TecHno - ParTy

Maximum Tune 3 DX Plus

2009-12-08T19:25:00.002+07:00

Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX PLUS will be Namco's latest Wangan series driving machine release.

Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX PLUS features two new car models (the Nissan Skyline GTR and Nissan GTR), one extra course (the Fukuoka Urban Express Way) and many new extra dress up parts to increase the fun and excitement.

Release date : Early 2010, probably March 2010

Source :
http://www.coinopexpress.com/products/machines/driving-riding_games/Wangan_Midnight_Maximum_Tune_3_DX_PLUS_%28single_machine%29_8177.html

Assembly Language

2009-11-30T09:31:00.005+07:00

Assembly is one of programming languages. It's the closest form of machine's language. When we learn about C programming language, or Pascal, we still use the language that uses human language, especially English. The instructions are, if-then-else, while-do, for-to-do, etc. In Assembly, we don't use it anymore(maybe a little, but the syntax is completely different). We can see clearly how the machine works in this language, like moving memory, decreasing or increasing accumulator, using registers, I/O ports, etc.

I use Pinnacle to compile and simulate the program.
The Pinnacle software can be downloaded in :
here
The 8051 Assembly Language Manual can be downloaded in :
here

Common instructions in Assembly :
DJNZ(Decrease and Jump if Not Zero)
CJNE(Compare and Jump if Not Equal)
SJMP(Short Jump)
MOV
RL,RR(Shift Left, Shift Right)

This is an example :
ORG 0H

START:
MOV A,#0FEH
MOV R3,#008H
CALL LAGI
MOV R3,#004H
CALL SAPI
MOV R3,#004H
CALL KUDA
CALL WOW
SJMP START

LAGI:
MOV P1,A
CALL DELAY
RL A
DJNZ R3,LAGI
RET

SAPI:
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#0FFH
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#000H
DJNZ R3,SAPI
RET

KUDA:
CALL DELAY
MOV A,#11110000B
MOV P1,A
CALL DELAY
MOV A,#00001111B
MOV P1,A
DJNZ R3,KUDA
RET

WOW:
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#01111110B
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#10111101B
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#11011011B
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#11100111B
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#11011011B
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#10111101B
CALL DELAY
MOV P1,#01111110B
RET

DELAY:
MOV R0,#05H
ULANG:
MOV R1,#0FEH
ULANG1:
MOV R2,#000H
DJNZ R2,$
DJNZ R1,ULANG1
DJNZ R0,ULANG
RET
end

Just copy this program and save into *.asm and compile in Pinnacle. Simulate this using "play" button and view the ports from menu bar.

This program can be downloaded into a MCS-51 chip, using a downloader circuit. This is the result of the program above.

This is the schematic of the circuit :

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Left 4 Dead 2

2009-11-26T17:09:00.002+07:00

Ok guys, just got L4D2 today, let's see how much better this game from the previous one : ).

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Review

2009-11-21T17:05:00.000+07:00

A review of office 2010 beta, check it out before you buy the final version in early 2010.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/office-2010-beta,review-1458.html

Internet Explorer 9 First Review

2009-11-21T17:01:00.000+07:00

IE9 very first preview from Tom's hardware, check it out!
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/126-preview-internet-explorer-ie9.html

ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB

2009-11-18T13:57:00.001+07:00

ATI just released today's fastest graphic card with HD 5970, check its performance on link below to see its performance in gaming and synthetic benchmark.

ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB: The World's Fastest Graphics Card : Introduction - Review Tom's Hardware

GeForce GT 240: Low Power, High Performance, Sub-$100

2009-11-17T21:30:00.001+07:00

nVidia has just been released GT 240 for around $100 and less. Check it out on link below to see its performance and power consumption with another $100 cards..!!

GeForce GT 240: Low Power, High Performance, Sub-$100 : Introduction - Review Tom's Hardware

Final Fantasy XIII Western Release Date

2009-11-15T21:17:00.002+07:00

Back in September we learned that the Japanese release date for Final Fantasy XIII would be December 17. While that was great news, gamers in parts of the western world were waiting for word of the English localized version.
Today Square Enix reveals all in a special video, announcing that Final Fantasy XIII will be hitting both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America and Europe on March 9, 2010.

