My Experience with Adobe Fuse

 

According to the Adobe Blog, Adobe Fuse CC will be removed from the Creative Cloud on September 13, 2020 and it will no longer be available for download. I wish this wasn’t the case. But the truth for me is that the greater disappointment on Fuse CC is not this removal and the fact that Adobe was letting go of it. It is the fact that I believe that Adobe had so much they could do with Fuse to revolutionize animation, but refused to do so for reasons best known to them.

As an aspiring animator and hobbyist artist it was fun to discover Fuse CC. The idea that I could design high quality 3D characters and have it rigged by just uploading it into Mixamo.com was a dream come true. This was going to democratize animation at least for the masses if not for big studios and also story boarding. But now when I look at the work flow that was available with Fuse CC, this was never the plan with Adobe. I think Adobe had creating of graphic images with Fuse CC through Photoshop and creating of characters for game engines that focus more on actions and not on conversations in mind.

Fuse CC was a perfect tool for creating graphic design without using models. This was an excellent idea and a good start. Model a character, dress them up, choose their clothes, even design their clothes then use Photoshop to bring it all together was not a bad idea.

Fuse CC was also great for game engine characters. These characters only carry out actions anyway and mostly, we view them from over the shoulder most of the time.

Fuse CC was also a great tool for artist. The characters were quite good. And could act as very high quality models for artists. This feature could have even being better if Adobe had made it easy for a free form modeling of the poses of the characters designed in Fuse. This ability to pose them manually would have been another huge winner that Adobe should have considered.

But I can’t help but think of this: Fuse CC could have been the start of a revolution. Imagine being able to design a character, rig it and then maybe use the facial animation capability of Adobe Character Animator to add facial animation to any segment of the frames of the Adobe Fuse CC creation after animation is added to it by mixamo.com. But well, I guess Adobe ‘didn't think in this direction, or maybe choose not to go in this direction.

At least one consolation is that mixamo.com will still be available after Fuse CC is no longer available. And Adobe seems to be committed to mixamo.com since they have added new characters to it and it is still available.

Should I use Blackberry Messenger to Connect With My Audience?

A lot organisations and individuals now display their Blackberry PIN for customers, consumers and others to follow them and keep in touch with them easily.

I am skeptical of using Blackberry for that purpose. While I think that the Blackberry messenger is a great application for friends to get quick information update, I am not sure this works well for organisations for the following reasons:

1. Blackberry Messenger is a closed platform. This means that only those using Blackberry phones will have access to your information.

2. Since other mobile phone companies like Apple and Samsung have their own chat platforms, will you be planning to have multiple devices to connect to other platform users? Or you just connect with the blackberry users and forget all the others.

3. Even with the popularity of the Blackberry phones in Nigeria, believe it or not there are still more people in Nigeria Using Nokia phones to browse the internet.

4. A lot of Nigerians still use only a laptop or a desktop to access the internet.

5. It is limited to 2000 connections so when your organisation or group followership gets above 2000 will you be willing to migrate them to another platform or leave them at that number?

6. Because it is device specific what do you do if the phone gets missing or gets faulty or is stolen?  Simply forgetting to charge the phone could mean a post might be delayed.

7. Any phone with a working Blackberry messenger also has email active and can have access to Twitter and Facebook. And all these platforms are not limited to the Blackberry platform. So why limit yourself?

8. Your Posts or messages will be received only on mobile devices. This limits the possibilities of what you can post or send.

9.  Imagine sending a link to your YouTube page, while the Blackberry can actually view this, streaming video is charged for Blackberry phones in Nigeria and this could discourage people following the link.

10. While you can block a malicious follower on Twitter and block an email addresses, Blackberry Messenger allows the sending of PIN to PIN messages which will be delivered even if the two users are not connected.

The Tragic Passing of Goldie Harvey and the Online recklessness that Followed

While still reeling from the Oscar Pistorius shooting on Valentine’s night, I heard rumors that Nigerian performer, Goldie Harvey (May her soul rest in peace) had died that same day. Of course my first instinct was to shrug it off. You see, I have trained my instincts to ignore any rumors of death coming from the Nigerian social media atmosphere from the numerous times we have "killed" Nelson Mandela. Thank God Madiba's life is not in the hands of a “tweeting happy Nigerian".

But then the rumours would not go away and then I saw a post on the blog of a popular blogger. The saddest part of the post was while she was validating  Goldie's death by claiming that Goldie's best friend, who was also her mutual,  friend had informed her,  she didn't see it fit to post a proper post. A fitting way to announce the death of a friend was a quick “I posted it first” post!

