Category: Tech Posts

In-Game Voice Communication with TeamSpeak

by
Inf

If you have ever gamed online with some friends, you know that communication is a must, and this is specially valid if you are playing Left 4 Dead (HUNTER!!!) or other games like 배팅사이트!

Sometimes, there is really the need to shout at that camper and tell them to get their butt into fighting. Or to shout for help. But typing just doesn’t convey the message with enough vigor or urgency. What you need is voice communications. What you need is TeamSpeak.

(This tutorial is for Windows, but TS works on Linux too. I’ll try to cover that at some other time).

Teamspeak (TS) can also be used when not gaming. For example, if you want to hold a conference among friends, or some other people. But I guess that for these stuff, Skype works best. The problem with Skype is that it provides quality at the cost of bandwidth, and when you are gaming on the low upload speeds in Mauritius, every last bit of bandwidth is important. So if you want a bandwidth-efficient way of holding a conference of around 16 people at a time (there can be more), Teamspeak is the way to go, without killing your connection. It’s also an excellent choice if you’re playing online casino games with friends, as it guarantees smooth communication without compromising your game performance. Be sure to check the legitimacy of the online platform you’re playing through 먹튀에임, to ensure a safe and trustworthy experience.

To facilitate the connection among your friends, for both gaming on a virtual network as well as TS connection, we would like to recommend Hamachi. You can check our Hamachi article if you wish.

How to use Teamspeak? Well it’s simple enough: Teamspeak consists of 2 parts: The Server and the client. One of you people will have to host the server, and the rest will connect to that person. The person hosting the server will have to connect to him/herself. Therefore, I will break this article in 2 parts, one for the host and one for the clients. Here goes:

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Keep the command prompt open after using Run

by
Inf

If you are a Windows user, you know that sometimes you really need to make use of the Command Prompt, for things like “ping” or “tracert”. Unless you are a GUI fanatic.

But have you noticed that sometimes when you type a command in the Run box, the prompt closes immediately after execution? There must be a way to keep it open, right?

Today, I will share that trick with you, and it’s really simple to do.

First, you need to see what I mean. Type “ping google.com” in the Run box and type enter or press Ok. The prompt should close after execution of the ping, not giving you time to see the results.

If this has ever happened to you (it does for me, on Windows Vista), then try this:

Before you type your command, put in “cmd /k” before.

For example, if “ping” closes for the prompt after execution, try “cmd /k ping google.com” or any other address.

I have tested on WinXP and Vista. Both work. Hope this is useful to you someday. 🙂

PHP – The Basics of the Language

by
Guru

Today I will be talking  a bit on PHP’s syntax and constructs. Previously I had given a small introduction on PHP. Now is the time to get your feet wet. Before going even further you should have PHP and MYSQL minimally running on your machine a.k.a localhost (You can go for an elaborate discussion on localhost at wikipedia or stick to my simple description. Refers to your own machine also addressed by 127.0.0.1).  I know you are a Geek, you may want to do your own setup but yet, I would recommend you to take a look at integrated packages such as:

  1. Xampp (my preference)
  2. Wamp
  3. EasyPHP

As far as I know personally I have heard of these three packages. There are more out there in the wild. Xampp would be enough for all your development tasks. Please bear in mind these packages are meant only for development purposes. They are not to be used on a live website.

Continuing where I left. Lets talk syntax. uhh, let me remind you coding scripting in PHP is very different from conventional programming. As I say often, PHP has a philosophy, a way of getting things done. 🙂 Don’t be afraid.

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Firefox Tip: Keep bookmarks menu open after click

by
Inf

If you have been using Firefox, and like me, make full use of your bookmarks and the Bookmarks Toolbar, then you must have noticed that as soon as you click a link, the menu closes, making multiple-selection of bookmarks to open impossible. That’s a huge annoyance for me.

Luckily, there is a solution that works for the Bookmarks menu, the Bookmarks Toolbar folders (if you have created folders in there. If not, create them! It maintains order) and the History Menu, in case you want to restore multiple closed sites.

The solution is really simple: Just get the Stay-Open Addon from here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6459

Install it just as you would for any other addon and restart Firefox. No configurations are needed. It worked out-of-the-box for me. However, it works only for Firefox 3 and up I think.

Now, how to use it?

Simple. Open the Bookmarks menu, or other menus I mentioned above, and middle-click an item. You will notice that the menu remains open. You can now continue to middle-click other items if you want to open more.

There is not much to configure, except a single option available in “about:config”. I didn’t require it till now. It’s CTRL-Click functionality which I didn’t need.