Source : Tom's Hardware

Overclocking, The Basic

2009-11-15T11:43:00.000+07:00

Today we will tell you about overclocking your PC system. Overclocking will cause your PC components like CPU, memory, and GPU or Graphic Card to run faster than before. For example the default clock speed of your CPU is 2.4 Ghz, after overclocking your CPU can run at 3.2 Ghz clock speed resulting greater performance of your CPU.

The most question we heard about overclocking is, "Can overclocking damage computer hardware?". Then we said the answer can be yes or no. Usually, temperature is our enemy when we want to overclocking our system, because this is the main reason of hardware damage in overclocking and system instability. But if you properly monitoring your system temperature with additional CPU cooler, good PC casing with good air ventilation, etc, then it will no problem to overclock your system.

The purpose of overclocking is to gain more performance from your system in daily computing, productivity, and gaming. With overclocking you can get the most out from your system with little additional cost and get the same performance with more expensive system.

Things you must notice in overclocking :
1. Your CPU specs ; to determine how far you can push it. for example I got a Q6600 @ 2.4 Ghz, so in air cooled, 3 Ghz to 3.2 Ghz is great. or maybe E7500 @ 2.93 Ghz, you can push it to 3.6-3.8 Ghz on air.
With water cooling, you can push it more..!

2. FSB (Front Side Bus), CPU multiplier, Memory RAM speed ; this gotta be difficult to understand, but we will try to explain it as simple as we can...
So here's the example.... Q6600 @ 2.4 Ghz , 1066 Mhz FSB , 9x multiplier (all in default condition)
In this case, FSB in CPU's spec = 4 x actual FSB.. So 1066 Mhz in CPU's spec, then the actual FSB is 266 Mhz... ( 1066 / 4 ).
So what actual FSB for? combined with CPU multiplier, in this case is 9x, then actual FSB * multiplier = CPU clock speed. -> 266 Mhx * 9 = 2400 Mhz

Okay, and what memory RAM speed for? the memory speed is the maximum actual FSB you can reach for overclocking. For example PC6400-DDR2, with 400 Mhz speed memory per dimm. So with this type of memory you can raise your actual FSB to 400 Mhz. Try to get 1:1 ratio between memory speed and actual FSB, because it's usually more stable and you get the full bandwidth memory transfer from RAM to CPU.

Okay, how can I know if my system is stable or not? You can test your CPU stability with CPU torture program like Prime95 to stress all of your CPU cores. Usually people stress their CPU about 18 hours to see if the system are stable enough and the temperature of the system are in normal state.
When testing you system got blue screen or freezing, then check the temperature first. When the temperature is normal so it's time to raise your CPU and system voltage which can be raised from the motherboard's BIOS. try to raise it about 0.1 or 0.125 for the voltage to make sure you are not overvoltage it and damaged your hardware. For safe temperature and voltage can be found on the internet, but I will try to find the links for you later.

Overclocking GPU is more simple than overclocking your CPU. Simply download rivatuner and install it. And inside the rivatuner, you can raise your core speed, shader speed, and memory speed of your GPU. You can also set the fan speed, monitoring your GPU temperature and many more. I will try to post an article to show you how to use Rivatuner for the first time.
To test your GPU, usually people test it with 3D Mark 06, a very useful program to benchmark your system performance and also to test the stability of your system. If you can pass all the test without error, then usually your system are stable enough.

That's all from us, if you are not understand enough you can always ask us via e-mail, we will be happy to answer your question.

