Technomite

Top Spin 3 (Wii) - Review

2009-02-20T19:10:00.019+05:30

There were two things that convinced me that I should have this game:

With the replay value of Wii sports seeming to decrease on acieving pro-status, Top Spin 3 seemed the perfect Wiimote swinging casual game to get me going again.
Roger Federer on the cover.

This, plus a star studded lineup of grunty Sharapova; tantrum throwing, racquet flinging Murray; and reviewers using fancy terms like "dynamic weather" got me all gung-ho about playing the "Best tennis for the wii". Also, the marked absence of Nadal made me even happier, following the letdown at the Austrailian Open.

So, three days later, I popped in the game, saw the title screen with Roger smiling like in his pre-no.2 days, and gleefully followed the "press B to continue" instruction. What followed was a title screen reminiscent of my PSone days and some background video which for this post, is assumed to be tennis, but far more like pixelized blobs compiled into a GIF animation.

Of course, the thought of controlling Fed still resonating, I ignored this little lapse and decided to play a sweet 2-player game. It was here that the game pointedly refused to recognize my second wiimote since apparently, all players need the nunchuck attachment. Something which I had only one of. "That seems reasonable", I thought to myself and decided a single player game would do ( something the game seems to have been hinting to me all this while).

Into the single player, I went to the character selection screen, silently promising myself not to play with anyone other than Federer. As my opponent, I picked the other player I wanted most to see play, Sharapova. I was hit by the expected shallow graphics, with Fed's face having a weridly familiar but slightly creepy smile, which stays static.

"Whatever, let's roll with it", I figured. What I did not expect however, was horribly hard gameplay, and an unnecessarily steep learning curve for things like drop-shots, lob-shots, head-shots, top-spins, slices, smashes, aim - combos, volleys, hit-yourself with the racquet and three-button-plus-swing serves amongst other things. Obviously, expecting a jump-in wiisports type gameplay, Sharapova promptly proceeded in wiping the court with my sorry arse. Thank God for the bad graphics, or I might have actually seen Roger cry all over again.

First Impressions and my little tirade aside, once you get a little more practice, the gameplay becomes oddly satisfying. Even more satisfying, was to see my opponent Murray curse and throw his racquet on the floor in his frustration on not getting a single point off me. My glee seemed to catch on, and Federer began doing stuff like hitting the ball backwards. (!)

Overall, the game seems largely unfinished, and could have been so much better, limitations aside. This game is best left to the pro tennis fanboys who have it in them to forgive the bad graphics and the restrictive gameplay modes.

images courtesy Gamespot

GTA Shennanigans

2009-02-04T18:48:00.005+05:30

The things we do for fun.

Wondering how to get off that weird latte-holding statue in GTA4 without killing yourself?

Been there, done that:

Grand Theft Auto 4 (PC) - Review

2009-01-25T12:30:00.009+05:30

++++
* Very good story with well developed characters (some of them get on your nerves).
* Amazing attention to detail. I was always surprised by some tiny detail or the other.
* Varied missions and side missions (though not as varied as San Andreas).
* Very good character animation and physics. (The Euphoria engine at work)
* Very funny dialogue, radio channels and TV.
* Very good graphics in places (on my PC though). Amazing looking water and fire effects.

- - - -

* Bad PC port. Horrible texture pop-in. It ruined the game for me.
* Annoying friends system.
* Realism - Not a good direction for the GTA series. San Andreas was a lot of fun.
* Vehicles handle like shit.
* No motive to do anything other than the story missions.

I did not enjoy GTA 4 as much as San Andreas. The bad graphics didn't let me. I'll probably try it again if I get a console.

To the bravest souls ever...

2008-11-29T01:24:00.002+05:30

I can has change?

2008-11-10T13:39:00.001+05:30

Google's 'fatality' ?

2008-09-02T18:24:00.005+05:30

Google's gone a little further in it's cold war with Microsoft, upping it's digi-nuclear stockpiles with another weapon.

Trying to combat Microsoft IE's 73% market dominance, Google has been backing Firefox, which took over a sizeable 18% of the market. Firefox 3 also ended up being the most downloaded piece of software ever, with over 8 million downloads on its release day.

But, in the wake of recent worries over IE8's capabilities, and what this could do to their business, Google decided that Firefox wasn't enough to keep Microsoft at bay.

Sticking to their policy of take-over-the-internet-by-2020, they've brought out chrome, their next big, and logical step to web dominance. And to be a little cool, they've done up their release notes in a comic book.

This release, however seems to have left a lot of Firefox fans (Me included) feeling a little betrayed at Google's lack of confidence in the Firefox legacy. Be sure to check back here soon, when I benchmark Chrome and the 'fox.