And then the so called Twitter overloads took over the next day postulating all sorts of reasons of her death and googling Wikipedia to explain pulmonary embolism. They even knew it was caused by her 24 hour flight from California. These overnight pathologists forgot that even if it was a 24 hour flight and she was seated in the same spot, the high-fliers from Kennis Music she was flying with would have schooled her on whatever she needed to do. And did she need schooling? Hasn't she been around the world from Lagos to London, to Johannesburg to Kuala Lumpur? If only the bloggers needed to shine less they would have accurately informed their followers that a typical British airways flight from California to Lagos, for example,  involved three stops: first to Dallas, then to London and finally to Lagos. Or didn't they know this?  Even the new 787 Dreamliners can't do a 24 hour flight.

Mainstream media also started to push the pulmonary embolism rumor. Forgetting they are bound by editorial discipline and should not be carrying unfounded rumours that was been expressed by the man on the street or the woman on Twitter. It was almost as if they couldn't sit back and allow new media to enjoy the entire spotlight!

The next chapter was even sadder. Sudden reports that someone was calling Goldie names and saying she was happy she was dead.  This is the chapter that had a little ray of light because yes: a particular blogger who recently had a face-off with President Obasanjo refused to mention the twitter account while raining insults on the person. You see, your intuition probably served you right.  When I saw this particular angle, I was suspicious. So I ran some analytics on the Twitter account and found out it was created 2 days after her death. So someone had actually created a Twitter account to get followers from the tragic passing of Goldie. And the funniest thing: She was getting the followers!

And then the tribute song and in less than 3 days after her passing. I can't help but ask: Were the artistes waiting for her to die? Or were they waiting for any artiste to die? Or they wrote it for someone else and quickly modified it for her? Do they understand the ethical implications of cashing in on someone else’s tragedy? How many tribute songs were written for Whitney Houston within 2 days of her death? I rest my case.

Finally, when we thought it couldn't get any worse, copies of the autopsy when it was finally done were now flying around the internet. Apparently someone took a picture with his or her phone and shared it online or with a media house. I do hope her family did not stumble upon the report online before it was handed to them by the hospital.

You see, Social Media and the internet have so much potential in this part of the world because it now means we can verify facts, engage with people, question our so-called normal and effect change. But this democratic empowerment promised will all be flushed down the loo if we all do not rein in ourselves. The "I tweeted it first" mentally or "I blogged it" first should be thrown into the trashcan.  Of course there is room to be first but information should be properly researched.

Some bloggers should realize that people now ask them questions they should be googling themselves. While I won't advice this, I guess it speaks of trust and respect towards the bloggers. Or does it speak of laziness on the part of their followers? You see, to whom much is given much is expected. Or if I can borrow from Hollywood, with much power comes great responsibility. So if people now see bloggers as source of credible information, they should be careful what they say or share. 

As for the rest of us, we need to know that the internet and Social media is not a wild wild west where there are no rules and everything or anything goes.  Let's all not forget that in the abundance of tweets”, sin is not lacking. Let's formulate the simple habit to google out supposed claims before sharing. Or refuse to share if you are too busy to properly research. A simple no comment does not kill, but the wrong words online may never be wiped off.

I can't help but ask:  Is social media exposing how reckless we have become? Or are we like this because we don't really understand how we should behave on it? Is the Nigerian more interested in the bad news, gossip, the rumours and the falsehoods first? Have we thrown all caution to the winds? Is this why when a plane crashed in Lagos people who got to the scene first, started out by taking pictures before anything else? Is that why people are creating accounts on Twitter where they tweet pictures of their body parts or write racy stuff that doesn’t do anyone any good?

The future of the impact of social media and the internet in Nigeria will depend a lot on the foundations we lay. A lot of good is already happening on social media and the internet in Nigeria, so we cannot afford for it to become a looked down upon media form the way tabloids are regarded or as a form of negativity. I do hope though that time will be a differentiator and will sort out the wheat from the chaff or else, the unlimited potential of the internet and social media in Nigeria may never be fully realized.

Keeping Safe Online in a Connected World

With the massive adoption of the internet nowadays, people have never been connected like we all are. But with this connectivity, access to the internet, email and other resources come all sorts of risks. Phishers are trying every means to direct us to fake versions of the websites we use to steal some kind of information which they can profit on. Hackers are trying to break into our computers or computer network s and steal sensitive information. There is the risk of losing devices you use to access the internet with the potential hazard of having our sensitive information in the wrong hands.
So what exactly can be done?

