Gaming: Imagine you are old !

This may be hard for some people: Imagine you are 30+ years old. Also, imagine that you love playing video games, and have a penchant for playing Halo, or Halo2 online. Then imagine that you are doomed to play against every angry 15 year old in the world, and are treated to eloquent diatribes such as "I f*&!d you up you candy ass c*%$-s!#*er"; as if this person was a new cast member on Deadwood.
If you find your colorful imagination bleeding over into real life, there is a place you can go, that just might help. Welcome to the world of GeezerGamers. "GG" is a great place to meet other like minded(age challenged) gamers, who enjoy a fun, slightly more mature gaming experience. If your friends list is short(or almost empty like mine), head on over to their forums, sign up, and introduce yourself.
You will shortly find your friends list growing larger and larger. The site also features a calendar right on their front page, where you can add your own playing schedule, and find out who else will be playing at the same time, so you can hook up and get a party going. This works great for me, since "real life", really limits the amount of time I have to play games, let alone on-line. You will find everyone there is very friendly, and willing to make you feel comfortable. So if you yearn for online fragging companionship, do yourself a favor and head on over to their site.
PS . They also play other games too, check the games list to find your favourite.

www.geezergamers.com
Happy Gaming!

BitTorrent: Distributed trackers

The world of BitTorrent is quickly changing. It is most likely due to the MPAA,RIAA cracking down on torrent/tracker sites. So in the open source world, innovation wins again. There are now a few BT clients out there that have augmented their already superior distributed file sharing abilities, to be able to manage almost trackerless file sharing. The new method involves using something called DHT(Distributed Hash Table) to manage who has what file. It basically turns every BT client into a mini-tracker. This way you do not need to upload a tracker to a web site. Assuming you have web access for the seed file, just about anyone can now share a popular file, without crushing their bandwidth bill.

The clients now supporting this new method, include Azureus, and a beta version of the original BitTorrent.
Check here for the Slashdot rundown,
or here for a very technical rundown of the technology.

Click here for a less technical rundown of the technology.


Happy Sharing!

Gaming: DOA 4 Xbox360 HD Movie

Here is the direct link to the DOA 4 movie that demos the Xbox360 . Let me just say that this blew me away. To see the real time rendering of complex surfaces, fur, hair, clothing---it is just awe inspiring. Beware though-- the download is over 400Mb and the video itself is HD, so you need a shit hot PC to view it. My 2.6Ghz, 1Gb ram, 128 mb video, system still stuttered at some of the more action packed sections. Regardless, this is worth seeing. When the 360 hits, I have to get an HD tv. No if's, and's, or but's --- I have to have one.

DOA 4 HD Movie Courtesy of 1up.com

Linux: Best thing ever --Synergy switch

Okay, just happened upon this on hackaday.com,
but this software is one of the most creative and unique things I have ever seen.
Most linux users will have this installed without knowing it. Head over to the site to update.
Basically, Synergy allows you to control two or more pc's with the same keyboard/mouse, without any special hardware. You just need to run the server on one machine, and then clients on the others. There are server/client combos for Win32, Unix, and OSX. It also allows copy/paste between displays, as well as shared screen savers.

If you have multiple desktop pc's/monitors on your desk, this is a great way to use both, without switching to a different keyboard or mouse, or using an often times expensive or unreliable hardware switch. All I can say is wow. I installed the software on my XP box, configured for about 10 seconds, and started the server. I then grabbed the rpm for my Fedora box, ran
rpm -Uvh synergy-1.2.2-1.i386.rpm,
and started the client up:
synergyc 'synergy-server-host' .
It just worked right out of the 'box'.

Try it out at http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/index.html

Gaming: Engadget has the lowdown on the PS3

Looks like the PS3 may just kick some Xbox ass.

Some of the specs:
* It will support Blu-ray , DVD±R/W, CD-R/RW
* Backwards compatible with the PlayStation 2 and original Playstation
* One 3.2GHz Cell processor—total system performance rated at 2.18 teraflops; it will have 256MB system RAM 3.2GHz, and 256MB GDDR VRAM at 700MHz
FYI-- 2.18 is more than double what the Xbox 360 will run with their 3 cpu core
* The nVidia graphics will be called the RSX (”Reality Synthesizer”), and will trump the Xbox 360 with 1080p (yes, that’s a p) graphics support.
Time to buy an HDTV
* There will be a 2.5-inch hard drive attachment
* Memory Stick Duo slot, and SD and CF slots
* Bluetooth support with up to seven wireless controllers
* Six USB system ports



Oh and a quick side note on the 360---it will be backwards compatible. No need to throw out your copies of Halo and Halo2.


Engadget & Joystiq’s live coverage of Sony’s PlayStation 3 launch - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Python: Great Articles and Tutorials

I thought I would throw some information out there that has helped me immensely in the past. Here is a link to some articles on Devshed.com that simplify and de-mystify some common problems people have when learning Python, from beginner on up. For beginners I suggest checking out the articles here and here for info on file handling and sockets.
Also, check out the forums if you are ever in need of some guidance or help in the world of Python , or just about any other language/technology.

--List of articles--

Gaming: New PS3 images are up

Sony has let loose some new images of the PS3 along with some in-game screenshots of Tekken, Devil May Cry4, and Killzone 2.
If you ask me, the concave Xbox360 and the convex PS3 are going to be able to sit on top of one another quite easly.
It also seems that the new Playstation controllers will be using Bluetooth. It is going to be an exciting year... in 9-12 months.
Click here to see the new pics over at filerushnews.com

File Rush News :: Playstation 3 Gallery