An-droid a go-go

2008-08-22T21:05:00.043+05:30

With the gap between the number of cell phones and PC's widening every day, phones are looking to replace PC's as the main gateway to the internet. And obviously when a web related field grows, Google wants in.

Google announced Android last November along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance (a consortium of 34 hardware, software and telecom companies) to advance open standards (royalty free platforms) on mobile devices.

Android, an operating system and a software platform for mobile devices; is based on the Linux OS.

The main difference between Android and its competitors like the Symbian OS, Windows Mobile and the iPhone is that it is an open platform, which allows developers to create applications that take full advantage of what the handset has to offer.

The Android OS is limited only by the hardware it runs on. If the phone supports accelerometers, accelerated 3D graphics, compasses, GPS, etc., so will Android.
Here's a video that shows the kind of customization Android allows.

To create interest in the OS, Google announced the Android Developer Challenge, with $10 million in prize money to the creators of the 50 best applications for the system. Which gave birth to some really amazing applications:

Biowallet - Makes your eye the key to your phone.
Commandro - GPS based social networking.
Eco2Go - Helps in tracking and reducing your carbon footprint.
TuneWiki - A karaoke-style music app that syncs lyrics from its server.
Android Scan - Scan any barcode and instantly search dozens of online and local stores.

People looking out for a iPhone might want to hold out a bit more.
All major companies like HTC, Samsung and Motorola have an Android phone in the works and the first one will be out by Fall 2008. Keep and eye out for the Dell Alienware phone as well.

Android? Sounds very promising, doesn't it?

(For those wondering, Android a go-go happens to be the name of a computer on star-trek)

All your article are belong to us.

2008-07-28T23:21:00.010+05:30

Google's knol is here, and according to it's founder:

Hmmm. Really? Now what is usually the second result to almost every Google search? Yep. A Wikipedia result. Google giving out a message here?

I know I, as a Google fan should be jumping up and down with joy, beating myself silly over a new Google product release, but I just can't stomach a rival to the worlds greatest open knowledge movement. Q and A session?

1."Why can't knol ever beat the 'pedia?"

Most knols are written by a single author.
Most knols will be non-changeable by the public.

2."What's wrong with this?"

Knol articles are views of it's main author ( This encourages article ownership )
Google defines Knol as a "unit of knowledge". Stress on 'unit'.
Wikipedia is a community project
Wikipedia articles are written collectively under a "neutral point of view" policy

3."Community Project, huh? Then most people can edit it to whatever they want !"

No. There is a dedicated team of volunteers who scrutinize every change made to the project. And I mean every change.
All unscrupulous, unsourced edits are reverted almost immediately.

4."How do you know so much?"

I'm part of that group of volunteers.

Knol vs Wiki? Wikipedia says, " All your article are belong to us :) "
Something more? Wikipedia has an article on Knol. Ironic isn't it?

In the Interim

2008-07-28T21:56:00.003+05:30

It's been a month since I've last posted, and I kept putting off posting something new, or for that matter, checking my analytics page. But I finally did muster up the courage to peek in, and what I saw touched me. Two hundred visits in the last month with virtually no activity of mine showed that there are people reading this stuff. Keep clicking, this blog has re-awoken! (Also, Keep an eye out for a new guest-editor =D )

Why was I near-dead in the last month? Anna University decided to nuke me.

Ahhh, I see 2.0 - June 2008

2008-06-17T10:04:00.013+05:30

The previous quiz needed a little experience with a game and an OS. This one doesn't. This one, however needs a load of thinking from your part:)

Question 1:

Find the secret hidden in this picture:

Hint: Too much for you? Try solving Question 2 first.

Question 2:

Figure this out:

Abg onq!..lbh tbg guvf sne. Gung jnf n fvzcyr Pnrfne pvcure. Abj sbe gur pyhr:

Gur cvpgher vf na nepuvir.Svther vg bhg sebz gurer :)

Hint : From the darkness springs light. What on Earth is rot13?!
As usual, answers in the comment page, please.

Ahhh, I see - June 2008

2008-06-08T15:31:00.013+05:30

'Ahhh, i see' will soon be a regular feature on Technomite. A little quiz, a load of fun. Use your imagination; you just might get lucky!

This month's question:

What is the connection between these two pictures?

Hint: If you've used vista, think of the most annoying thing that comes to mind.

Post your answers in the comments page.

Update: Deepak got it right.The common feature was UAC, which is User Account Control in Vista and Union Aerospace Corporation in Doom.

Riding high!

2008-05-15T18:56:00.012+05:30

Yes! Technomite has crossed 333 visits! (Its actually more than that,but i backtracked to this date,since its exactly one-third of a millennium).