Here is my list of tips that can keep you safe online no matter with what device or devices you access the internet with.

1. If you use social networks like Facebook or twitter know, that while they ask for your email address to login, they don't need you to use the same email address password as your password.

2. Use different passwords for every email, social media or service account if you can.

3. When you get those spam emails promising everything from easy money to exclusive pictures of some superstar, don't click on the link they offer you.  Delete the emails in a breath and have the same attitude to such links on Facebook or Twitter too.

4. No matter how good an anti - virus is, it will be no good unless it is updated regularly.  Regular updates can be as frequent as every 4 days. Most antivirus will update automatically so checking and noticing your antivirus is no longer updating is probably a sign that it has already been compromised. If this is the case you might need a new installation.

5. Never use your smart phone or tablet without having a password active on the device.  While the password will not stop a thief from stealing the device it will at least protect your information from the thief.

6. For devices like smart phones which have memory cards. There is always a function to encrypt the card. So if a thief steals your device, they won't be able to have access to the files on the memory card. Make sure you always use this feature.

7. Blackberry protect allows you to remotely find your device if lost. So you may want to make sure Blackberry protect is active on your device. The only problem is a tech savvy thief will find a way around this.

8. The iPad and IPhone also have a feature to find your device if missing. Make sure you turn it on.

9. Most free email services including Yahoo and Gmail have password reset features to take back your email account in case a hacker takes over them. These features allow you to set another email account to use for a password reset. Make sure you have this feature in place too.

10. Know that hacking is big business now so handle everything you do online with caution but not necessarily fear.

Sharing Short URLS to an Audience

I went to an event some weeks ago and at the end of it there was an advert for additional content and instructions on how to download the mobile applications for different mobile platforms.  The links were shared with short urls like the popular bitly, tinyurl etc  and that was when I realized that sharing short url on a screen is a bad idea. While they work excellent for sharing links within Twitter or Face book by cleaning the look of the URLs and reducing the character count, they don't work well visually.

Short urls generated by services such as bitly are case sensitive but a lot of us are used to typing in our web addresses directly without ever using the shift button on the keypad or not caring any less because we all believe writing it all in small letters or capital or mixed does not make a difference. Well in the world of short urls. Type case makes a difference. 

I believe the best method to share a link to your mobile applications, website or any resource on a screen is to get your webmaster to do a re-direct from your website to the links you want to share.  For example, he/she can do a redirect from "www.oursite.com/apps " to your mobile application. This will be easier to do and less prone to errors than using a short URL.   

Another easy way will be to give an email address where your audience can send a mail to get the link. They may only need to send a blank email. This method even allows you to still use a short URL.

One option I like is for them to send an SMS with a keyword to a phone number Of a SIM placed on a SMS gateway or server solution. The system can detect the keyword they sent and send back a link to their phone numbers. This method not only allows the use of short URLs and will seem easier as most people feel closer to SMS on their mobile device than E-mail.  This is actually my favourite of the options in this article even though it sounds a little bit techy. ( OK, full disclosure after spending a while developing a solution like this, it has to be my favourite)

Any of these methods though will reduce the potential problem of displaying a short URL on a screen which will be hard to type onto the mobile phone browser or will create an impression of the site been available if the wrong case of characters is typed in.

The general idea in the world we live in today where there is every possibility to want to share links at the end of an event is to look for a method that will ensure the accuracy of the links you need to send.

You can follow my thoughts on Twitter @folarinoye

The iPad Vs the Kindle

With the launch of the Kindle HD 8.9 inch a lot of writers and bloggers immediately started to write all sorts of reviews and I have to say most were either hurried or not really well thought out. Basically, most did not give a fighting chance to the Kindle HD. True, the Kindle HD 8.9 might not be the better piece of hardware but at least it should be given a fair analysis.

I thought I had to write my own view until I read the article by David Gewirtz @davidgewirtz goo.gl/fb/uzaky   . I still think it is the most objective comparison I have read so far.  I will recommend it again and again.

But just to add, while we can’t rule out the advantage of the cheaper cost of the Kindle I did compare the screens of the two devices and found an interesting fact. I don’t think that the 8.9 inch screen size chosen by Amazon is a coincidence. While I am sure that its part of the trick Amazon is using to help in driving down its cost apart from using it as a differentiator.  I also found out that the 8.9 inch 16 by 9 screen has the same width as the height of the iPad while held in portrait mode or its width when held in landscape view.

