blog" by splicing the weblog, and thus created the term blog.

We interrupt this program..

For some good information on what makes a good program. If you been following my blog posts you have already seen Pretty Suite Deal, which for those who don't know, was me talking about what I believe a program suite needs to be considered "good." Now it is time for the question, "What makes a program a good program?"

This in and of itself is actually simple in essence, but difficult for people to really grasp and use. I have seen open sourced programs that followed these, and was good,  but because of the little group of people who knew about it didn't tell people or for some other reason, it was not successful.

A good program should consist of the following:
* It needs to be needed/wanted by people
A program can not last long without any support if the only people who use it are the people who develop it. If no one but the developers was using it, then there would be barely any bug issues that would fix, and the program would develop slowly. If no one but the developers used it, it would start becoming more like a ultimate goal, and more like a chore for them to continue not only this, but any program they try and develop later in life because of the knocked back ego. Now, I am not saying that if it is not needed you need to still use it, because that is a bad decision on yourself, but this is more of a warning to someone who is going into the software industry with only one idea in their head.

* It needs to run smooth
Now this one is a bit big one I complain about a lot with programs. Normally they will sacrifice smooth running for fast running, when they can try and achieve both. What I am talking about smooth, I mean that it is not CPU intensive. It won't gobble up unnecessary resources which will cause everything else you are doing to slow down.

* It needs to be fast(ish)
As I said above a program needs to run smoothly AND fast. picking one or the other is not such a great idea because then the program itself is bad. A program that is not built to run as fast as it can will never accomplish its goals, people will become frustrated and not want to deal with it for too long before trying to find an alternative.

* It would need to have a non web-based help feature
I only stress this because I have been watching with a lot of programs where their help feature either linked them to the internet or they had to download the help files from their own site. Now I am not saying I do not see the benefit about on-line help (heck, combining them is actually a great idea with having one set that is installed and another that it can link to online, or even updating the help feature when it updates the program itself). I am just tired when I am trying to look through documentation (normally starting with the help features) and I have to read it online, so if I was using a computer that was not online I would be royally screwed and that is just no fun.

* It needs a well developed UI (User Interface)
In today's world this is a big must. People want something that looks shiny, has nice pleasing sounds, and really looks like it was from a game itself. They want the ability to change its looks so that it pleases them. Now I do not blame them, for I also like eye pleasing UIs. I even know a few people who won't use a program if it does not please them by what they see and hear from it.

Announcements:
Sorry about the late post I got sidetracked with poker last night and didn't get back till late.

Also, tomorrow I should be posting up a blog about the history of blogging for those who are interested in some history.

In a week (on wednesday) I am going to have written a review on Blender 3D modelling tool, and maybe another one and compare and contrast them.

Your Fellow Technomancer,

Kyle Atterson

Gaming is a fashion

Sometimes not the best one, or on top of a fashion designers list of things 'I should work on,' but a fashion nonetheless. We gamers have developed what is our fashion from the times it was mixed with the whole nerd crowd, to the time we all was atuned to the tastes of the hipsters, now to our own. Now, unsurprisingly there are people, companies, that want to jump into our style and create for us some neat little toys. That is right, glass-tech.

Google is rumored to have a device that has a prototype of a pair of glasses that can work to do apps and such with them, but what was said it does not sound like you can do anything with them other than that. They apparently also do not have a business plan for the glasses.

Who else is on this fashion train? Microsoft of course, recently a patient has been found for glasses that will create truly augmented reality (so that they can see real objects AND the stuff that pops up). It has a lot of potential to be honest, with being able to run by itself and such. It appears there is two forms, a helmet and a pair of glasses. The helmet will probably be the best and the first one we see since it will have more room for fixes and what not.

The Google glasses should be released around sometime at the end of the year, but I doubt this very much. Microsoft has not said anything about a date or time, but who knows, when this comes out I will be sure to save up some to do a future review of the hardware.

links:
http://www.patentbolt.com/2012/03/microsoft-invents-projector-eyewear-for-xbox-beyond.html
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/google-to-sell-terminator-style-glasses-by-years-end/

Pretty Suite Deal

Today I will be talking about suites, and not the ones you get at a hotel. Suites in the world of technology is a fancy way of just saying a bundle. The biggest example of this would be Microsoft Office, or if you want to stretch the definition a little bit, anything that comes with Microsoft Windows system. Some people have mixed feelings for the whole ideal. I for one support the idea of them, but some may not have done properly.

Some say that the reason suites don't really matter anymore, or that they shouldn't is because why use a pre-made suite when you can effectively just test a group of programs that you like and use them together as sort of a home brew suite. This is good and kind of goes along with my checklist of a good suite.

A good suite must have:
*Flexibility: All suites must be able to be flexible with other groups of programs and file types, without this you get problems when one person uses a different suite than you.
*Communication between it's other suite members: I hate that I have to add this on the list, but I have seen some so-called suites that never actually communicate with each other well if at all. I won't say the names of these suites because they *mostly* cleaned up there act and I think everyone should get a second chance.
*Synchronized with itself: By this I mean that it follows a similar pattern when running, and has similar feel. Again, this should be pretty common with others, but there have been some things that called itself a suite and was not synchronized with brother programs in suites.
*Characteristics of a good program: I will get more into this in a future post but for now really a good program needs to be needed, needs to run smooth AND fast, and it needs to have a great non web-limited help feature (This to me is becoming the biggest problems with software today).

Bit O' Random:
I have a schedule of what days to expect what sort of posts from me now, if you have a suggestion for a topic please feel free to comment with it!


Blog update pattern:
Posts: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Reviews: Wednesday
Tutorials: Friday or when asked a question
News: Whenever

Your Fellow Technomancer,

Kyle Atterson

Hitting the basics

Ok so let me attempt to start off on the right foot. My name is Kyle Atterson. I am a technology enthusiast in both job and in during my downtimes. I work on many different projects at a time, and I will probably have some posts about them.

Speaking of what one will probably see in this blog:

• News
• Reviews
• Rants (aka OPINIONS EVERYWHERE!)
• and also tutorials on all things tech that either I or a friend makes.

Stay around and I will have my first big post up. I am thinking about something along the lines of privacy on the internet or the history of blogging. I will also post up a schedule of future posts that I am thinking of.

Your Fellow Technomancer,

Kyle Atterson