Great news for developers hoping to spend more time in tinkering with the Windows Azure SDK - the CTP is extended until April 2010 if you're from these locations.
I'll be posting some tutorials on how to develop in Azure especially with its storage services such as blob, table and queue. For the meantime, this is a great opportunity to delve in to the world of cloud computing the Microsoft way as other cloud computing services such as Amazon Web Services and SalesForce.com are already on commercial release.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Windows Azure Pay-Per-Use to Start this February 2010
As of this writing, we only have exactly 15 days to play around with Windows Azure. Beginning February this year, Windows Azure will finally go commercial. You can read the entire article here for the pricing details.
Windows Azure is Microsoft's implementation of cloud computing. One of its notable features is its storage services which are of prime importance with regards to the cloud computing business. If you have time, you can download the Windows Azure SDK and tinker around with it which is one of its great advantage - running a local development fabric on your computer to simulate what is going to happen in the cloud.
If you have Visual Studio 2008 and an OS of Windows Vista, Server 2008 or Windows 7, you can give it a try. It's worth it. It has tutorials on how to create cloud-based applications which practically is very similar to creating web-based applications. Also worth noting would be its interoperability with PHP. It has PHP-support thru FastCGI so you can deploy a site created out of PHP into the cloud.
Windows Azure is Microsoft's implementation of cloud computing. One of its notable features is its storage services which are of prime importance with regards to the cloud computing business. If you have time, you can download the Windows Azure SDK and tinker around with it which is one of its great advantage - running a local development fabric on your computer to simulate what is going to happen in the cloud.
If you have Visual Studio 2008 and an OS of Windows Vista, Server 2008 or Windows 7, you can give it a try. It's worth it. It has tutorials on how to create cloud-based applications which practically is very similar to creating web-based applications. Also worth noting would be its interoperability with PHP. It has PHP-support thru FastCGI so you can deploy a site created out of PHP into the cloud.
Next-Gen Nintendo DS to feature Motion Sensing
According to the report, as translated by GameSpot, Iwata told the paper that the DS successor could be expected to feature a "high level of visual quality," as well as sensors to read a player's movements.
You can read the entire article here.
This is great news for the handheld gaming industry and handheld gamers as well. It is also important to note that the "high level of visual quality" is a huge step forward for Nintendo since they are the last to boost their graphical performance against Sony and Microsoft. Also, this could probably be something brought about by Microsoft's release of Zune HD which was Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPod Touch. In the meantime, iTouch and iPhone are pretty much attracting game developers with their motion sensing. Nintendo's next-gen handheld console with the new motion sensing will probably be the start of serious game development featuring games with motion sensing capabilities in the handheld industry.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Next-Gen Console Ideas
While Nintendo has been rumored to be working on an HD version of the Wii and Sony and Microsoft has been looking forward to adding accessories to their current generation consoles, I'm wondering, like you guys, what will we be expecting in the next-generation consoles?
Nintendo's Wii is a sure hall of famer to the short-listed best consoles ever produced. With its unique motion-sensing feature, many non-gamers jumped into console gaming. However, as a sign of aging and due to lack of future technological advances, third party developers tend to sway away from the idea that it is a console for hardcore gamers. Meanwhile, if you're a casual gamer, do you turn into Microsoft XBox 360 or Sony Playstation 3 for gaming? Graphics-wise, you'll probably jump into buying one of these consoles but fun factor? An obvious answer would be "No". That is why both these companies are now targeting the casual audience and creating accessories for them.
Now I'd like to give some ideas on how next-generation consoles are made up of?
Hardware
Storage-wise, I'd say go embrace the Blu-Ray technology. Content-heavy games are always in demand for most gamers. So 25GB of pure gaming content is a necessity for the console. Graphics-wise, I'd say go for the average - way above Wii's hardware, definitely at par with PS3's graphics. Even until now, only very few games were able to maximize PS3's graphics hardware. Controller-wise, now this is something to be treated with utmost confidentiality. Wiimote must have been kept secret for the longest time for us gamers and the gaming media. Chances are, the success of the console may be heavily dependent on the controller and its capabilities. But since Wii did it with necessity, so must the next-gen console be - motion-sensing and vibration. Many of you wouldn't agree to some of the add-ons I would like to have but anyway here are some of it:
Indicators - Since all controllers now are wireless, I think it wouldn't hurt if they have some indicators when then battery is running low or providing some information about the game their playing.