This means that when the Kindle is held in landscape orientation to watch movies, and the iPad is also held in landscape, the size of a 16 by 9 HD movie will be the same. The difference will be the black borders the iPad will have at the top and bottom will not be visible on the Kindle or will be reduced.  This also means that using the Kindle HD in landscape (it is designed to be used this way anyway) will make the width of your content identical with that of the iPad.

So while it is easy to brush aside the size of the Kindle DX screen as smaller it actually works better for movies and may offer no considerable dis-advantage for other kinds of content you use the Kindle HD for . For one thing if you read a lot of pdfs or web browsing like I do all you will do will be more scrolling. The pdfs and the webpages will be the same width on either tablet.
So while the 9.7 inch iPad is the standard for now the Kindle HD 8.9 just might not be really far behind technically.

iPad and Kindle DX 8.9 Screen size comparisons - Landscape

iPad and Kindle DX 8.9 Screen size comparisons - Portraits to Landscape

Before Amazon Releases its Tablet

In the past few weeks a lot of rumours, claims and suggestions have been made about the upcoming Amazon tablet.  Everyone has shared what they think Amazon should or would do. Well over a year ago, I wrote a piece on my blog on why I believe Amazon should do an Android tablet, so I welcome this news with a lot of anticipation too. But with all of the rumours and suggestions I guess I should throw in my two cents too.

Everyone believes that it will be cheaper than the ipad. This has to be the case. It looks like this is really hard to do for other tablet manufacturers. The main reason for this is the cost of materials and manufacture for the other tablets is higher than that of the iPad, just check isupply.com.  The truth is most of the other tablets aspiring to beat the iPad have better hardware than the iPad and this increases their cost of production. If Amazon can take a loss and sell its hardware cheaper, well that might be a start. We all remember how the reduction of the cost of the HP TouchPad started a mad rush for it. But I have a question here: If anybody can sell a tablet at a loss and afford to make money from the buying of content it is Apple after selling millions of iPads. So why has the price of the ipad not been reduced by Apple?

There are rumours that it will be a 7 inch screen size. I think this will be a bad idea. It will only make the Amazon tablet look like a cheap attempt to compete with the iPad. Amazon already have 7 inch Kindles so I feel it makes sense to start with a large screen device first and maybe launch a smaller device later. I believe that part of the magic of the ipad is its size. It makes it easier to identify the iPad. It makes it easy to consume all kinds of media. It means you will do less zooming. Books and PDFs just look like the real thing. It’s a winning size.  Anything else will just be like, just there. If you don’t agree with me show me a 7 inch tablet selling like hot cake.

The Amazon tablet will have to be a visual wonder design wise, size wise. Or else it will be criticized so badly people won’t even want to try it out. Think about it:  part of the excitement about the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the fact that it’s the first of the Android tablets that is lighter than the iPad while throwing in some excellent hardware. No wonder Apple wants to kill it in the courts.  Then on the other side think of the Motorola Xoom while not necessarily a poor tablet, the poor design is shooting it in its foot.

And finally it should be more open. A micro SD card slot will not be a bad idea. Something that will allow getting media from the tablet out and getting stuff unto the tablet. Or at least it should show up as a storage device when connected to a computer, allowing access to its storage space. It should be able to access the Android Market, buy things from Amazon.com and be totally free so if a user never wants to browse Amazon.com there will be no issues.

Follow up to "Amazon and the Kindle"

This has to be the follow up to my last post. Two days after I published the post I found out that Barnes and Noble just released a New Nook. And it is a coloured touch screen android device. Exactly what I believe that Amazon should do even though I wondered in my previous post if it was not too late for such a product because of the crazy explosion of cheap, Chinese – made, android - based touch screen tablets.
The most interesting thing about the Nook Color though is the fact that Barnes and Noble deviated from using an Electronic ink display and instead opted for a 7 inch coloured LCD touch screen. At $249 and with wifi, the prize sounds right, but I have to wonder if this is not an attempt to get a colored ebook reader out before Amazon. Leaving e-ink to LCD means that the battery now empties out in a few hours instead of weeks, but it also means that this device can play video, making it into a kind of cheap iPad. Or should I say a device that tries to be an iPad and an ebook reader at the same time. Barnes and Noble is already talking about releasing an SDK.
This device also means that Barnes and Noble joins the list of manufacturers of ebook readers deviating from e-ink to coloured LCD along with the Sharper Image Literati Reader, Pandigital Novel, Entourage Edge, Cruz Reader and Augen’s the book.
With PC Magazine calling it the first excellent color ebook reader, this is certainly a one-up for Barnes and Noble. The question now is: What will Amazon answer with and how soon? Suddenly their devices are starting to look outdated.