Voila! This should help you keep those menus open while you open multiple sites without the menus closing after each click. Specially useful if you use Live Bookmarks from within Firefox to read RSS feeds. You can now open multiple feed items without that menu closing. This is so useful! Makes me wonder why this option is not already a default in Firefox…

AVG: Update needs restart solution

by
Inf

I was recently having a small problem with AVG Antivirus 8 Free. The problem was that the Update Manager said that the update was successful, but then “The update needs restart”.

However, the problem was that even if I did restart, the thing would just stay there, saying “The update needs restart”. The biggest issue was that the Virus Definitions were not being updated.

I tried adjusting the settings for Update and other stuff, none worked. However, the solution to this problem is quite easy. So follow these lines if you are having the same problem. Tested with AVG8, since it’s only with it that I got the problem.

First, go to AVG and do “Update Now”. The update will seem to complete, but will say “The Update needs restart” as usual.

Now, head to your install directory, which for most of you will be: “C:/Program Files/AVG/AVG8”.

In this directory, you will find a file named “updatecomps.cfg”. What you need to do is to either delete this file (kind of unsafe, untested) or just rename it to something like “updatecomps.cfg_old” or “updatecomps.old” like I did.

Update: Sidjsns says that the “updatecomps.cfg” file is not found under a “server” subdirectory. Thanks!

After that, go back to AVG and do another Update Now. The Update should proceed normally, and it will ask you for another restart. After that restart, things should be ok. Your Virus Definitions and other stuff will be up to date.

I tested the above and it worked for me. I forgot exactly where I got the solution, but I think it must be some forum. Credits to the person who found how to solve this. Hope this helps. 🙂

Looking for a mobile: My opinions

by
Inf

Let me say it here itself. At first, I was a Nokia fan. Then I became a Sony Ericsson (SE) fan for a while, before going back to my old love, Nokia. Why the shift back? Simply because SE is now spitting out devices that have nothing new from their past siblings. I am in the market for a new mobile to replace my aging SE Z610i. Of couse, I’m considering what manufacturers have to offer NOW, not in another quarter in the near future. I have to say, I am not pleased with SE and the others.

My actual budget was something below $500 if possible. I want a feature phone that will be future-proof for around 1-2 years at least. That will not break in my hands. That is not flip, cuz I got tired of the constant flipping and unflipping each time. Oh of course, I’m looking for a mobile, a portable phone. I don’t want a brick inside my jeans pocket and then find that my pants are compressing important parts.

So, let’s start with SE. What do you have to offer that can match what I am seeking (these are what I considered)? One by one please!

  • G70s (slider): A good phone I must say. It does have the features I wish. A small thickness of 14mm. It has wifi, which I am looking for. A good battery providing around 400 hrs of standby and 10hrs of talking before a recharge. GPS is included, though not useful in Mauritius. The price is ok too. Around $350. But what the hell is this phone? G-series are supposed to be smart phones. Or the G705 is not smart. It’s not a Walkman phone. Then what is it? A sort of hybrid? And what’s with the ridiculous 3.15 MP camera? What, does SE have a lot of those and need to pack and sell those? Apart from those, the features are very standard. Music player, TrackID, bla bla. Nothing worthy. Except! A Youtube player! That’s nice. Too bad reviewers say it doesn’t work with the WIFI connection. Streaming Youtube vids via your network is going to kill your charges for sure! They also say the slide mechanism is a bit stiff. So go sleep in a corner, G705.
  • G715 (slider): It’s not out yet, but I am including this to make a point. Go to GSMArena, and compare the two phones: G715 and G705. I did it for you, so check out this link. Notice similarities? Too many of them for my tastes. That’s what I was saying. SE is just giving us phones that resemble existing ones in terms 0f features! They are not adding anything really new. Not only that, they are not upgrading their features. What’s up with those 3.15 MP cameras? And those 240×320 256k colors screens!I mean, my Z610i had a 240×320 256k colors and a 2MP camera. It’s been what, 3 years since I bought it? It was a fantastic phone, really solid and useful. It’s time for its replacement to come, and SE offers nothing really amazing that warrants an upgrade. Either that, or they are exclusively targetting the lower/middle classes only. I want an upper-middle phone! Please! But let’s move on.
  • G900 (bar): Ahh! A smartphone with respectable features! A touchscreen! A 5MP camera. Wifi included. But wait! What do I see! NOOO! The 240×320 256k colors screen makes a comeback! A thin phone with the features I need, but weak screen! There’s also a couple of issues pointed out by reviews which are very significant. 1st: there are no physical call/end-call buttons. You need to tap the screen to answer/end a call. People have said that sometimes, the screen doesn’t respond and you can’t take the call. This is unthinkable: unable to answer a call with a phone! Next issue is that the device is kind of slow, considering that an old processor (if I remember correctly, the one that powers the P1) was used in the G900. Sorry G900, go stand in your corner too.
  • Any other SE Phone: I’m tired. I’m grouping everything else here! What I didn’t like what the recurring 240×320 256k colors screens everywhere! Isn’t it time to switch to something like 16M colors or something? We want quality! Next is the recurring features. When I was looking through SE offerings, I kept seeing the same things recur in most models. The camera was 3.15MP for most new offerings. The same features advertised on and on. It almost seemed to me that SE was selling one phone under different shells and models!