Creative buttons - How many games actually use the "Select" button extensively these days? Only a few right? What if we replace some of the buttons we have been used to seeing with sensible ones.
Multi-touch screen - I think its usage would still be a concern but who knows it's just a suggestion.
Games
There are a lot of genres for games nowadays but the gamers I think are still divided into three: social apps, casual and hardcore gamers. Social apps gamers are those who just plug in their pc, log on to Facebook or any site and play social apps. Imagine if the console you're creating is a social app-friendly and has heavy tie-ups on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Top social apps developers Zynga and Playfish may be involved in the discussion as well. Homebrew games should also be encouraged as well.
Don't you think it's time to boost up campaign for creation of new franchise games for casual and hardcore gamers? I know it is hard to conceptualize games per se and build on it as a franchise but hey third party developers such as Square Enix, EA and Rockstar North. Even Nintendo has to really come up with a new set of franchise games. Mario and Zelda need major revamps, God of War and Halo must be extended more to the casual audience.
Finally, gamers are the most important part of the console business. Interaction through communities is a necessity for its continued success. Continued invention and innovation is the key towards driving that success further.
Nintendo's Wii is a sure hall of famer to the short-listed best consoles ever produced. With its unique motion-sensing feature, many non-gamers jumped into console gaming. However, as a sign of aging and due to lack of future technological advances, third party developers tend to sway away from the idea that it is a console for hardcore gamers. Meanwhile, if you're a casual gamer, do you turn into Microsoft XBox 360 or Sony Playstation 3 for gaming? Graphics-wise, you'll probably jump into buying one of these consoles but fun factor? An obvious answer would be "No". That is why both these companies are now targeting the casual audience and creating accessories for them.
Now I'd like to give some ideas on how next-generation consoles are made up of?
Hardware
Storage-wise, I'd say go embrace the Blu-Ray technology. Content-heavy games are always in demand for most gamers. So 25GB of pure gaming content is a necessity for the console. Graphics-wise, I'd say go for the average - way above Wii's hardware, definitely at par with PS3's graphics. Even until now, only very few games were able to maximize PS3's graphics hardware. Controller-wise, now this is something to be treated with utmost confidentiality. Wiimote must have been kept secret for the longest time for us gamers and the gaming media. Chances are, the success of the console may be heavily dependent on the controller and its capabilities. But since Wii did it with necessity, so must the next-gen console be - motion-sensing and vibration. Many of you wouldn't agree to some of the add-ons I would like to have but anyway here are some of it:
Indicators - Since all controllers now are wireless, I think it wouldn't hurt if they have some indicators when then battery is running low or providing some information about the game their playing.
Creative buttons - How many games actually use the "Select" button extensively these days? Only a few right? What if we replace some of the buttons we have been used to seeing with sensible ones.
Multi-touch screen - I think its usage would still be a concern but who knows it's just a suggestion.
Games
There are a lot of genres for games nowadays but the gamers I think are still divided into three: social apps, casual and hardcore gamers. Social apps gamers are those who just plug in their pc, log on to Facebook or any site and play social apps. Imagine if the console you're creating is a social app-friendly and has heavy tie-ups on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Top social apps developers Zynga and Playfish may be involved in the discussion as well. Homebrew games should also be encouraged as well.
Don't you think it's time to boost up campaign for creation of new franchise games for casual and hardcore gamers? I know it is hard to conceptualize games per se and build on it as a franchise but hey third party developers such as Square Enix, EA and Rockstar North. Even Nintendo has to really come up with a new set of franchise games. Mario and Zelda need major revamps, God of War and Halo must be extended more to the casual audience.
Finally, gamers are the most important part of the console business. Interaction through communities is a necessity for its continued success. Continued invention and innovation is the key towards driving that success further.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
NBA Season 2008-09: The Balance between Eastern and Western Conference
I just watched a Yahoo Sports interview with Kenny Smith and Marc Spears regarding the top teams in the NBA. To my surprise, what I was supposed to be writing a few months ago was exactly what Kenny Smith has been talking about in the interview. Well, I guess every avid NBA fan knows about it though but I just would like to stress out that what Kenny has been telling us is a fact thru statistics.
In the last regular season of the NBA, teams get to play with their conference opponents 52 games out of a possible 82 games while the 30 games are against opponents outside their conference. Combining these simple statistics with the knowledge of the rosters in the NBA for both conferences, I'd say it's pretty obvious that an NCAA format of tournament rankings should have been implemented instead. Of course if this would be possible, in which I doubt would be happening in the soonest possible time, conference games would be narrowed down. But in reality, it's more than just a mere tweaking of the playoff arrangements. Of course that format will cost way lots of money than the current conference and division set-ups.
