Date: 06/27/07 (Open Source)    Keywords: technology

Could open source deliver the streaming technology the BBC needs, and allow the underlying content to be protected in the way the BBC demands? Why can't we have video which works on all 21st century computers?

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/zdnet/open-source/~3/128388023/

Date: 07/01/07 (Open Source)    Keywords: technology

Should the political questions involving technology have a higher priority? Or does government tech policy matter at all?

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/zdnet/open-source/~3/129501385/

Date: 07/09/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: technology, asp

Sword of the New World: Granado Espada
(English localized open beta version)

Genre: MMORPG
Tested time: Approximately 10 hours over 4 days

I haven't seen many game discussions in this forum so I'd thought I cook up one from the one I played over the last week.

There is a new MMORPG that's seldom discussed yet in my opinion is worthy of checking out. The game is Sword of the New World, a Korean title that has been translated into an English localized version. The reason that this game can stand out from the host of other MMORPGs out there today is its style and unique gameplay. So before groaning with "Not another MMO", read on.

Background

The story of the game is set in the backdrop of a world that is somewhat modeled after the age of European exploration of the new world. After a period of warfare, colonists from one of the embattered countries were sent in exploration. You belong to one of the colonial families sent by your Queen, the mission: Explore and subdue the new continent. However, instead of human natives the "locals" in the wilderness compose of various monsters that you would have to survive from in your various quests.

Graphics and Sound

The designs in SOTNW are done in a Baroque style, featuring fancy costumes and buildings, most of which could be seen in the town that the explorers start out with. The music composes of mostly melodies done mostly in a classical orchestral style, with occassional techno-dance mixed in for certain locations. Even though in terms of graphics technology SOTNW in no way outdoes the newest generation titles out there the style more than makes up the difference in my opinion. The ambience given by the visuals and sound is a big selling point.


Zoomed-out view outside one of the dungeons. A spectacular 360-degree waterfall surrounds a bridge (click thumbnail for full size)

The Multiple Character Play System

Unlike most other MMORPGs, each player in the game is offered the freedom of creating and simultaneously fielding up to three characters in a sort of "mini party" right from the start of the game (excluding the training map in the very beginning). The result is a sort of combination between console RPG games and traditional MMORPG. This gives a lot of freedom in choosing the style of play that one can be involved in. There is the choice of either still going at it alone, which does get kind of boring and lonely after a while and somewhat defeats the purpose of the system, fielding multiple characters and going through the game like a console RPG while treating all other players like NPCs, or banding together with other players' "families" (all of your characters carry the same family surname which you specify at the beginning) to form "squads" that share exp points as well as other squad-specific abilities. The different classes offered are scout, fighter, musketeer, wizard, and elementalist. The player has the option to switch between controlling each character individually or as a group. The AI takes care of most of the combat, and you would only need to step in to provide movement and special ability activations. Make no mistake, this doesn't make the game any less challenging when it comes to fighting high level opponents. One would be advised to keep the members of their party together in the dungeons. Should your characters die, they lay in place with a countdown timer shown above them and revive only after the time is up.


Zoomed-in view at the same location, showing elementalist in the foreground, with scout on the left and fighter on the right (click thumbnail for full size)

Stances and Finishing Moves

Another unique aspect of the game is in it's stance system. Each class comes with its own array of fighting techniques depending on character armament as well as knowledge, and the techniques open up to subcategories of special finishing moves that progressively get more spectacular and damaging as the skills progress. It would almost look like a fighting game if you zoom in close while doing one of the special moves. The variety of those moves are large for every class, and I was only able to test out a few. It was quite satisfying to watch the elementalist throw a fireball and the fighter do one of the earth shaker moves.

Translation

The localized English version does a good job overall with the translation. The English was correct, though on some explanation screens for menus the screenshots shown remained Korean while the explanation was English. This is understandable since the game was still under test. Even in those cases, the menus (i.e. buy and sell) were easy enough to figure out even without those screens because they are in English. The English version is supposedly a different program rather than a straight port of the Korean original, featuring more content and options (Dressing up your characters at the beginning of character creation is much more limited in the Korean version) touted as improvements.