H-bridge for motor DC with engine break

2009-11-13T08:25:00.003+07:00

List of components :
- 5V DC power supply
- jumper
- 1 IC 74LS08(2 input AND)
- 1 IC 74LS04(inverter)
- 4 transistor NPN(BD139)
- 1 green LED
- 1 red LED
- 2 220 Ohm resistor

Here's the schematics :

if the left direction is given logic 1, the lower LED will be turned on. If the right direction is given logic 1, the upper LED will be turned on. When both of them are given logic 1, the motor will stop and no LED will be turned on. When both of them are given logic 0, the motor won't stop immediately and still running(if previous state is 0 1 or 1 0) until the motor stopped.

James Cameron's Avatar Hands-On

2009-11-11T19:46:00.002+07:00

Based on James Cameron's upcoming sci-fi blockbuster of the same name, Avatar puts you in the shoes of Ryder, a signal specialist. Ryder is a soldier in the employ of the Resources Development Administration, and he has been sent to the lush moon of Pandora to protect its mining operation. Unfortunately, this process is destroying the native habitat of Pandora, which brings the RDA into conflict with the Na'vi, a species of indigenous, 10-foot-tall, blue-skinned warriors. Avatar gives you the chance to play as a human and a Na'vi, thanks to the ability to transfer your consciousness to a hybrid clone known as an avatar.

Early on in the game you have to choose between playing as a human or a Na'vi, and this branching storyline gives you two very different experiences thanks to each species' unique weapons, skills, and abilities. The RDA campaign is essentially a third-person shooter featuring loads of heavy firepower, whereas the Na'vi campaign's gameplay is action adventure with rudimentary, yet brutally efficient, weapons, such as maces, swords, and bows and arrows. As an RDA soldier, you have access to a high-tech arsenal that includes assault rifles, machine guns, and shotguns. You also have four special skills that you can use to turn invisible, to sprint, to repel enemies for a short period, or to restore some health. The cooldown periods are short, and these skills become vital to surviving Pandora's dangerous flora and fauna. Traversing through the forbidding jungle is risky at the best of times, and thankfully we were able to use a dune buggy and motorboat to travel between locations. In addition to introducing you to the game, weapons, and vehicles, the first few levels give you a taste of what your career as an RDA soldier on Pandora might be like, with glimpses of some of the more advanced military hardware, including helicopters and mechs.
It seems Ryder has been personally assigned to Pandora by a local RDA commander called Falco, and after five long years in hibernation during the journey, you finally touch down on the moon at the RDA's main compound, called Hell's Gate. The base is under imminent attack by viperwolves--nasty canines that can easily rip a man to shreds--and it's not long before you get the pleasure of using a mounted turret to thin out their ranks. Falco reveals that there's a mole within the RDA who's feeding intel to the Na'vi, and he sends you off on a mission to the front-line Blue Lagoon base to find out more.

Once we arrived at Blue Lagoon, we got a chance to see what it's like to be a Na'vi through the RDA's avatar program. In addition to giving the RDA forces the Na'vi's physical prowess, avatars allow the RDA forces to explore Pandora's unbreathable environment without the need for a gas mask. Within a few moments of playing as a Na'vi, you're instantly aware of their benefits. For a start, Na'vi are able to jump much higher than humans and perform an extremely fast dodge move thanks to their 10-foot frame and athletic ability. Na'vi also have slightly different special skills to the RDA, and rather than having a skill that repels wildlife, you can perform a powerful ground stomp that damages nearby enemies instead.
While it essentially plays as an action game, Avatar is imbued with some role-playing elements. You earn experience points for killing, collecting items, and completing objectives, and these automatically unlock more-advanced weapons, skills, and armour as you progress. In addition to earning experience points, the other RPG element in the game is that your progression is through completing quests.. There are also additional side quests that you can complete at your leisure, such as collecting culture samples from native plants.

James Cameron's Avatar features an intriguing story,
the ability to play as two distinct species, and some great graphics that show off the lush, exotic moon of Pandora. The game is hitting all major platforms in early December, just in time for Avatar's big-screen debut.