Going back, I think the only way we could see the balance between both conferences now would be on the emphasis on the quality of the GMs in their respective conferences and salary cap of course. Taking a look at franchise building, it's amazing how the Portland Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder have delighted us by turning their teams to playoff contenders especially in the Western conference. Kevin Pritchard and Sam Presti have done remarkable jobs at constructing their teams. Sam Presti is deserving to win this year's GM of the Year if not for Daryl Morey's surprisingly better team Houston Rockets riding oft-injured franchise players Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Teams from the Eastern Conference, with the emergence and downfall of the Detroit Pistons and the rising of franchise players such as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Joe Johnson and Chris Bosh, have done simply nothing to improve their teams except for the almost effortless Boston Celtics reconstruction. Instead of taking advantage of the predictable decline of the Pistons, Eastern conference GMs were contented with minor tweaks and settling for a subpar record but a playoff opportunity. Chicago Bulls should have been strongly contending, so should the Toronto Raptors and the disappointing Washington Wizards who gave up tons of money for a fake franchise player Gilbert Arenas. And while many people and analysts consider Atlanta Hawks as a powerhouse team, I don't. This team should have also taken care of its homework. With its current roster, it's impossible for them to compete against the Celtics, Magic and the Cavaliers. They are happy to be bullying the Eastern conference with their lineup and beat playoff contenders such as the Miami Heat. This team is supposed to be strong but put it in the Western conference and it's just an eighth-seeded team going into playoffs.
Western conference GMs took the other way around. While the Los Angeles Lakers have been consistently beefing up their roster, other teams took the challenge head on and beefed up their rosters too. After Shaq got traded to the Eastern conference, many would have thought the Texas triumvirate San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets and the Phoenix Suns would have clearly dominated the NBA but things have changed pretty fast when Memphis Grizzlies threw away Pau Gasol for the younger Marc Gasol which is now actually starting to pay off. Denver Nuggets went from first round playoff contenders to a sudden conference finals contenders by acquiring Chauncey Billups and finally a healthy roster. The Spurs are again a team to watch out for after having been acquired Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess. A lot of Western conference GMs took no season to relax their budget by making bold moves in their roster as they attempt to squeeze out the best out of their franchise players during their primes such as Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant and an already declining Spurs dynasty.
Having these things been pointed out, Eastern conference powerhouse teams Magic, Celtics and Cavs will have fresher legs come Finals time since their starters are well-rested while developing their bench players as the season goes on. The trend for lower tier Eastern conference teams will still be the same for the years to come unless they start on not relying too much on the NBA draft. They've got LeBron James and Dwayne Wade and have the up and coming Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings but the Western conference still have gotten the better of these recent drafts - Kevin Durant, Brandon Roy, Andrew Bynum and Tyreke Evans.
In the last regular season of the NBA, teams get to play with their conference opponents 52 games out of a possible 82 games while the 30 games are against opponents outside their conference. Combining these simple statistics with the knowledge of the rosters in the NBA for both conferences, I'd say it's pretty obvious that an NCAA format of tournament rankings should have been implemented instead. Of course if this would be possible, in which I doubt would be happening in the soonest possible time, conference games would be narrowed down. But in reality, it's more than just a mere tweaking of the playoff arrangements. Of course that format will cost way lots of money than the current conference and division set-ups.
Going back, I think the only way we could see the balance between both conferences now would be on the emphasis on the quality of the GMs in their respective conferences and salary cap of course. Taking a look at franchise building, it's amazing how the Portland Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder have delighted us by turning their teams to playoff contenders especially in the Western conference. Kevin Pritchard and Sam Presti have done remarkable jobs at constructing their teams. Sam Presti is deserving to win this year's GM of the Year if not for Daryl Morey's surprisingly better team Houston Rockets riding oft-injured franchise players Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Teams from the Eastern Conference, with the emergence and downfall of the Detroit Pistons and the rising of franchise players such as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Joe Johnson and Chris Bosh, have done simply nothing to improve their teams except for the almost effortless Boston Celtics reconstruction. Instead of taking advantage of the predictable decline of the Pistons, Eastern conference GMs were contented with minor tweaks and settling for a subpar record but a playoff opportunity. Chicago Bulls should have been strongly contending, so should the Toronto Raptors and the disappointing Washington Wizards who gave up tons of money for a fake franchise player Gilbert Arenas. And while many people and analysts consider Atlanta Hawks as a powerhouse team, I don't. This team should have also taken care of its homework. With its current roster, it's impossible for them to compete against the Celtics, Magic and the Cavaliers. They are happy to be bullying the Eastern conference with their lineup and beat playoff contenders such as the Miami Heat. This team is supposed to be strong but put it in the Western conference and it's just an eighth-seeded team going into playoffs.