The truth is while I think that the best way to read text only content such as novels might be a monochrome e-ink display with weeks of battery, lots of people out there will like to read comics, magazines and pdf in full color and will not mind if the battery of their device has to be charged daily. An app store and an ability to do more than just read is also a plus. Ultimately creating a device that will not be eclipsed by the competition is paramount. And I think it is time for Amazon to show what they have got next.

Amazon and the Kindle

In an earlier post (Dream Hardware Department), I opinioned that a good way forward for Amazon and its Kindles might be to do a touch screen Android powered version of the Kindle. This was before Amazon released its range of Kindle 3s: The Graphite range with improved E-ink screen, better contrast all in a smaller package.

Now I wonder if it might not be a little too late for that. This is because I have noticed an explosion of Chinese made, touch screen, Android powered devices which cost cheaper than the Kindle DX and cost at about the same range as the Kindle 3G. The most interesting part of this story is the fact that everywhere you turn, you see adverts of these devices on the web. And since they run Android, you can install the Kindle for Android on them and have a coloured reading device, which can also serve as a medium for other type of media consumption such as video and audio.

True this might be bulkier than the Kindle and the power consumption might not compete at a mere 5 – 7 hours to the Kindle’s weeks of battery, but when you are busy reading you tend to forget what ever limitations of your device and be immersed in the content. The mere fact that it can view colored content will make it suitable for comics and magazines giving it a huge edge on the Kindle. Touch screen functionality also gives them a kind of iPad coolness even if most of them are single touch and not multi-touch.

While I have yet to see any of these numerous devices with a sim card slot, this will make them even more powerful freeing them from the proximity limitations of wifi. And for a price as cheap as they come, (even though I wonder how they can be soo cheap, is this because of poor build or as a result of tons of possible patent infringement made in the production of these devices) they are winners any day.

For the end users I dare say it will continue to makes less sense to buy a Kindle when you have other devices offering better at cheaper rates. For Amazon though it looks like they will win no matter what. If they sell Kindles, its all good. If not, then I am sure they are happy as long as we all have Kindle apps on whatever devices we carry and we continue to buy books from the Amazon store.

Apple Versus Android

Lately I have been thinking about the possible future of tablet computing and not because I want to be a “teleprophet” but because I can’t help thinking that the current scenarios could just be history kinda repeating itself.
Apple created the home computer market with the release of Apple II in 1977 years ahead of the IBM computer. The IBM PC which was released in 1981 drove other personal computer architectures to extinction in the 80s excerpt for Apple. This off course started a shift in the computer market with the birth of the IBM clones which meant that by the 90s the IBM computer was far more popular than Apple and the top computer computers were all manufacturing the IBM clone, using Intel processors and running on Microsoft operating systems. This meant that the IBM computers could be cheaper than the Apple computers (there were more options to choose from).
Apple always claimed the superiority of its hardware but even Apple finally switched to the Intel processor in 2006 which for me was a surprise because Apple had released Power Mac G5 computers in 2003 claiming the advantage of 64 bit processors and at the time of the switch only AMD had desktop 64 bit processors ready. It was probably cheaper to go Intel than AMD.
Apple lost most of its market share in the personal computer market in the 1990s fighting against IBM clones running Microsoft operating systems. I can’t help but imagine that we are on course for something similar here. I think the only difference is that, this time around while PC vendors had to pay for the Microsoft operating systems, Apples’ competition is an open source OS, making it cheaper to get. Android will also develop faster, because of its open source nature. It is not managed nor controlled by a monopoly like Microsoft!
Maybe this is the reason that Apple iPhone is already been outsold by Android based phones. While Apple will continue to be cool and continue to make unique products and have the advantage of being first to create an App store and thus have more applications on the store, the increased sale of Android phones and devices will also be the increased creation of more Android based applications. Developers will start to recognize that it makes sense to also develop Android versions of their applications. With time the Android Marketplace potentially will grow beyond that of the Apple App store. Or will it? Only time will tell. But the future may just be Android.