Source : Gamespot

Best Graphics Cards For Money: November '09

2009-11-11T07:51:00.003+07:00

This GPU review from Tom's Hardware to show you the best value graphic card for money, ranging from $80 and below budget to more than $400 budget. This is a great article for you who want to buy or upgrading new graphic card.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November '09 : October Review And November Updates - Review Tom's Hardware

Part 1: Building A Balanced Gaming PC

2009-11-11T07:23:00.002+07:00

This article from To's hardware shows you how important to balancing your system. in this case, between CPU and GPU, so you can choose wisely when build a new pc or upgrading and get the optimal result.

Part 1: Building A Balanced Gaming PC : Balanced Platform Series Introduction - Review Tom's Hardware

Blizzard's StarCraft II Beta is Delayed

2009-11-10T09:09:00.004+07:00

A recent interview conducted during a Russian games convention reveals that the beta will be delayed.
Wondering what the heck happened to those StarCraft II beta invites? After all, it's late 2009 as Blizzard originally promised, and so far there's no word about its impending release. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if the beta will make an appearance in 2009 after all according to Blizzard producer Chris Sigaty.

In a recent interview with Russian website Goha.ru held during the three-day games expo IgroMir, Sigaty said that the beta won't make an appearance until 2010, and then refused to mention any additional info, saying that Blizzard isn't discussing dates. In fact, the remaining portion of the interview regurgitated common StarCraft II knowledge stemming from BlizCon 2009: offline play is possible but no achievements will be acquired, etc.

Based on VG247's November 5 article, Blizzard plans to release the first StarCraft II installment during Q2 2010, backing up the company's "first half of 2010" comment made during Blizzard's Q3 financial call to investors. But with the beta now knocked back into 2010, it's possible that the game may be smacked back a few extra months on the calendar too, making it a Q3 release instead. Hopefully that's not the case.

Source : Tom's Hardware

List of Upcoming Game 8 - 13 November 2009

2009-11-09T09:47:00.001+07:00

NOVEMBER 8, 2009
Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage--WII--Ubisoft
NOVEMBER 9, 2009
Arcade Shooting Gallery--WII-- Zoo Games
Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom--PS2--2K Play
NBA 2K10--WII--2K Sports
Wedding Dash--DS--Zoo Games
NOVEMBER 10, 2009
BUZZ! Quiz World--PS3--SCEA
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2--PS3, X360, PC--Activision
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized--DS--Activision
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex--WII--Activision
Chaotic: Shadow Warriors--360, PS3, WII, DS--Activision
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans--DS--Namco Bandai Games America
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast--X360, PS3--Namco Bandai Games America
Dragonology--DS--Codemasters
Fairyland Melody Magic--DS--Ubisof
Final Fantasy XI: Ultimate Collection--X360--Square Enix
Final Fantasy XI: Vana'diel Collection 2010--PC--Square Enix
Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands--DS--Natsume
Harvest Moon: Animal Parade--WII--Natsume
Hasbro Family Game Night--X360--Electronic Arts
Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5--WII, DS--Activision
Jambo! Safari: Animal Rescue--WII--Sega
Jonas--DS--Disney Interactive Studios
Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble--PSP--Atlus Co.
Petz Nursery--DS--Ubisoft
Phantasy Star Zero--DS--Sega
Pop'n Music--WII--Konami
Pro Evolution Soccer 2010--Wii, PSP, PS2--Konami
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus--Wii, DS--2K Games
Satisfashion--DS--Destineer
Smart Kids Journey to Adventure--WII--Tommo
Spectral Force Genesis--DS--Role-Playing--Ignition Entertainment
Stoked: Big Air Edition--X360--Destineer
Style Lab Jewelry Design--DS--Ubisoft
Style Lab Makeover--DS--Ubisoft
Team Elimination Games--Wii--Ubisoft
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack--DS--Ubisoft
WorldShift--PC--Playlogic
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010--MOBILE--THQ
NOVEMBER 12, 2009
Braid--PS3--Number None Inc.
King Arthur - The Role-playing Wargame--PC--NeocoreGames
NOVEMBER 13, 2009
Buck Fever--WII--Destineer

Source : Gamespot

Retrieve Windows Live Messenger 2009 Standalone Individual Setup Installer (MSI) from Web Download

2009-11-08T15:16:00.002+07:00

Microsoft has made Windows Live Messenger (WLM or previously known as MSN Messenger) as part of the product suite of Windows Live package, and no longer provide standalone individual setup installer for user to download and install just Windows Live Messenger itself. The story is the same for the latest public beta for Windows Live Wave 3, which includes Windows Live Messenger 2009.

