A Collosus of Genius

This animated short does not require any comment, except that if you are a gamer, you know how this guy feels… I am particularly haunted since a few months as my provider (Cablecom) has decided to sell a lot more bandwidth on my node than they are actually able to offer – giving me a ping of 2.8 seconds in peak hours!!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcP9jiCbakw

Do you really know how the earth is spinning around the sun? There is a lot going on there to create climate changes and seasons of different lengths and intensities on the different places on earth. I was not aware how many factors count into the equation if you want to calculate the exact length of a year… A nice scientific explanation in under 10mins:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ml4_Jv_HkE

This is an impressive display on how much detail and effort hides behind the creation of a magazine cover.

In case you thought the Teaser a couple of days ago was too short, here is a longer version:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d4zPapOtW4&feature=player_embedded

As you might know, the Battlefield series has been the favorite multiplayer game for me and my friends since day one. Currently we are playing Bad Company 2 (including Vietnam expansion) and i even have a facebook app/community page with 17.500+ people at http://apps.facebook.com/badcompanytwo.

This year in fall Battlefield 3 is going to be released and rumours on twitter aside on how awesome it will be, now there is a teaser where you can have a first glance at the ingame atmosphere and graphics. I must admit, my jaw dropped and i had to watch it like 5 times in row to believe what i am seeing. I would have to get some proper equipment to be able to play it though.

I was thinking of getting myself 2x nvidia 580 graphic cards to be able to play on 3 monitors this month – but now i am thinking to wait a bit for the next generation of nvidia cards to be able to play bf3 on 3 screens properly as well…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi2tae2PmmU

This is the most awesome Speedrun I have ever seen: Portal in 9m 25s (World Record)! The guy is just blazing through the levels in a way where – even if you played the game – at many points you will have no idea where he is. Of course this is mainly due to the fact that he is exploiting the even craziest glitches in the game engine. He literally broke out of the intended game path, like the test subject broke out of glados’ test path during the portal storyline. He even presents some of them that are not required for speed at all, but just to show off his skills and the possibilities with the engine (for example how to reach the room with the cake)…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1U5RUVENNE

Even more amazing though i found the commentary videos that he provided (making the speedrun even more awesome). In those he explains exactly which glitches he used and demonstrates live (and proofing no hacks used), how difficult it must have been to do the levels and find the glitches. You can watch him trying 100s of times while recording for the commentary video. Man, I admire his patience!! A definite must watch for anyone into computer games, game engines (or game development in general) and portal geeks of course: First part of the commentary (1 of 15):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziuj8KW_XQ0

Seriously. W.T.F.! Why are Apple Fanboys™ so afraid of open systems? Blogs and tweets are full of hate against open systems now. Did i miss on something that changed lately? Especially with the rise of Android (which just surpassed sales of the iPhone™ this year in Switzerland) the iPhone™ users seem to start to panic. Stop that! Why panic?! Just choose which phone works best for you! Is using the best phone on the market suddenly a sacrilege? Reminds me pretty much of some more radical religions… Why do you think people start switching to something like Android?  The iPhone™ is just perfect, right? No, it is not! And before you can even type a comment: no, the Android is not perfect either!

So what is it then? It’s not the slicker user interface! Not that the UI is that bad on Android, but to be honest the apps on iPhone™ just are a bit more sexy. No, I believe it is the fact that users realize that open stuff does give you some freedom and responsibilities – both of which getting taken away from people more and more in all aspects of life. Here is a list of things i believe are the most important reasons users start switching from iPhone™ Religion to Freedom, I mean… Android now:

1. A lot of apps which are available on both phones are either cheaper or even free on Android
2. You (as the user) are not forced to give your identity to anyone on Android
3. You can choose the source of your apps on Android, on iPhone™ there is only the App Store™, which is heavily observed and controlled by Apple™
4. You can choose the hardware that you like the most (for example do you prefer softkeys or keyboard, you want more battery life or 20cm HD display, you like to fold the phone somehow to cover the display? You want it to come slim or in cubes? Round or edgy? European or Asian?)

Please follow a clockwise path through the Temple™ while gently touching each of the relics on the tables in order to receive your personal blessing from Our Guru™.

Just recently the Apple Fanboys™ among my friends started complaining about the huge number of phones available with Android. I must admit that a lot of things to choose from might be overwhelming especially if you are not very informed in that particular area of expertise, but on the other hand it’s also not that difficult to browse some forums, go to a store and listen to the experts there and then just choose (!) a phone. In fact, you can choose depending on your taste or experience with other phones before – and it is not dictated to you what you should like from now on. By this process, some phones get more popular than others and those are the ones that evolve. Good concepts are taken over to the next generation of other phones as well, the rest dies out (i must admit, maybe too slowly but they die out).

It’s called diversity and it’s a good thing! Evolution has been succesfully doing that for millions of years! Adapting to requirements (in this case yours, the user) and getting better in each iteration.

But actually i am not in the mood to start a discussion on intelligent design (Steve Jobs™) vs evolution (Linux) – No question about it: I definitely want to take part in evolution (not get dictated a design) and nothing is going to change that right now. Stop complaining, switch phones or don’t, but go back to your Apple Store Temples™ and pray that after the evolution your species is not becoming the target of iXtinction™…

Some dude actually applied genetic algorithms (searching an optimal solution to a problem by evolution) to find the best build order to a Rush on Starcraft 2. And its amazing that the algorithm actually revealed such a tactic, that more astonishing “violates several well-known (and well-adhered-to) heuristics used by Starcraft players when creating builds” – which means it has not been that much investigated by players yet. Why is this amazing? Because in a quick video the tactics shows to be extremely effective – making the player win 17 out of 20 within the first few minutes…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH1ucvJomlY

[via lbrandy.com]

Listen Google Translate beatboxing:

bsch. bsch. bk zk pv zk bschk pv zk zk bsch zk ktkt pv bscht zk ktkt haus.

Just play that line back in German Language. Oh, and even though i wasnt the one who found that out, the line above is actually created by me, so i am just waiting for someone sampling it in their next tracks and sharing some income. Rewind Selecta Baby!