Dream Hardware Department

With the explosions we have seen in the eBook reader and tablet scene and the explosion in the sales of the Apple iPad (3 Million in less than 90 days), I have been thinking with the many eBook readers and tablets being announced this year why not have a Microsoft tablet. Unfortunately Microsoft got the concept of the tablet wrong and has now pulled the plug on its Courier tablet. But let’s face it, with the release of the iPad Microsoft now has a chance to copy Apple like it has done in the past. To get into the eBook reader space why not makes a 9.7 inch Zune player! And then make it able to install light Windows applications. Imagine if I could install my VLC player or Win amp on the Zune and have other Windows applications. Then imagine this along with an app store!

On the other hand the Amazon Kindle is just way behind in terms of the current offerings and looses hands down when compared with the iPad excerpt off course with the fact that it has access to more books. I think the way forward for the Kindle will be to produce a colored touch screen version and license the Android operating system. I think this will empower the kindle; it will get an app store, an operating system that developers can develop for and media capabilities all in one sweep. This will at least give it a fighting chance against the iPad.

But then does Amazon want to compete? Amazon wants to sell books and Amazon just needs to have its Kindle app on Apple devices, on Android devices and the Blackberry OS and it will still sell books at maybe a cheaper rate then developing a hand held device. But I feel a company smart enough to develop a good enough tablet like the iPad and use the Android OS might be in place to reap the benefits similar to OEM manufacturers who make hardware and license the Windows operating system. Dell is already doing this with its Streak tablet and ICD with the Vega. Let’s face it: Android is here to stay. Statistics released in May shows Android phones outselling Apple phones in US for the first time (http://www.networkworld.com). So using Android might also be the start of a huge eco-system of Android powered devices that just might end up overcoming Apple and its devices. And competition in this space might just be good for the consumer ultimately.

How good are Current Laptops Graphically?

One of my most interesting past times, is running bench marks on computers and seeing what they get to score. Over the years my favourite bench mark application has been 3 D Mark 2001 SE (Ok call me archaic). This bench mark is really mostly a measure of the graphical performance of the computer. Well you would probably think that I should have moved to a more current version of the software but the truth is that I have seen so many low rate performances on that benchmark even from systems that I expected so much from that it just feels like a waste of time going to a more complex or complicated benchmark when a lot of systems still fall short of this tests.
In fact the highest scores I have ever had on these tests was an AlienWare Laptop running Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Direct X 9C, 3.0 Ghz Pentium 4 Processor with hyper threading, 1 GB of RAM, 128 MB Nvidia Geforce FX 5600 graphics accelerator on a PCI Express interface. This scored 9547 on the default test with a resolution of 1024x768 at 32 bit color and 11088 on the 800x600 at 16 bit color .Most other computers fall to less than half of these scores.
Over the years I have found out that the strength of a good score on this test is a very good graphics card and off course support for all of the 17 tests incorporated in the software. Most graphics cards fall short especially when it comes to the environment bump mapping, Pixel shader and the advanced pixel shader tests. I have had guys argue with me that this test is not a true test of a computer’s performance. Maybe true but let’s face it the graphical needs of a computer are still the heaviest needs on the performance of the computer at any time, just ask any hard core gamer.
This weekend I decided to run my first 3 D Mark benchmark on a Vista Capable computer. My original fear was that Vista might not support the software but it did. Truth is the software is not updated for Direct X 10 but then let’s face it, how many softwares, applications or graphics cards out there already support Direct X 10?
The culprit for my test was a HP Pavilion dv6000 running on Windows Vista Home Premium, With Intel Centrino Duo at 2.0Ghz, Mobile Intel 945GM/GU on a PCI Express interface,224 MB graphics memory, Direct X 10 and 2 GB RAM. The good part of the test was this system had no problems performing all 17 tests including the pixel shader tests I mentioned earlier. But I was disappointed with the final score of 4571 for the default settings 0f 1024x768 at 32 bit color and 5319 for the 800x600 at 16 bit color settings! This score is in the same range with a Sony Vaio I tested almost 2 years ago that scored 4606 and 5427, and that Sony Vaio was a Celeron M running at 1.73Ghz, 512MB RAM, Windows XP service pack 2 with Direct X 9C. One fact though is both ran on Intel graphics accelerators, so I am not really surprised. I do wonder if Vista played any part in the performance of the HP laptop. But it is obvious all this new processor, memory, graphics interface technologies does not nullify the need for an Nvidia or ATI graphics card to get the best results graphically.