As usual, user download the unified Windows Live Installer which contains installation files for all software programs inside the Windows Live products, such as Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Toolbar and etc. Most of the programs other than WLM is not needed, yet Microsoft forces user who wants to backup the installer or install WLM on not connected offline PC or distribute the program across corporate network to download the massive 100 MB plus integrated full installer, namely wlsetup-all.exe.

The worst part is that the wlsetup-all.exe, which has all the installation files, cannot be uncompressed, unpacked or extracted into separate .MSI installer for each individual software. While the web installer, wlsetup-web.exe does not have the .MSI packaged in as it will download the required .CAB off the Internet.

For those who insist on want to grab and retrieve a copy of individual stand-alone Windows Live Messenger 2009 setup installer, which can be used to install WLM anytime on any computer without waiting for downloading, use the following trick to get the “Messenger.msi” file.

Download Windows Live Installer from download.live.com.
Install or upgrade the Windows Live Messenger to latest version.
Open Windows Explorer, and set it to Show hidden files and folders and show protected operating system files (uncheck the tick for Hide protected operating system files) in the View tab of Folder Options.In Windows Vista, run Windows Explorer as Administrator, and user may requires to take ownership and gain full control permissions for the folders below before able to access them.
Browse to \Program Files\Common Files\Windows Live\.cache\ folder.
There will be a lot of folders made up of 15 characters and numbers. Locate Messenger.msi file inside one of the folder. Messenger.msi is the individual separate standalone setup installer for Windows Live Messenger 2009, which can be backed up or copied to another location. Do note that the Messenger.msi and other Windows Installer Package retrieved this way is silent installer. Tip: %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Windows Live\.cache\cache.ini file contains the paths of all Windows Live software products downloaded or installed on the computer.
If you have any problem with Windows Live Messenger after installation using the standalone individual installer Messenger.msi, try to install the following 3 programs too, all of which in different sub-folders inside the .cache directory. Contacts.msi (Contacts)
dw20shared.msi (DW 2.0 Client)
crt.msi (Microsoft Visual Studio Runtime)
Tip: Contacts.msi is a must to avoid or fix 8000FFFF error.

After grabbing the Windows Live Messenger standalone silent installer, optionally user can uninstall the Windows Live Suite (all programs) from Control Panel, and install Messenger.msi (and Contacts.msi too) again to get rid of all other Windows Live components except WLM9, saving time and bandwidth in future installation.

The trick also also work for all other Windows Live products such as Windows Live Sign-In Assistant (wllogin.msi), Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Mail ,Windows Live Toolbar, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Family Safety, Segoe UI Font, Windows Live Call and Microsoft Office Outlook Connector.

Source : Mydigitallife

Dragon Age : Origin Gameplay Review

2009-11-06T20:14:00.001+07:00

When was the last time you felt totally lost in a fantasy gameworld? When was the last time you played a game with such a well-crafted and enjoyable story that you knew you’d remember it for a long, long time? Dragon Age: Origins is that kind of game, so rich and involving that you are powerless to resist its wiles and whims, so touching and triumphant that your mind and heart will be moved. In the fictional land of Ferelden, you meet memorable characters and fight for a cause you believe in, and it's this backdrop that makes developer BioWare's newest role-playing game so extraordinary. Dragon Age is more than a well-crafted story, however: It's a lengthy, intricate, and thoroughly entertaining adventure that's easy to fall in love with.

