Monthly Archive for December, 2008

Dont fall for the price
December 26, 20089:16:34 pm
Published
by
Paradox
in Technology
.

Overpriced Official Blackberry dockIf you are about to go and buy a specially made charging station for any device you may have acquired over the holidays, be it a cell phone, gameboy/psp, or other electronic device, pause before you purchase the official charging station. It is probably overpriced for what it does, and what it does is likely very little at all. In my case, the device was my Blackberry storm, and the dock to which i am referring to was the Blackberry storm charging dock[1].

In most cases, you can find a MUCH cheaper solution that will save you a great deal of money.
Continue reading ‘Dont fall for the price’

Footnotes:
  1. Blackberry charging dock at amazon.com [↩]
0 Comments 58 views
Tips for new Blackberry storm owners
December 22, 20087:08:42 pm
Published
by
Paradox
in Technology
.

I have had my storm for a few days, and after using it a bit, i plan to use it more before i write a review, i have found a few things that drastically improve the device.

For all new storm owners, I recommend you do some of the following, as they will let you make the storm more personal, and a better device.
Continue reading ‘Tips for new Blackberry storm owners’

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MediaWiki import tools
December 20, 20081:52:02 pm
Published
by
Paradox
in Blog and Software
.

I have been working on the Tremulous wiki for the past few days, and one of the goals of the wiki is to get a page for every cvar/command. There are over 300 cvars.

We could have done the traditional wiki thing, that is, let it sit and people add them one by one. Or we could do a truly efficient thing, use a script. DavidSev made a script that would take the output of the ingame cvarlist, convert it to a wiki format, and add infoboxes and categories and all that.

He used this script to generate XML import documents in mediawiki format. The next part was really quite easy, just run the import script on mediawiki.

Now, we have done what would have taken weeks otherwise in a few hours. But we still have content to add.

Medawiki is a most flexible tool, and this becomes more apparent the more i use it.

0 Comments 85 views
Plantronics GameCom 777 Reviewed
December 16, 200810:22:35 pm
Published
by
Paradox
in Reviews and Technology
.

Gamecom777Recently, with the failure of my trusty Logitech gaming headphones, I needed to buy a new pair. Instead of purchasing the exact same pair of Logitechs, which could be subject to the same mechanical failure as the pair i had previously, I decided to splurge a little and buy a the GameCom 777. I am not one to pay for ridiculous headphones, i think these were the most expensive I have ever bought, aside from a pair of Harmon Kardon phones several years back. The 777 are comfortable, large, and have BEAUTIFUL sound.
Continue reading ‘Plantronics GameCom 777 Reviewed’

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Blackberry Storm Coming
December 16, 20083:30:11 pm
Published
by
Paradox
in Blog
.

Yesterday I ordered my blackberry storm, and due to the high demand, it gets shipped out on the 19th. So i should have it some time around the 20th.

As my reading around the web, i have found a few links to some good applications, but nothing too great. If anyone can point me to a good site for Downloads, that would be appreciated.

Expect a FULL review as soon as i get it. A review that covers the intricate details that others don’t.

0 Comments 86 views
Updated to WP 2.7
December 12, 20089:52:03 pm
Published
by
Paradox
in Website
.

I have updated the site to Wordpress 2.7. If you notice any bugs, tell me, and ill see if i can fix them.

Thanks.

0 Comments 169 views
Messing with OpenFlashCharts.
December 10, 20089:51:46 pm
Published
by
Paradox
in Blog
.

OpenFlashCharts is a cool chart package that installs on a server, and provides flash based charts. Similar to JGraph and other libraries, but this one renders flash. Although there are many flash libraries you have to pay for, their prices are typically outrageous ($5000 dollars for a bar chart anyone?)

OpenFlashCharts v2 is far easier to use than the first one, and comes with a slew of functions to help you generate the JSON. This is very nice, as JSON can be difficult for some people. Not only are there functions to do this, but there are functions on MANY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.

I mostly used the PHP one, as thats what i am most comfortable with. It uses arrays for the data, so they are quite easy to enter.

You can see my example here

This serves a double purpose. In addition to my learning something, it provides a nice graph for the #reddit irc channel’s clients.

0 Comments 121 views
Planets and stuff
December 9, 20089:38:54 pm
Published
by
Paradox
in Blog
.

Planets in photoshop are easy to do, and if you spend some time on them, you can really generate a great looking wallpaper or avatar.

Recently, I have started making them.

The first one was quite simple, and only took about half an hour to make. None of the textures are of anything real, and they just serve the purpose of entertainment.
FutureEarth

The 2nd planet i made was quite a bit more complex. This one is of Earth and the moon, and makes use of bump maps, night and day maps, and a cloud map, as well as a picture of the milky way as a background. This one is far larger, it is HDTV wallpaper dimensions.

EarthSpace (Makes a great wallpaper)

In a few days, when i have perfected my skill, i will post a tutorial, to add to the endless soup of PS tutorials.

0 Comments 94 views