I’m sorry SE. I really loved your phones. The Z610i was nearly bug-less. It worked very smoothly and had tons of nice features. And best of all, it was user-friendly. Don’t want a call? Press the volume button on the side. It mutes the ringer/kills the vibrator but leaves the call on. Press it again, and it sends the busy tone. A very nice touch,. in my opinion. There were loads of features like that which I really liked.

But lately, your phones seem so generic, so bland! I don’t find anything worthy to replace my trusty Z610i. All the new devices look so similar, the features are not impressive. A real pity I should say. RIP my old loved brand.

Let’s go to my ex now. Nokia baby, here I come:

For Nokia, I considered relatively few models. Those really amazed me, but they are not really cheap. I wanted a good, lasting phone. One that can survive for 2 years without replacement. For that, I was ready to fork out Rs.10k if needed. That’s around $400.

  • E66 (slider): A business phone. For a student. Doesn’t really suit, no? But I really loved the features. 3.15MP camera again (it’s a conspiracy or what?) but it has 16m colors! It has Wifi! It has document reader, something which I don’t think the SE’s have! It has VOIP support! And it makes great use of its accelerometer, with stuff like turn-to-mute. $400 on Amazon. Not bad. Again some reviews say it’s not good enough, with a weak battery. A friend also reported that his E66 went bonkers after a fall. I’m a bit cautious about that one.
  • N96 (slider): Awesome phone. But a heck of a price. The N96 is already well known, and I’ll not elaborate on that one.
  • N85 (slider): This one, I really want. Why? Cuz it’s a good balance in features/price. It’s almost like a mini, and thinner N96! Seriously, this device is a killer! 16m colors screen, OLED please! OLED quality is really amazing with really vivid colors. Built-in accelerometer for turn-sensing. A navi-wheel which acts like the wheel on ipods. 8GB MicroSD support (8GB card included). Has Wifi, a 5MP shooter with flash, auto-focus and all the gadgets. Has GPS in-built, a 3.5mm audio jack (I need!), TV-out (not really needed for me), an FM-transmitter which is really awesome – I pause here for a minute. The FM Transmitter allows you to broadcast the music you are playing on your mobile to an FM receiver. Like your car radio. Very few mobiles have that, and that’s what I really call an innovative feature. Has a document viewer and plays Internet radio. No seriously, what more can I ask of? Probably a better battery. The talk-time is around 6hrs and standby of 350h. With the FM transmitter and other power munchers, it’ll be much less. Oh, did I mention that this baby is a dual-slider? Like the N85? And its very thin. 16mm for you!Take that SE! That’s what I call an amazing phone. Price? $450 something on the Internet. I wish I had somebody going near China to pick this one up for me!
  • N97 (touch-screen / QWERTY) – Similar in features to N85 but with a full touchscreen and QWERTY included. But hell, that’s one hefty price tag. Around $750. Too much for me, but I can dream! 😛

Others I have considered are the Samsung Omnia and the Innov8. Truly awesome devices, but at what price! Out of my league, I must confess.

Ah I’m tired of reading reviews. I’m ending this article here. Do you have any mobile phone recommendations for me? Let’s hear those. This was my first mobile-phone related article btw!

Ps. Did you notice that Google changed its favicon again? This one is more Google-like! 😛

Sapphire’s Radeon 4850: My Opinions

by
Inf

Sapphire Radeon 4850

Hello Readers! Been a long time since you heard sarcastic and ranting me, huh? Sorry for the long delays between posts, but hey, I got a life too! 🙂

Well, today, I’m here to write about that device above that’s nearly burning a hole in my casing. It’s my new Radeon 4850 Graphics card, or GPU in the jargon. It’s made by Sapphire, as you can probably read from that fan on top.

I’m not here to do a benchmark of this device. There are plenty of these already floating on the Internet, and a quick Google search should serve you what you want. What’s the point then? Well, it’s just to give you some user opinions about the device in case you want one like that, together with why I bought this particular device.

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