With the Australian federal election coming up on the 21st of August, I want to promote a lesser known party. The Australian Sex Party. The Sex Party was formed in 2008 and is led by Fiona Patten. Before judging the name, check out their policies.
To be honest, I’m quite amazed that they aren’t promising free sex for all students. Labor never pulled through on their promise on laptops for every student, so the Sex Party shouldn’t feel too much pressure to perform.
But seriously, several of their main policies support gamers and geeks (or anyone who spends time online). They want to introduce R and X ratings for computer games meaning that Australia will finally catch up with the rest of the world and games won’t be censored or banned. They oppose the recording of people’s internet history and emails for inspection by law enforcement and they’ll overturn any mandatory internet filters.
You might agree or disagree with their other policies but check them out. From same sex marriage to the listing of drugs for sexual dysfunction, on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and ending the tax exempt status for religions, I think they’ve got decent policies.
Sandmonkey
Canabalt is a side scrolling game, where you leap across rooftops in a futuristic city, attempting to get that higher score. Think Mirror’s Edge in 2D. The game is available as a widget for the Opera browser, an app for iPhones and as an online flash game. The game is incredibly easy to learn; you only need one button to play. Using that button you just across gaps, over obstacles and through office windows.
Despite being such a basic game, it’s incredibly fun and addictive: when you stop playing, it will be out of frustration rather than boredom. The only gripe I have with this game is that it doesn’t give you a long enough screen to see what’s coming up, so you could jump and hit a wall, missing the window that you were meant to go through… and no amount of skill or reaction times could have helped.
The graphical style is very simple, filled with quite monotone colours (as you can see above). That along with the many industrial buildings and strange alien robots in the background give the effect of you being in a world on the brink of an apocalypse.
An I know this is an almost menial point to bring up, but the music in this game (I think) is very fitting. It makes you feel like you’re on a high speed, adrenaline filled chase.
You can play Canabalt here.
Sandmonkey
For what? An Apple rant time, that’s what. So Apple released the iPad a few weeks ago. It’s a nifty little tablet computer, using the iPhone OS. They’ve also just announced the iPhone 4. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t really have any problem with these products but what I do have a problem with is how Apple markets them and how the general populace are reacting to them.
First off, the iPad: it’s effectively a large iPod Touch. Sure it has a longer battery life, bigger screen and better processor but you would expect these upgrades for something that’s bigger and is newer than any iPod Touches. Then Apple come and market it as “magical” and “revolutionary”. The problem being that it is neither.
Instead of advertising actual features of the iPad, Apple is using straight up lies to try and wow consumers. All of the features in the iPad have already been seen in the iPhone, so there is nothing revolutionary about that. $499 is not even a good deal; you can buy a laptop with more functionality than an iPad for less.
Then there is the new iPhone, which was announced with a bunch of features that have been around for years and as Apple standard, they are being marketed as “revolutionary”. Such as video calling, front and back cameras, flash (just not the Adobe kind), folders and multitasking.
I was going to start quoting everything that they say that is wrong, but then I realized I'd be quoting the whole thing. I would just like to point out that the only new features that are in the new iPhone are the resolution of the screen for a mobile, and the materials used. Everything else has been around on mobile platforms for years.
But I’m sure as intelligent readers, you’ll notice just how pathetic their video is.
Sandmonkey
I recently stumbled across a very interesting yet very understated fact about the future of computing. It’s a concept that I have a great difficulty understanding, and it makes me wish I paid more attention in physics and chemistry. You may have heard of a principle called Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law is a prediction by Gordon E. Moore, one of the co-founders of Intel, concerning the trend in the gradual increase in computing power since the 1960s. Moore predicted, based on pre-existing data, that the processing power of computers doubles every two years. This comes as a result of the amount of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit. The more transistors, the more powerful the computer. This prediction has been extremely accurate and has been more or less correct for the last fifty years, however there is a problem with this law. The processing power of a computer relies primarily on the amount of transistors that can be squeezed on to circuit, which is not indefinite. Eventually, the processing power of silicon-based computers will be halted by the limitation of miniaturisation. In other words, the transistors can’t keep getting smaller, there is always a barrier as you cannot get smaller than an atom.
This poses a problem for the Digital Age. Computers have steadily been getting more and more powerful as time has gone by, and we are facing the end of this progression. At the current rate of doubling every two years, the wall will be hit between 2013 and 2018. So to clarify, in four to nine years silicon-based computers will have reached the limit of their potential. Making the only way to progress is to go back to the drawing board. Many have suggested ways of prolonging the inevitable limit of processing power, such as theories concerning layering or expanding the size of chips, however each of these merely delay silicon’s shortcomings. However another concept is a lot more interesting.
A quantum computer is an entirely different approach to computing. It is essentially starting all over again with a different theory and with different technology. Quantum computers process data using what is called ‘Quantum Mechanics’, the set of principles governing the atomic level of matter. This is our understanding of how atoms are structured, and how everything exists. Whilst silicon computers process data through simple binary switches, on and off, 1 and 0, quantum computers use the quantum states of atoms to process data at an unbelievable rate. This seems to far in to the realms of science fiction, however rudimentary quantum computers have been built and are proven to work. The world record for quantum computing calculation is a computer that was able to calculate that 5 + 3 = 15. A simple and seemingly remarkable feet, yet this calculation was performed on seven atoms. This processor was composed of just seven atoms.
