Type Racing

Have you ever wanted to feel the rush that race car driving gives? Have you ever wondered what racers feel when behind the wheel? Are you a computer guy who just couldn’t get out of your chair? Feeling lazy?

Then Type Racer is for you!

I’ve recently got into Type Racer only because a classmate of mine, while we were in class, was observing me as I type and type and type the notes that the teacher was giving us that day. Of course, as much as I can, I do my best to be consistent when it comes with a skill such as typing. Anyway, she was looking at me and after the lesson, she approached me and asked if I could help her with typing. The first thing that came to mind was Type Racer which was actually introduced to me by tPenguinLTG (who else would, right?). Once we got into the conversation, I started telling her the ways of how I learned how to type, which was putting my fingers on the home row keys and just keep on typing “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy, snoozing dog,” because the sentence has all the letter in the alphabet, therefore letting the typer touch all the keys (at least, the alphabetic ones).

Type Racer is great because of three reasons:

1. It keeps track of your score/average
   This one is quite interesting. I’m assuming most typing websites and programs and games take care of the same ordeal, but this one seems to be more accurate. Not only does it keep track of your average, but also your accuracy with typing the given paragraphs.
2. You can have your own account
   When you enter the site, you have a choice of either playing as a guest or playing with your own account. With an account, you can actually keep track (and keep record) of your average speed and your accuracy level. Having an account is advantageous so you can have your own cool username.
3. Competition, competition, competition
   As much as they hold records of your typing skills, they also show them off. They have updated leaderboards where the best typers are put on rank. This is good to look at, so that you know who to beat and what score to beat. Oh, the excitement!

You can try and beat my score of 71 words per minute (for some of you, that’s easy). Yes, that is slow, but forgive me, I’m not “accurate” really, I’m more of a typing student rather than a typing master or typing legend (I have no idea what I mean here, I’m high on medication while writing this).

Here’s the website: Type Racer

Add me on your friends list: dreadnoughtsix

Keep Typing!

Dear Samsung

Dear Samsung,

I’d like to establish something first before I get things off my chest.

I respect Samsung. They’re a great company, their products are great and their foundation, what they stand for, is even greater. I have only one product from Samsung: a microwave (well, my dad has a Note, but it’s not really ‘mine’). The microwave is great, although I wish they’d put the numeric keypad on it, giving me more options than just “One Minute cook.” They have the dial and all, but it’s not as efficient as using a keypad. Back to the topic…

Anyways, Samsung, you are a powerhouse company for all the good reasons. I like that about you. But, for the past two years or so, you’re becoming a problem.

You’re becoming more like Apple…

You release another Samsung Galaxy S5 and it barely has any changes, really. Sure, a scanner here and there, some specification changes, but that’s it. Nothing major occurred to your phone – and it’s scaring me.

We all know that Apple just keeps on selling the same thing, just refurnished. But Samsung, being a company of innovation, starts selling the “same thing” again, then we have a problem.

All I can say to you Samsung: please do better. We love your phones and your tablets and all your other gizmos and gadgets, but please, don’t turn into something so painfully and utterly scary.

That’s coming from me, a fan of your work, and a plethora of the Android community (I can only imagine).

Keep Chewing!

The Power of Steganography

The past week (while I was ill), I was really bored at home watching YouTube videos and crying so much about how painful my stomach felt. I was looking through a set of videos from Tinkernut (or Gigafide), a very informative YouTube channel that teaches quite interesting things. One of the videos I watched was about steganography (the art of concealing a message, image or file within another message, image or file). I found it quite interesting, because it can be quite useful to use.

The easiest one in the video is LSB (least significant bit) steganography. It uses an MP3 file and an image. He then takes the MP3 file and “puts it” into the image. Here are the steps:

Open command prompt (Window R -> cmd )

You will need the directory address of your files. It is recommended that you keep them in one folder for organizational purposes.

In the command prompt, go to the folder where you have all your files using the cd command. Remember, use the folder’s directory address (the folder must exist for the command to work):

cd "desktop/Folder/Special Folder/Why are you in here/Seriously Get Out/This will take some time/Just leave now/Please leave this folder/Do not touch this folder/You thought this was the last folder/You thought wrong/Please get out/Seriously get out/GET OUT/PLEASE/IM BEGGING HERE/VIRUS/SUPER VIRUS/MEGA VIRUS/porn/You perv/Fine I quit/two more folders/next one is the real folder/steganography folder"

You should be in the folder directory of your folder. Enter the following:

copy /b name-of-the-image.jpg + the-song-you-want-hide.mp3 name-of-the-new-file.jpg

Hit Enter and you should have a new file in your folder. Tell your buddy that (s)he needs to change the file extension from JPEG (.jpg) to MP3 (.mp3) get the actual song you wanted to send.

