Out with the News and in with the Blogs.

Here ye here ye, the time of traditional news media is over and the time of blogs is now upon us. No longer will we be fed the same old drivel of monotony and "journalism" present in these draconian news papers. Today we shall feast upon the majesty of what we bestow the name of blogs and the art of free speech and open thinking!

Anyway, blogs have taken an increasingly important role in the way we consume our media. Almost every website that generates daily content utilizes blogs. These blogs cover topics ranging from news, sports, games, politics to any sort of topic that has an opinion one way or another. However, blogs have also been increasingly used to display an author's expertise in a field, such as art portfolios or technical blogs. Blogs have now evolved into something much greater than the occasional drivel of a person's adolescent meltdown.

So what makes blogs so damn useful in conveying information that something like a traditional news paper or television broadcast can't provide? For one thing, it is universally available to anyone with a decent internet connection. Put the link in your browser and you're there. No more having to pay the paper boy a quarter for some news or waiting until the Big Bang Theory is finished to catch the latest news. You can now just head to the all-purpose internet and get any information instantly!

Another is that it is easy to find the information that you want. News broadcast are notorious for not giving you the news you want immediately. They may entice you with a shocking headline, but then broadcasters force the viewers to watch a commercial or other boring news before you finally can get the piece of information you want.

With a written blog on the internet, you can immediately scan the text looking for the most important bits of information available. Also, with the advent of twitter and social media, blogs are easily passed around through "word of tweets" (haha see what I did there no you didnt because it was a bad joke) and thus viewers are immediately alerted when an important piece of news hit. No more having to sit around the couch or waiting for tomorrow's newspaper to catch the news, blogs will give you what you want when you want it!

So yea...blogs are pretty darn integral to the way out society operates. Hell, without them you wouldn't have seen this off-the-rails rant about blogs! Oh lucky you.

References:

News vs. blog. (n.d.). Chalkbeat Colorado News vs blog Comments. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://co.chalkbeat.org/news-vs-blog/

Root-Wiley, M. (2011, December 6). Labels Matter: "Blog" vs. "News" | Blog | MRW Web Design. MRW Web Design. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://mrwweb.com/labels-matter-blog-news/

Week 4 - QR Codes

Uses of QR Codes

For some reason QR codes have become the hot darlings in the tech industry today. You can see these codes displayed in a variety of instances, such as blogs, name tags, posters or even on your television. Before I go into their different uses, what are these codes and why are they so prevalent in today's social media?

First, QR codes "are a type of two-dimensional barcode that can be read using smartphones and dedicated QR reading devices, that link directly to text, emails, websites, phone numbers and more!"
Wow, thank you whatisaqrcode.co.uk, your explanation of QR codes is very succinct. 

Anyway, they're popular because of the reasons specified in the quote, which is the ability to direct people who scan these qr codes to various websites, texts, emails, etc. 

But enough on the history of QR codes, let's learn some of the more interesting cases to use QR codes. 


NUMBER 1: VIDEO GAME SHENANIGANS
That's right, you can scan QR codes in video games! How cool is that? But what do you gain from scanning qr codes in a video game? Well, they can be used to give players hints, rewards or even ACHIEVEMENTS.

Here's an example of QR codes used in the indie plat former Fez. 

In this case, scanning the QR code gives you a text that displays various combinations of RT and LT. If you were to push in the right trigger and left trigger of your video game controller, and follow the commands precisely, then you can gain a nice reward! Definitely a cool and interesting use of qr codes...I hope. 

Now, moving onto the next interesting use of QR codes...

Which is none. They are not that interesting. Seriously, why are they so popular? Beats me...


References:
Chariton, G. (2011, August 15). The pros and cons of QR codes. Econsultancy. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from https://econsultancy.com/blog/7884-the-pros-and-cons-of-qr-codes#i.v0lc34pg0duyty

What is a QR Code?. (n.d.). What is a QR Code?. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://www.whatisaqrcode.co.uk/

Cyber Security - Gotta Captchem all.

This week’s topic is something relevant to Cyber Security.

If you are any normal denizen of the internet, then it is highly likely that you have run into the infamous CAPTCHA!