Dragon Age's plot, which deals with the impending invasion of a horde of demonic creatures called the darkspawn, isn't where the story's biggest surprises lie. The shocks, the joys, and the disappointments spring from the repartee among a number of remarkable characters; they lurk within books of lore and stories of martyrs; and they burst forth during spine-tingling moments when you must choose from a selection of difficult choices that affect the tale's direction--and the way your associates interact with you. Ferelden is a colorful and fascinating kingdom that takes enough cues from well-known fantasy tropes to be familiar, but bends enough conventions to feel original. Dragon Age features dwarves, but their caste-based society and the social paragons that rise above it twist the norms enough to keep you intrigued. Mages remain under the constant watch of templars, a restriction that doesn't sit well with those who view such policing as virtual slavery. The role of religion in human circles is of particular note. Chantries provide refuge to those worshiping the all-powerful Maker, and chanters recite the holy word near their houses of prayer. But lest this world sound too serious, don't despair: One such disciple slides food references into her chant, and a few dwarves warn you not to fall into the sky. Small, humorous touches like this are plentiful. Even if you aren't the literary sort, Dragon Age may inspire you to read every note, every character bio, and every creature description, thanks to the richness of the world and the consistency with which it's presented.

You'll learn even more from the companions who join you, and you'll grow to care about them on your quest for glory. There's Morrigan, the cynical apostate mage bound to your cause for reasons that become clear only late in the journey; Sten, the strong, silent type who isn't so quick to reveal his innermost thoughts; and Zevran, a darkly mischievous would-be assassin with a wild streak and a playful disregard for the law. There are others too, including Alistair, a wisecracking, vaguely insecure member of the Grey Wardens, an elite group of champions that recruits you early on. Great dialogue and fantastic voice acting make these characters leap off the screen as if they were real friends, and the way they interact with one another feels authentic. Morrigan and Alistair banter about the role of templars in the lives of mages, and the sweetly devout Leliana tries to communicate with your trusty canine cohort in some amusing exchanges. You may even develop a romance (or two) before all is said and done. The course of love isn't always a smooth one, though it can be a bit steamy, in a PG-13 sort of way.

Relationships must be nurtured; in the world of Dragon Age, love doesn't develop at first sight. Rather, you must improve your standings with available party members by giving them gifts and fulfilling quests in ways that please them. Doing so opens more dialogue options and may even reward you with unexpected gifts beyond the private pleasures of your tent. Your personal relationships aren't all you need to worry about when facing a difficult decision, however. On significant quests, you'll encounter complex choices that force you to weigh the risks against the rewards, even as you try to stay true to your own vision of your character. Are werewolves heartless killers, or is there a method to their madness? Should you wholeheartedly embrace a political candidate, or will some unexpected information have you playing double agent--or just killing the opposition? Such open-ended quests have become staples in many similar RPGs, but few make these decisions feel so momentous. The anxiety that results when you encounter important choices is a result of superb writing and character development: When you care about your destiny, decisions have more weight.

Even Dragon Age's initial moments present important decisions that affect how your adventure plays out. You'll customize your own avatar's look from a variety of presets, but more importantly, you'll choose a race and class. The choices may seem initially limited, but your options eventually expand. Later, you can choose up to two subclasses once you reach the necessary level requirements, and there are a few different means of unlocking additional skill trees. Your initial race and class choices don't just determine the kinds of skills and spells you will have access to, however; they influence how the first few hours of the game progress. You will experience one of six different "origin stories" that follow the events that lead you to the elite Grey Wardens. Every origin story leads to the same place, but that doesn't mean you leave these events behind for good. Characters you met early on will cross your path again, and crucial moments of your origin story will continue to haunt you. The varied origin stories not only provide plenty of replay value, but allow you to see familiar characters from a different angle. A prisoner you meet within a dank dungeon may not have much impact on you if you are playing as a Dalish elf, but if you play as a human mage, this encounter is a bittersweet reunion.