It’s quite useful. Although the “easiest” way is just put it in an encrypted zip file, but that’s no fun.

Here’s the video if you’re interested:

Lenovo Buys Motorola

A week ago, Lenovo purchased Motorola Mobility from Google. They purchased it for a steal at $2.91 billion.

This will be quite an amazing change for Lenovo. You see, Lenovo is not a big company when it comes to phones — at least in North America. Worldwide, they are number five. It’s interesting that Lenovo bought Motorola and not some other mobile phone company. Motorola is an amazing company and Lenovo will definitely take advantage of their expertise when it comes to the smartphone market.

There are two possibilities that may come out of this transaction:

1. Lenovo uses Motorola to compete in the North American market. This allows them to create an even larger technological monopoly and increase sales tenfold. The only thing they have to do is create a smartphone that can either make it or break it for the company. They need to do something revolutionary — a change in the ideal “smartphone.”
2. Lenovo uses Motorola their knowledge of the smartphone to create their own under their own name. From assumption, Motorola will continually build phones under their name, but if Lenovo decides to enter the North American market and they want to make a Lenovo smartphone that can compete, they will definitely need Motorola.

According to articles and extensive videos (including the one after this paragraph), Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility only. This doesn’t include all the patents that was included in the sale of Motorola in 2012. That could mean that Lenovo, Motorola and Google are becoming allies than enemies. Could Lenovo be working with Google? Maybe after this purchase, they can start thinking about other deals, like making a Chromebook with Lenovo as the manufacturer. Interesting, right?

Here’s the video:

He points out some great details about the deal that went on.

Let’s just hope for the best for all the companies in this situation because they are all great companies.

Keep Chewing!

Empowering – An Amazing View of Technology

We live in a world where technology has become more powerful each and every day. There has never been a day where technology has not grown to another standard, improved in power and performance, and changed for the better. Yes, technology can both a blessing and a curse, an asset and a hindrance, a good and a bad. But what’s great about technology is that it keeps us moving forward. It has shown us our temporary limitations and it has brought us to greater heights. It has created a new world — a revolutionized world and society. Technology is great!

Over the weekend, the Super Bowl 48 was held in the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey where two of the top NFL teams battle it out for the Lombardi Trophy (although it wasn’t much of a battle if you ask me). The Super Bowl is not just known for its epic football game and halftime performances (Bruno Mars and the Hot Chili Peppers were awesome compared to Beyonce from last year), it is also a great place to place ads. Big companies pay millions of dollars just to get a thirty second commercial spot during the Super Bowl.

Microsoft had this heartwarming commercial. It truly highlights the amazing things that technology has done for us. The title is fitting; it’s called “Empowering.”

Quite powerful right?

Microsoft, you’ve won our hearts!

Now, please fix Windows 8.

Keep Chewing!

The New Samsung NotePro is New

Samsung showcased their new Samsung Galaxy NotePro. It’s a tablet with, in a lack of better terminology, freakin’ amazing specifications. Here they are 12.2 inch Super Clear LCD screen with a 2560×1600 resolution

• LTE Version: 2.3 GHz Quad Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor
• 3G Version: 1.9 GHz Exynos 5 Octa processor
• RAM: 3 GB
• 32/64 GB storage
• Up to 64 GB microSD storage
• 8 MP back camera with LED flash; full HD video recording and Zero Shutter lag
• 2 MP front camera
• Bluetooth 4.0
• USB 3.0
• WiFi ready: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac; MIMO technology
• GPS and GLONASS enabled
• 9500 mAh battery
• Android 4.4 KitKat
• S-Pen Stylus; dedicated software such as Remote PC, Samsung e-Meeting etc.

The OS is Android KitKat 4.4 running, what Samsung calls it, a “Magazine UX” environment. The GUI is different with the typical Android GUI. It feels very much like Windows with stacked tiles of up to six gathered and organized. The leather backing gives it a nice, professional look. The stylus is proprietary, meaning other S-Pen styluses will not work. Notice that there are two versions of the tablet: a 3G version and an LTE version. The LTE version has a more powerful processor compared to the 3G version, but both offer tremendous processing. There are other screen sizes of the Samsung Galaxy NotePro: a 10.1 inch and 8 inch display – both bragging a sharper display. The price has not yet been announced, but it’s projected to be around the $300 – $400 range.

I’m sure Samsung has more up their sleeve, and I cannot wait to hear more.

Keep Chewing!

Playstation Now

Sony has been teasing their cloud service since the announcement of the Playstation 4. After a long wait, Sony finally announced Playstation Now at CES 2014. It’s functionality is quite superb, letting users to stream games “across multiple platforms.”