Conclusion

I had a great time playing the game. The eye candy was good to look at and the music is pleasant and at times appropriately fast-paced. My significant other clamored to get on the computer and play after she saw me playing. She wasn't that great at the game but still had a lot of fun. Besides the mouse much of the controls are hot-key based (one row of QWERTY keys for each of your three characters) and might frustrate newbies. However, once gotten a hang of I think it is an effective system of control considering the variety and complexity. Sword of the New World is a stylish game with a new twist that distinguish it from the rest of the hack n' slash crowd, and deserves a look.

Graphics 8/10
Sound 8/10
Gameplay 8/10
Overall Experience: 9/10

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1087006.html

Date: 07/13/07 (Web Technology)    Keywords: technology

Beijing Guge Science and Technology says search engine's name in China is too much like company's, creating disruption, confusion.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6196507.html

Date: 07/23/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: technology, spam

Mike @ TechCrunch wondered whether TailRank belonged to the technology deadpool. And today the top story on TailRank is a viagra spam post. The second headline story is a porn spam post. Below that are real stories but they’re months old. This is from the site that was “designed with spam prevention in mind.” His concerns [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/tailrank-overtaken-by-spammers-link-based-importance-algorithm-suspect/

Date: 08/02/07 (Web Technology)    Keywords: technology

Pioneer in virtual world technology theorizes that people behave better in the alternate digital realm than in blogs or chat rooms.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6200287.html

Date: 01/22/07 (Application Development)    Keywords: software, technology

Read a full transcript of the podcast. Sponsor: Borland Software, Inc.Application development is maturing to embrace a more holistic approach to application lifecycle processes, one that emphasizes policy-based approaches -- managing process and people -- and not just the technology. Such a coordinated approach also fosters feedback efficiencies, where testing...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gardner/?p=2407

Date: 07/31/07 (Security)    Keywords: software, technology, virus, antivirus

It has been less than 24 hours since I published ZDNet's first Technology Shakedown (regarding McAfee's antivirus software running amok on Vista's tray) and I was already itching to do another. So this time, I picked on a small problem that's driving me nuts in Windows Vista that has to...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=692

Date: 08/01/07 (IT Management)    Keywords: technology

First, the good news.  Our Technology Shakedown videos seem to be striking a nerve so expect more of them. The idea? We shouldn't have to accept mediocrity in our technology products. Period.Now, the bad news. Judging by the responses to these shakedowns (yesterday's in particular), there's a contingent of end-users...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=696

Date: 07/24/07 (IT Management)    Keywords: offshore, technology

India's currency is gaining on the U.S. dollar. Workers at Indian outsourcing firms still garner double-digit raises. And demand shows no sign of slowing. Add it up and it spells price increases for companies outsourcing technology work offshore to India. At this point it's unlikely that demand will diminish, but...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5721

Date: 08/15/07 (Security)    Keywords: technology, security

Symantec and Intel are jointly developing security appliances that work with virtualization technology built directly into Intel's microchips, according to a Reuters news report.The partnership, called "Project Hood," is part of an effort by the two companies to expand their use of virtualization technology. Instead of designing the...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=450

Date: 08/15/07 (Security)    Keywords: technology

The program is part of an effort by both companies to expand their use of virtualization technology.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6202645.html

Date: 08/23/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: technology, java

Kind of gives you a clear indication where Sun (NASDAQ: SUNW) is headed, doesn’t it? It does give me a warm feeling too knowing Sun is so much committed to Java, a language I have been working on since 1996. The change will go into effect on Aug. 27. “The Java brand and technology have [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/sun-to-change-stock-ticker-symbol-to-java/

Date: 08/28/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: technology

Mempile from Israel has developed a removable optical storage technology allowing for the storage of 1 Terabyte (1,000 Gigabytes) of information on a single inexpensive disc. The device builds on the existing know-how attained through the development of CDs and DVDs, extending it so as to write layers upon layers of stacked information. This quantum [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/terabyte-data-storage-on-inexpensive-removable-disks-in-3d/

Date: 08/31/07 (Open Source)    Keywords: technology

Schools which got burned by courseware in the 1990s are now burning themselves with censorware, delivering a neutered Internet experience and teachers who are as skittish about technology today as they were 25 years ago. It's hard to see how open source will change this. Free access to resources won't matter if your kids' view of it is worse than that in China.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/zdnet/open-source/~3/150540183/

Date: 09/01/07 (IT Professionals)    Keywords: programming, html, technology, asp, java, web, microsoft

Hi all,

I've been battling with creating (rather modifying a custom page someone else before me has created) a custom master page for my company for a while now; it looks great-ish, but there's a major flaw in there, behind the scenes it's full of errors; I have to link the master page to just about every file such as newForm.aspx and etc. further the most major issue is that a non admin user can't see the custom content; but farm admins can see the custom content just fine.