Short for “Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”. (Makes you glad that they decided to refer to it by abbreviation only.)

CAPTCHA is a security test that does more than just annoy you (shocking I know). Its “real” purpose is to protect websites from bots. These bots are programmed to either automatically register for accounts or influence some sort of online poll/contest. This can be real annoying towards the admins if a site’s community of say a 100 strong is suddenly populated with a couple thousand “xxNorrisVSLee1820x” every day.

Or we can use this blog as an example. Were it not for captcha, then there is literally NOTHING (aside from a global EMP wiping out all electronics) stopping bots from spamming this comment section with something asinine such as “chunky bacon”.

So how does captcha stop these little spamalot gremlins? First they make the users (in this case the bots) type something. The catch is that what they have to type are images of complex arrangements and shapes, meaning that since bots can only recognize what is typed on the screen or some standard font, the bots cannot decipher complex images or shapes. However, one advantage humans have over bots is our ability of pattern recognition and ability to read abstract symbols. A pretty cheeky way to one up skynet!  

So next time you’re inputting text into that pesky captcha, know that this is a necessary evil to…well to be honest, why should we care what happens to the site owners? It’s not our problem. THE INTERNET ISN’T SO CHARITABLE!

CAPTCHA: Telling Humans and Computers Apart Automatically. (n.d.).The Official CAPTCHA Site. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.captcha.net/

How to use CAPTCHA. (n.d.). How to use captcha, understand, use and implement captcha, to protect your website againstspam and form spamming, and captcha explained. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.captcha.tv/

Open Source Software - Why the video game industry needs to release open source games.

One of the largest problems facing the AAA video game industry right now is the exuberant costs of developing a video game. Talk to any game producer and they will tell you that having a game ship is darn close to a miracle. These games are shipped under tight deadlines and are often finalized with a plethora of bugs and optimization issues.

A recent example of this issue is the launch of Battlefield 4 in late 2013. Fans of the previous iterations were expecting an absolute flawless gaming experience. However they were instead met with game-breaking bugs and crashes. Some examples? How about spawning directly underneath the terrain, unable to move or play the game. Or emptying an entire clip of your weapon in an enemy only to be killed in one shot because the game didn't register your damage output. Or even having your game crashed randomly because of reasons. These are some of the experiences that fans of the game voiced during the release of Battlefield 4.

Here is a sample of bugs/issues that D.I.C.E posted during the initial release week:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/10/battlefield-4-bug-tracker-shows-status-of-major-issues

So how does open source play into all of this? Well for one thing, those outrageous developing costs go out the window. No more having to create your own engine, physics system, scripting, AI or even network infrastructure. These are some of the most time consuming and problematic aspects of gaming, and having source code readily available for developers to look at gives them the opportunity to work on what really matters - asset generation and game design.

Another benefit of having video games go open source is that bugs and glitches are fixed at an exponential rate. Having the source code open to the public allows fans of the game to freely modify the game to their liking and to even fix those "petty" bugs people love to complain about.

A prime example of how this works - in theory - is the modding community in video games. Let's look at Dark Souls 2. The game released on PC with only a native resolution of 1024x720. However, Durante - a fan of the game - released a mod called DSfix that fixed the resolution issues and optimized the performance of the game itself. Not only did this fan pay for the broken game, but he also fixed it FOR FREE. This is the epitome of what open source is about, the community working with the developers to create a vastly superior product.

Oh and here is an example of how the resolution affects the looks of the game:

So it's pretty clear - at least hypothetically - how open source would fix the myriad of problems involving game development. Games costs less to make, which in turn means more attention to game design and art generation. Games will also have their bugs fixed free of charge by the very people buying the video game! 

Therefore, I propose to all the budding developers out there, RELEASE YOUR CODE! 

Less your game ends like this

Unless you think this is amazing, then by all means protect your code.

Pereira, C. (2013, December 10). Battlefield 4 Bug Tracker Shows Status of Major Issues. IGN. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/10/battlefield-4-bug-tracker-shows-status-of-major-issues

Phillips, T. (2013, August 24). Unofficial Dark Souls PC mod fixes rendering resolution. Eurogamer.net. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-24-unofficial-dark-souls-pc-mod-fixes-rendering-resolution