This allows Sony Entertainment Network users to have the following uses:

• Stream your video games onto any device.
• Stream full games between Playstation and non-Playstation devices.
• Play games on the cloud.

Does this mean that the Playstation 4 can play Playstation 3 games and vice versa? We know that the Playstation Vita can play Playstation 4 games, but can the Playstation 3 do so as well?

It’s a great deal for Sony and it was worth waiting for.

A closed beta is set to begin in the US at the end of January. They will be implementing the service this coming Summer 2014.

Are you excited? Is it just me or did they get the name idea from Google Now? I don’t know. Two different services, similar names. Well played, Sony.

Keep Chewing!

CES 2014 Coverage

It’s that time of the year again: CES 2014!

CES 2014 celebrates the amazing achievements of technology. It is not just a place where companies can market their products, but also a place where they can reveal new things, show their sales reports, brag about new technologies that are in the works and showcase first looks on never before seen (or heard) products.

I am very excited to cover CES 2014 (as much as a one man administrator can) and report about my personal favourites.

What I’m excited for?

• Good stuff from Valve, maybe an actual announcement regarding HALF LIFE 3 (seriously, according to tPenguinLTG, Valve can’t count to three).
• Intel and dualOS implementation.
• Intel wants to join the wearable tech competition
• The Avegant Glyph, a wearable “home theatre” headset that doesn’t want to compete with the Oculus Rift.
• Sony’s new Core and the announcement of the new Xperia smartphone.

CES 2014 will begin tomorrow, from January 7, 2014 to January 10, 2014. The schedule will be thrown out of the window this week and a post spam will be initiated for the CES 2014 coverage.

Keep Chewing!

Things to Expect For 2014

Technology always changes. It’s a known fact. Remember when CDs used to be the rave? Now, CDs are only good for, things that I can’t name at the moment. Our music became digital, software became downloadable online and movies are also becoming more popular in the digital format. I can say that the CD is the floppy disk of our generation.

Of course, as technology changes, our society changes. The world changes either for the better (email, social connection through the Internet) or for the worse (terrible websites, unnecessary activities) and we need to adapt to it. Personally, I’m still waiting for the hoverboards from Back to the Future, but that seems farfetched (yet achievable).

One of the technological feats that will change the world, specifically this year, would be the implementation of the robotics in our daily life. Amazon is trying to push their idea of using drones to deliver purchased merchandise to the home of the customer in 30 minutes or less. Think of it as delivery pizza – but with a four propeller machine instead of a human. It’d be nice to have a drone for yourself but you’d have to have some kind of next level security clearance just to learn how to fly one. Amazon thinks it will benefit not only the company as a whole but also the customers. I don’t know – it seems unsafe and difficult to set this idea up. AI technology has to be completely revolutionary just so that the drone can navigate. Also, building a mass of these drones will not be a walk in the park.

Wearable technology will also be popularized. Google started with this trend with Google Glasses. I still think a person wearing a pair will look like an idiot. However, if they can implement this into normal prescription glasses, I might give it a shot. Watches are also becoming technologically advanced. The Samsung Galaxy Gear and the Pebble are big competitors in this market, although I’m sure Apple will make some sort of “iWatch” and send it out and every single Apple lover will get one. Once again, Apple gets their money and everyone has a useless, hardware and software proprietary device.

Gaming will also change this year. Valve and their infamous Steam Box are rolling out this year, according to Steam. There has been no announced release date. Instead, Valve said “2014” and that’s it. This means that both the PS4 and the XBOX One will have another competitor in the contest (face it, the Wii U can’t really compete). There are so many games that are anticipated this year like Watch Dogs and Destiny. Watch Dogs has been delayed to a later date, but Destiny has be destined to be released on September 9, 2014. I cannot wait for Naughty Dog to start talking about the next installment of Uncharted.

2014 is going to be a wonderful year for technology (and gaming). The power of computing will definitely continue to evolve and progress. All we have to do is watch out.

Who knows, maybe we’ll finally get Half Life 3?

Keep Chewing!

What Most Schools Don’t Teach

The school is a place of learning new things, whether it be Math, Science or English. It’s a place where you can go to without knowing a single thing and by the end of the day, you’ve learned something new.

Yes, learning is important, and a task as well. Learning, however, has changed. It has curved towards the new generation: a generation of computers and yet, most schools still don’t teach coding.

Coding is such a powerful skill. Computers are the future. It will not suddenly disappear and become useless or obselete. In fact, computing (software and hardware) has grown immensely since its birth. The job market for Computer Science and Computer Engineering is at an all time high and many successful careers has something to do with computers.

This may be an old campaign, but it’s still worth sharing.

Code the world. Create a world. Change the world.

Keep Chewing!