I suspect there's a whole lot missing in the master page (as I've tried the same thing with a default page, and it worked fine, so my permission settings are fine, even though for non Admins it says "error: access denied", the issue is the master sheet for sure, since the error dissapears  when i switch back to one of MOSS default masters) thing is i don't have enough knowledge of master pages (I am relatively new to SharePoint 2007; having worked with 2003 years ago. I've never done any major customizations like this one)  to fix it on my own, even though i've spent the past few weeks trying to do so.

The project I'm working on (an intranet for a media company) is due to go live Sept 9th, thing is, without proper user permissions it'll be tricky to make it work properly, and I've been battling with the master page for about two weeks now trying to make it work, I fix one issue, but keep finding more.

I appreciate any and all the help i can get on this one as all the code's starting to look the same to me now, and maybe a fresh set of eyes will help.

Master page code and screenshot of what it looks like and what it should look like for all users below the cuts, if you need any extra info please contact me, and I'll provide for you; I really really appreciate it if someone can help me out on this one.








<%-- Identifies this page as a .master page written in C# and registers tag prefixes, namespaces, assemblies, and controls. --%><%@ Master language="C#" %><%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %><%@ Register Tagprefix="SPSWC" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %><%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %><%@ Register Tagprefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %><%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingWebControls" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %><%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingNavigation" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %><%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="Welcome" src="~/_controltemplates/Welcome.ascx" %><%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="DesignModeConsole" src="~/_controltemplates/DesignModeConsole.ascx" %><%@ Register TagPrefix="PublishingVariations" TagName="VariationsLabelMenu" src="~/_controltemplates/VariationsLabelMenu.ascx" %><%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingConsole" TagName="Console" src="~/_controltemplates/PublishingConsole.ascx" %><%@ Register TagPrefix="PublishingSiteAction" TagName="SiteActionMenu" src="~/_controltemplates/PublishingActionMenu.ascx" %><%-- Uses the Microsoft Office namespace and schema. --%><%-- The head section includes a content placeholder for the page title and links to CSS and ECMAScript (JScript, JavaScript) files that run on the server. --%>









<%-- When loading the body of the .master page, SharePoint Server 2007 also loads the SpBodyOnLoadWrapper class. This class handles .js calls for the master page. --%>

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/63910.html

Date: 09/10/07 (WebDesign)    Keywords: technology

Finally. We are done with the NFL Preview site we've been working on for SIX months. Built with Adobe Flex, the site uses some of the most cutting edge technology out there. Check out the About section for more info about the author, and let me know if you have any questions!

I hope its OK that I posted this here!! :)

x-posted

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/webdesign/1307645.html

Date: 09/10/07 (Web Development)    Keywords: technology

Finally. We are done with the NFL Preview site we've been working on for SIX months. Built with Adobe Flex, the site uses some of the most cutting edge technology out there. Check out the About section for more info about the author (our client), and let me know if you have any questions!

http://benoitmedia.com/

For more details about the process of developing this site, check out this post on my personal LJ.

x-posted

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/webdev/434629.html

Date: 09/18/07 (Security)    Keywords: technology, security

The eHealth Vulnerability study released today sounds self-serving, but does make clear that health IT is something of a technology backwater where security and patching has yet to catch up with supply or demand. The group represents existing players in health care, security and IT, rather than the groups...

Source: http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=272

Date: 09/18/07 (Security)    Keywords: technology, security

A pair of security surveys were released Tuesday and the findings aren't pretty. First up, the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) released a survey on information security breaches. Among the findings: Among companies that reported a security breach in the last year, the...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=6300