Screaming Video

Ok the truth is that I Couldn’t think of any other title for this entry other than “screaming video”. Now before you start to wonder what I’m talking about or if this is a typo I just might go ahead and explain myself.
The other day I setup a small home network between two computers to share resources, an internet connection and a printer. Someone then asked me if there was a way a video played on one of the computers could be watched on another and then I remembered Video Lan Chat or the VLC player (www.videolan.org). So I decided to setup up video streaming on that network making use of VLC player. Well the truth is I have been using the VLC player for more than 3 years because it is really a silver bullet for video formats as it can play almost all kinds of video format straight out of the box. So if you do not want to install a codec pack and yet want to have access to different video formats, VLC was a very good key. Now when I think back I wonder why I had never tried the streaming video functions that come with it.
So I got online and checked out what people where doing with it and was so shocked. It was so simple to setup that it took less than 10 clicks on the System I used as the server and the system I sent the video to. And it supports almost all kinds of video formats, operating systems, and also is available on hand held devices! Let’s not forget its support for DVDs, TV tuner card, Satellite TV, digital TV and even video encoder cards. It even has a web interface which meant that I could control the server from virtually any computer on the network. I could create playlists remotely, control volume, make my video full screen or not, pause and so much more. The experience has been such a rewarding one that all I have been doing on that network has been streaming video.
VLC is so flexible that you could stream on a windows server and pick it up on a Mac or Linux client or in any other possible arrangements you could draw up from those options.
And not only can it be used on a LAN it can also be used on the internet. So really the possibilities are endless. And all this from a very light weight application that is really friendly to use and packed with more than enough codecs? I tell you streaming video the VLC way is such a very smart and cool way that it screams!

Media Player Heaven

Most Media players always offer something unique. I suppose the idea is to lure us to them and make us make them the media player of choice. The features they offer include support for different file formats, skins, visualizations, play lists, support for portable players, access to the Internet, media browsers, online stores and as much as Im sure i don't even know about.
For me, my media player of choice is really the Apple itunes, now this is a funny choice because it supports mp3, aac, m4a but refuses to support the wma format (Microsoft's propriety format) and must first convert wma to m4a before it can add it to its playlists. And can you blame Apple considering that the wma format was the creation of their "enemy" Microsoft who on its own took advantage of the fact that its own Media player came bundled with the Windows operating system and for years refused to support the encoding of mp3 files, a format the rest of the world was happy about, but only supported mp3 playback!
Since I own an ipod it also means that I actually need the itunes player because it is what I use to synchronise music and my play lists from itunes to my ipod.
The truth is though, sometimes it is the little attention to detail in the design of these softwares that keep us hooked. True the itunes has really cool visualizations, feels different from any other media player I know and is just "Apple cool". But can you imagine while playing with my play lists the other day I found out that settings like "repeat" and "play all" where play list specific. Thus if I set a play list to "repeat" after playing, the setting stayed with only that play list and I could set other play lists to play once for example or whatever preference I have for that play list. Imagine configuring my play lists to play exactly how I want it and the player stores those settings! Off course the next thing I did was start my Windows Media Player 11 and tried the same thing and off course Im sure you don't need a witch-doctor to know there was no such thing in WMPlayer. Not to take the spark out of Windows Media Player 11 nor to start a battle of comparisons. But for me this little attention to design detail is what makes me stick with a particular software regardless. Even if I have to use other players from time to time to play other kinds of files it might not support. True I may not always want to hear a play list the same way, but sometimes how I choose to hear the play list is an integral part of the play list too.

Safari Bombs

It all started some weeks ago. I sat in front of two laptops; an apple 17 inch G4 and a Dell which paled in comparison. I was using a wireless link and was online using the Safari Browser and Internet boring Explorer on the Dell. Being an ardent Apple fan who followed its innovations and business I felt on top of the world. The dell machine had virus issues I was sorting out. It wasn’t long before I noticed that there was a slight latency on the Safari that I did not notice on the Dell machine. Well I didn’t take that seriously since Apple claimed its Safari was the fastest browser.
Leaving that office for home I downloaded the Safari for windows and took it with me home with plans of installing it and using it at my office.
Being a web developer I am a fan of web browsers because I have to see how my work comes out in different browsers and on my windows machine at my office, where I have Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera Installed it wasn’t long before I noticed that the Safari was the slowest!
Even offline making use of my PHP, MYSQL and Apache setup to test my Joomla applications, not only was Safari the slowest but when I create hyperlinks in my content they don’t work after even in the other browsers! I was so un-impressed with Safari I had to cut short its “Safari” with an un-install.
Everybody claims that its product is the best but for real I expect nothing but the best from Apple not only in products even in the claims it makes! I hope that next time I install Safari I won’t have to uninstall it when I find out it is getting in the way of my productivity not aiding it.