And with almost 650 page views Technomite is now on the first two results on its Google search, and the top result in Google blog search!

( This keeps Fluctuating, so here's a photo for proof! )

Its not much,i know,but it's still something of an achievement for a small town blog with big town dreams.(I got that from Superman :D )

And yes,that is vista :) (I'm experimenting with a new toy)

What is your carbon shoe size?

2008-05-12T20:33:00.009+05:30

Remember that post about a certain search engine trying to go ~~black~~ green? Well, here's a little video on what Greenpeace feels about some well known semiconductor devices.

Surprised? Check out this little graph where Greenpeace rates these MNc's according to their social responsibility.

Want to do your part? Reduce, Re-use, Recycle! And, if you can afford it, newer technology also reduces the tech-eco impact. Studies show that LCD's, Dual-cores and DDR3 RAM consume lesser power than their older counterparts (CRT's, p4's, and the DDR2).

As a die-hard FF fan, I couldn't resist making a gimped earth-themed fox :)

Treat the earth nice, or it could end up like this.
(yes,that is the moon,but it could show us what another half-century of global warming can do)
And that, is the not-so-convenient truth.

Web of Design?

2008-04-30T13:00:00.000+05:30

Inspired by guys down at wikipedia and a truck-load of beginner's luck,I finally got bitten by the graphic designer bug(sort-of similar to the radioactive one that bit Peter Parker,but in this case I get mutant CGi powers.) Special thanks to the guys who made GIMP and my senior Planemad for the inspiration:D

My first graphic attempt:

Lots more to come!

Battle Royale all over again?

2008-04-13T16:02:00.000+05:30

Firefox thinks it's showtime,and Microsoft seems to have learned a thing or two.Time for browser war 3.0?
I ran a couple of tests on IE8- beta 1 and Firefox3 Beta 5.Improvements to both browsers were stellar,and seem evenly matched;though that could all change when the final releases are out.

The GUI:

IE8's GUI is very similar(if not the same) as IE7.So if your an IE7 affectionado or a die-hard MS junkie,IE8 might be your side of the war.The domain portions of URLs are bolded to be more noticeable, an effort to thwart phishing schemes. Also, the bottom status bar is on by default.

Changes to the Firefox GUI are stunning.With eye catching buttons,improvements to the url bar and some fancy tab highlighting,the improved layout is comfortable to use, and noticeably different from Internet Explorer, which splits navigation controls between the left and right sides of the browser.Firefox wins this round hands down.

Firefox vs IE: 1-0
New Features:

Prominent in IE8:
WebSlices,a new feature for websites that enables users to subscribe to content directly within a webpage. WebSlices behave just like feeds in that users can subscribe to them and receive update notifications when the content changes. Websites are polled at user-defined intervals, similar to the way RSS feeds are polled.IE8 is also css 2.1 compliant,has improved HTML handling and page-zooming facility.

In Firefox:
The address bar for Firefox 3 supports a much richer type-ahead drop-down;to help pick your destination of choice, the drop-down narrows your recent locations as you type, and shows URL, title, icon, and even whether the address is bookmarked. The address bar also allows for one-click bookmarking and direct subscription to RSS feeds.My task manager,however showed that,though FF3 is lighter than FF2,IE-8 is still considerably lighter.
Firefox vs IE: 1-1

Browsers on Acid:
The Acid tests are test suites published and promoted by the Web Standards Project to identify web page rendering flaws in browsers and other applications that render HTML.The way a web browser displays the test is compared to a reference rendering. If the two match, the browser is considered to pass the test.
This is the reference for the acid test.The test result would come out exactly like this if the browser handles HTML, CSS, and JavaScript properly.The larger image is acid3 while the smiley face is acid2.For now, no browser actually aces Acid 3.

IE8 even failed the Acid2 test (note the happy face's eyes). Also,note the ugly failure notice on acid3.

Firefox has long had good showings in Web standards compliance and this release is no different.Unlike Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3 handles the Acid2 test perfectly and it also scores fairly well on the Acid3 test,beating the pants off IE.

Firefox vs IE: 2-1
Take the acid2 and acid3 for your browser:)

Page download time:
Finally,the deciding factor:which is the faster browser?I ran Steve Souders' Parellel downloads test; the results were very close.

IE turned up a result of 5985 ms.

Firefox3 did it in 5905 ms.

Result: Firefox was 80 milliseconds faster:)
Not much,but still an edge.Kudos to Microsoft for bringing up the standard of IE.
However,final score: Firefox vs IE: 3-1

Conclusion:Internet Explorer8 is a wonderful browser,and is well beyond what IE7 ever was,however MS has to do a lot more if they want it to become a top priority download in the future.Firefox on the other hand....:)

You hack it, you get to keep it.