The use of quantum states rather than binary code gives quantum processing a massive advantage over silicon processing. Multi-tasking. Or parallel processing. Whilst a single core of a desktop processor carries out one instruction at a time, a quantum computer carries out millions. This parallelism endows a quantum computer with amazing speed, as 300,000 calculations would take the same amount of time as 1, or even 3,000,000. Time is no longer a factor.
Google recently announced its interest in using quantum computers to replace its massive amounts of servers. Just this month a single-atom quantum transistor was created, showing great promise for the future. The field of quantum research is ever expanding and the reality of quantum computing draws nearer. Quantum computing theory appears to be correct, hindered only by what is called quantum decoherance, vibrations from external sources that interfere with the atoms. Scientists seem optimistic that a way of shielding the atoms will be invented, which would trigger a completely new start for all computers.
Renegade
And as soon as we finally return, we leave you again. Yes, I am referring to you, our last regular visitor. We once again travel to the farthest reaches of the Australian outback in search of rest, bananas that taste of cheese and emus that lay golden chocolate eggs. We shall return victorious, and when we do we shall blog! We shall blog so hard that some of you may experience nausea due to the gratuitous amounts of opinions, hate for Apple and of course, Yak noises.
On our travels we shall play Moonwalker on the Sega Megadrive in homage to the late Michael Jackson, play Tap Tap Revenge compulsively all through the nights, and possibly sell our souls to the devil in exchange for internet connectivity.
Until we return
Renegade
I have finally managed to get my web browser to a semi-usable state, of which I am now releasing for feedback. This project of mine has been in the works for about five years, of which I have restarted about three times. This version was started in 2007 and as of now is still very very unfinished, however usable. Building this software has taught me many things, one of which is that you should always plan out your programs. Always! I have had to delete reams of code due to this simple arrogant mistake. However I’ve also learnt that I refuse to learn from mistakes. I have never planned a single module of Skout, and I probably never will. That’s called laziness, and that is my middle name (along with awesome).
Skout is a web browser that I have been developing. Whilst packed with features, it retains a lightweight customisable interface to prevent the bloated look and feel of many web browsers today. It could be thought as feel of Chrome with the functionality of Firefox, or at least will be. At the moment it is unfinished, yet I’m releasing it as a pre-alpha version to gain feedback on the current features and to use the general public to get a comprehensive list of bugs.
You can download the MSI installer file through one of the following mirrors. Once downloaded and opened, the file will self-extract and install the browser on your computer. Please use this at your own risk. While the risk to your computer is minimal, you should be made aware that I will not take responsibility for any damages this software may cause. This is unsupported and unfinished, do not expect a fully-functioning replacement to your default browser.
Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?gyyrtiozzdm (7.18MB) Updated
System Requirements:
CPU: 1GHz
RAM: 512MB
OS: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7
Storage Space: >30MB
Prerequisites:
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 pre-installed (click here to download)
Please visit http://skoutbrowser.blogspot.com/ for regular updates for Skout and development news.
(And thanks to Sandmonkey for his contributions to the Verco theme, logo and search page)
Renegade
I recently received my invite in to the Google Wave Preview Program and I’ve been looking around to see what all the buzz is about.
Google Wave is what Google calls the successor to email. It is a web-based application that combines email, instant messaging, social networking and group collaboration techniques. Rather than emails, you send ‘waves’, which sort of make emails look like telegraphs. Waves are interactive, real-time and have a whole range of functions. You can use them to organise events, share photos real-time, brainstorm ideas, collaborate on reports or notes, or even just send a message. If you enable the function, recipients can edit your waves, and you can later on. Its great for when you send that message you really didn’t mean to send, you can just click delete even though its already been sent, or just edit that spelling mistake.
The application is quite customisable, with all the functions nicely grouped together in arrangable panels. Whilst the primary function of Google Wave is to communicate with others who use Google Wave, there is a sort of ‘backwards compatibility’ option to send messages to email addresses, and likewise receive emails through a username@googlewave.com email address. This will probably boost the early adoption, seeing as the program wouldn’t be much use without this feature as there will only be a small amount of initial users.
Social networking, whilst present, is limited to just a half-hearted user profile and a sort of creative use of Waves. Its good for communicating socially with friends and such with the integration of email, IM and gadgets, however not so good on the actual networking aspect due to the lack of ways to find new friends. The incorporation of gadgets in to Waves is quite clever. For example if you want to send a Wave invitation to a bunch of friends to your party, you can add a weather gadget for the day. Why? Well mainly because you can.
I think that Google Wave would be brilliant if there was one more thing. Ubiquitous use. Google Wave will need to be a universal email replacement rather than an geeky alternative in order for it to live to its full potential. Otherwise it’ll just be used as a regular email client as only a handful of people will have the capabilities to receive and use a Wave. My opinions of Wave are purely speculation as I have hardly been able to actually use it due to my mediocre friends list, and due to the general computer illiteracy we are surrounded by, it may just stay that way. I think Google really does overestimate the general public with all its ‘revolutionary’ apps.
And the bit you’ve been waiting for. I have 25 Google Wave invitations up for grabs. To win them, all you have to do is write in the comments why you think you deserve one. If I deem you worthy, I’ll send you an invite. So you’ll want to post the comment with your Google Account, or write your email address if you don’t mind being picked up by a spambot.
Renegade
With the Australian federal election coming up on the 21st of August, I want to promote a lesser known party. The Australian Sex Party. The Sex Party was formed in 2008 and is led by Fiona Patten. Before judging the name, check out their policies. 