Extreme Creativity

The latest generations of game consoles are really offering more than a lot of us had ever expected but then it seems that the companies Nintendo and Sony hold back a little in terms of what could be done to take the excitement even further. Both companies have handhelds, Nintendo the Dual Screen and Sony the Playstation Portable.
I feel both companies could have developed new ways of game play with the great capabilities of their hand- helds.
With the touch screen capabilities of the DS and WIFI in the PSP the possibilities are limitless
Imaging connecting a handheld to a console, and taking on an opponent Think of using the PSP as a controller to play the PS3 and getting feed back to the PSP; no need to check the map page anymore? Or have another view for a football game, or imagine having the rear view mirror in a driving game.
Nintendo and Sony should switch on some “extreme creativity”, who knows that might be the killer idea to beat Microsoft which is yet to release a handheld.

Nokia 9300

I had the opportunity of test running a Nokia 9300 the other day and I have to confess I was impressed. The phone comes with Bluetooth, infrared and Wifi Connectivity.
Straight out of the box the phone could handle Microsoft Excel, Word and Adobe PDF documents. I think this is a plus for the non-nerdy executive using a phone like this.
Truth is even with an entry level smart phone like the Nokia 6600 software is available that transforms the phone into a document wizard but the user has to be comfortable with installing the software.
Not to take the shine out of the 9300, my favourite feature was the WIFI. It supports a search for hotspots and in no time I was able to find a hotspot select it and connect with it. There is also support for GPRS through the phone networks so the phone supports more than one option for browsing.
The absence of camera is probably a good idea as carrying a device like that to take a shot just does not feel like a good idea. I don’t know why I feel like that about it.
Nokia did a very good job with the size of this phone and it is not really bulky even with the QWERTY keyboard.
When it all comes down though sometimes I wonder at the appeal of phones like this excluding the “feel good factor”. Take away the WIFI for instance and any Symbian based smart phone with enough memory can just do everything it can do. So I wonder, is it worth its extra price?

iPod IRead

The most popular feature used by most ipod users is listening to music. Off course this is the easiest and the original focus of the ipod, all you need is just ipod in your pocket and the plugs in your ears.
With the ipod video, watching video on your pod is really cool even though the small size of the screen might not make that an often task. Maybe the iphone with its widescreen will make watching video more on your ipod. The most forgotten feature is probably reading. The ipod supports text files which you can transfer to its notes folder allowing you to read almost anywhere.
If you are like me I used to carry a series 60 Symbian based phone and I used to put stuffs on it and movie scripts in text form and read whenever I get the opportunity in traffic, when I am not working or any other time it feels cool. And right now I carry a PSP with me because I found out I could also transfer files to it and read on the go.
The only downside is the ipod only supports text based file types and small sized files. You won’t be reading any novels on your ipod. But at least it could serve as an easy way to carry short text based information with you.

Bluetooth Watch

You probably thought Bluetooth was just a very cool technology that allows you to share files with others or gives you an un-tethered experience to using your phone or listening to music. Well, step aside; here is the coolest use of Bluetooth I have seen yet.
Sony Ericcson has released a Bluetooth capable watch, the MBW100. This watch has vibration alert, can display the caller Id from your phone and the music from your phone can be controlled from buttons on the watch!
Although I feel the best use of the watch might be along with the use of hands free because if you have to take a look at your watch when you have a call it will obviously delay the time to get your phone out of say your pocket to answer a call. But it could help to prevent you having to pull out your phones for those people you won’t bother talking to any way. And might just prevent your bringing out those very expensive phones in places where u probably don’t feel too safe.

Wifi Phones

Imagine This:Using a phone with wifi to login to your MSN, Yahoo chat or Skype accounts, check who is online and make calls to people who might be sitting behind a computer on the other side or using a similar device.
Sounds like a scene from james Bond? Well welcome to living James Bond.

VOIP with a computer was cool but is certainly cooler with a phone!

I stumbled on some phones the other day with messenger functionality. The coolest were the Zyxel P-2000WV2,D- Link

DPH-541 and the UT Starcom F1000. Belkin also has a wifi phone for Skype.
The downside is none of these phones have cellular service and thus they will work only as VOIP phones.

Talk is certainly not just getting cheaper but also more interesting