2008-04-07T17:32:00.001+05:30

Three laptops, all patched. All in typical client configurations with typical user configurations.Each has a file on them and it contains the instructions and how to claim the prize.

The targets:

VAIO VGN-TZ37CN running Ubuntu 7.10
Fujitsu U810 running Vista Ultimate SP1
MacBook Air running OSX 10.5.2"

Show organizers called the contest PWN 2 OWN. Pwn (which rhymes with own) is a hacker term meaning to take control of a computer.The prize? US$20,000, plus you get to keep the laptop.

The catch? Contestants had to use a brand-new 'zero day' attack that nobody has seen before.

Day 1:By late Wednesday(march 26th), nobody had even tried to hack the three laptops. This wasn't exactly a surprise to the contest's organizers because on day one attackers were only allowed to use network-based attacks that involved no user interaction. Those type of attacks are extremely rare these days.

There was a downside to waiting until Thursday, however. The prize money drops in half each day. If nobody claimed the laptops by Friday, the prize bottoms out at $5,000 and organizers would start installing non-standard software on the machines to see if they can be compromised through programs such as Skype.

Day 2:At 12:38pm local time, the team of Charlie Miller, Jake Honoroff, and Mark Daniel successfully compromised the Apple MacBook Air, winning the laptop and $10,000. They were able to exploit a brand new 0day vulnerability in Apple's Safari web browser.

Day 3:Shane Macaulay from Security Objectives won the Fujitsu U810 laptop running Vista Ultimate SP1 after it was installed with the latest version of Adobe Flash. winning the Fujitsu laptop and $5,000.Only the Sony VAIO laptop running Ubuntu was left standing.

Both vulnerabilities have been acquired by the Zero Day Initiative, and have been 'responsibly disclosed' to both Apple and Adobe which are now working on the issue.

Thanks to Stewart Meagher,Robert McMillan and Zero day initiative.

Project virgle!

2008-04-01T18:46:00.000+05:30

Virgle, Inc., a joint venture between the Virgin Group and Google.Project Virgle will be the first permanent human colony on Mars.

Sir Richard Branson, President and Founder of Virgin Group says:

"Virgle's goal is simple: the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars. Larry Page, Sergey Brin and I feel strongly that contemporary technology is sufficiently advanced to make such an effort both successful and economical, and that it's high time that humanity moved beyond Earth and began our great, long journey to explore the stars and establish our first lasting foothold on another world.

In the years to come, we'll be sending up a series of spaceships carrying (along with the supplies and tools needed to build the new colony) what eventually will be hundreds of Mars colonists, or Virgle Pioneers -- myself among them. If you think you might want join us (or invest in or otherwise assist this vast venture), I hope you'll read more here about how Virgle will work, what our brave Pioneers can expect and what the future holds for what just might be the most ambitious adventure in mankind's long and storied history."

At last!...an open source planet!

Thin as Hell!

2008-03-30T22:17:00.001+05:30

For all the Apple fans out there who want to own/own a Macbook air!This is the air's fantastic commercial featuring the song 'new soul' by Yael Nim.

And for all the non Apple fans out there who don't want to own a Macbook(or can't afford one),This is an even more fantastic commercial:)

Black day for Google

2008-03-29T21:22:00.001+05:30

On Saturday, 29 March 2008 Google blacked out the Google homepage as a gesture to raise awareness to a worldwide energy conservation effort earth hour.(why?)

Global cities participated in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29. Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis. It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

Chennai and several other large indian metros participated,terming it the national Batti Bandh campaign.The Chennai event was organized by sify tech.,WWF & Earth hour.(If you happened to miss the event,there is a similar campaign planned for May 1 called Vilakku Anaiyungal organized by Exnora International.)

Ironically though, the black screen could actually be taking up more energy than the original white one. A study by techlogg comparing Google’s regular white homepage to black power saving search site blackle, shows that black screens actually hike up the amounts of energy required. Well, at least they tried.:)

Quote from the Google site-

"As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

What's in a name?

2008-03-29T18:01:00.000+05:30

The word 'Technomite' comes from a fictitious race called the technomites; small but hyper intelligent beings.Technomites are said to have invented all technology in the universe,and are ticked off because they have never got credit for it.(This is because no one believes they exist.Do you?)

This blog is a tribute to what is possibly one of the greatest games ever created: Ratchet&Clank.The race is first seen in the psp installment of the series size matters.(My favorite Ratchet&Clank is part 3: Up Your Arsenal).