Western conference GMs took the other way around. While the Los Angeles Lakers have been consistently beefing up their roster, other teams took the challenge head on and beefed up their rosters too. After Shaq got traded to the Eastern conference, many would have thought the Texas triumvirate San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets and the Phoenix Suns would have clearly dominated the NBA but things have changed pretty fast when Memphis Grizzlies threw away Pau Gasol for the younger Marc Gasol which is now actually starting to pay off. Denver Nuggets went from first round playoff contenders to a sudden conference finals contenders by acquiring Chauncey Billups and finally a healthy roster. The Spurs are again a team to watch out for after having been acquired Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess. A lot of Western conference GMs took no season to relax their budget by making bold moves in their roster as they attempt to squeeze out the best out of their franchise players during their primes such as Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant and an already declining Spurs dynasty.
Having these things been pointed out, Eastern conference powerhouse teams Magic, Celtics and Cavs will have fresher legs come Finals time since their starters are well-rested while developing their bench players as the season goes on. The trend for lower tier Eastern conference teams will still be the same for the years to come unless they start on not relying too much on the NBA draft. They've got LeBron James and Dwayne Wade and have the up and coming Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings but the Western conference still have gotten the better of these recent drafts - Kevin Durant, Brandon Roy, Andrew Bynum and Tyreke Evans.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Canon Powershot G11
The new top of the line Canon point and shoot camera has been released. The review can be found here.
Here's my two cents about the camera:
1. Trimming down of 14.7MP to 10MP. While an ordinary user may always tend to max out the image size to 14.7MP, users with past experience of using cameras may tend to disagree about it. It's a good idea to focus on the other functions of the camera but the trimming down will lessen its attraction to a newbie to cameras. Ordinary users do not usually go to Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop to post-process their still images. The highest possible megapixel resolution is advised for users who do post-processing and cropping of pictures. Let's face it, while you always have the largest resolution of photos taken, other people won't be able to see it online because photo sharing sites won't allow you to store very large photos unless you have premium accounts or viewers won't always zoom in and take that in-depth look at every photo. So what's left? A thumbnail resolution - trimmed down version of your photo. So for me, it's okay to have the megapixel trim down.
2. Low light mode. I actually haven't used and seen this camera yet but I'm looking forward to using this mode. It's a great thing especially for those users who often take shots at night.
3. Finally, with all the hype surrounding Panasonic LX3 and the arrival of G11 and other high-end point and shoot cameras, if you love to shoot to places where a DLSR is prohibited, compact cameras are the best option and love taking whatever has captured your attention, then go for these cameras.
Here's my two cents about the camera:
1. Trimming down of 14.7MP to 10MP. While an ordinary user may always tend to max out the image size to 14.7MP, users with past experience of using cameras may tend to disagree about it. It's a good idea to focus on the other functions of the camera but the trimming down will lessen its attraction to a newbie to cameras. Ordinary users do not usually go to Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop to post-process their still images. The highest possible megapixel resolution is advised for users who do post-processing and cropping of pictures. Let's face it, while you always have the largest resolution of photos taken, other people won't be able to see it online because photo sharing sites won't allow you to store very large photos unless you have premium accounts or viewers won't always zoom in and take that in-depth look at every photo. So what's left? A thumbnail resolution - trimmed down version of your photo. So for me, it's okay to have the megapixel trim down.
2. Low light mode. I actually haven't used and seen this camera yet but I'm looking forward to using this mode. It's a great thing especially for those users who often take shots at night.
3. Finally, with all the hype surrounding Panasonic LX3 and the arrival of G11 and other high-end point and shoot cameras, if you love to shoot to places where a DLSR is prohibited, compact cameras are the best option and love taking whatever has captured your attention, then go for these cameras.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Microsoft File Transfer Manager
Just doing a quick post/tip here. Whenever you want to download large files using your MSDN account, it is best to use Internet Explorer. The ActiveX control Microsoft File Transfer Manager will then be prompted for installation. In this way, you will be able to pause and resume your downloads just like any normal file transfer.
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