You aren't a lone adventurer, however. You can take up to three companions along with you, and eventually you will meet more willing (or unwilling, as the case may be) darkspawn slayers. You can switch out party members back at your camp or in other friendly areas. Party members you don't use will remain at camp, though they thankfully level up even when you don't take them along. Your comrades aren't just AI-controlled henchmen; you can take full control of any party member at any time, though how you do so depends on the platform. PC owners get the most versatile and rewarding experience in this regard. You can zoom the camera in to a close third-person view when exploring and conversing with non-player characters, or pull the camera back to a tactical view, which makes it a breeze to quickly and easily micromanage every spell and attack, in true Baldur's Gate tradition. On consoles, you always view the action from behind a single character, and you use a shoulder button to switch among them. It's a great way of experiencing the buzz of battle, though occasional pathfinding quirks are more apparent in the console versions, simply because you experience the action from a single perspective at a time, rather than while managing four characters simultaneously.

If you've played a BioWare fantasy RPG in the past, you'll feel right at home with the combat system. By clicking on your target or pressing the attack button, you don't just swing a sword, but you approach your target and queue up your attack. Once your party has gained access to a good number of spells, stances, and skills, battlefields explode with bright colors and raucous sound effects, and it's a lot of fun to switch back and forth between party members, managing your abilities and taking advantage of various spell combos to wreak havoc. There are dozens of different types of enemies to slice up, from giant spiders and darkspawn, to ghosts and walking trees, to demons and, of course, dragons. Allies will join you in the biggest battles, and the best of these, particularly those toward the end of the game, are thrilling. On the PC, they're particularly challenging, and many battles benefit from frequent pausing and tactical thinking, so that you can queue up attacks across your entire party. The same battles on consoles are noticeably easier.

Nevertheless, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions have their challenges, and no matter which platform you choose, you can customize your cohorts' AI behavior to be more effective in battle. Using the tactics menu, you can set characters up to drink potions when their health gets low; have Morrigan cast helpful crowd-control spells when enemies are clustered together; and program sturdier characters to draw enemies' ire when more vulnerable party members are under attack. As you level up, you will earn additional tactics slots, allowing you to implement even more intricate actions. You can also apply basic behaviors to your team members, making them more aggressive or defensive, and you can switch them around on the fly if an experimental custom tactic isn't working as you intended. When things come together as you plan--such as when Morrigan freezes a hurlock in place and Alistair smashes it to smithereens--battles are even more rewarding.

All of these elements coalesce wonderfully, making for a memorable and exciting adventure that keeps you on the move. The flow of loot and pace of leveling are both highly satisfying, and because you have four active characters to consider (in addition to others back at the camp), you spend a lot of time poring over armor and weapon choices. The tempo is even quicker than the Dungeons & Dragons games that preceded Dragon Age, thanks to important tweaks that minimize downtime. For example, you do not need to rest between encounters to replenish your health and recharge your spells. Instead, health and stamina are replenished quickly once the skirmish ends, allowing you to string encounters together without unwanted breaks in between. Should a party member fall during battle, he or she will be resuscitated once the battle has ended, albeit with a stat penalty applied (though it can be cured with an injury kit). These factors, and more, give Dragon Age an excellent sense of forward direction.

All the spells, tactics, and skills sound like a lot to organize, but the interface does a great job of helping you keep track of things. The PC interface is brilliant, letting you browse through your inventory and tweak your quickbars quickly and easily. The console versions do a surprisingly great job as well, making it simple to sort through your quests, and to queue up actions while battle is paused. One particularly useful feature is the ability to identify inventory items as trash and sell them all with a single button press once you're back in town. There are some console-specific interface irritations that could have been cleaner, however. For example, identifying new codex (that is, lore) entries can be troublesome, because the list doesn't scroll down until your highlight cursor reaches the bottom of the window. As a result, you can't always distinguish new entries from old ones, which is an issue that doesn't plague the fantastic PC interface. The consoles' radial menu, on the other hand, is an excellent way of letting you access every battle skill, and it works somewhat like the similar interface in Mass Effect--albeit with a few more layers.

The differences between versions aren't limited to the interface. Dragon Age doesn't look amazing on the PC, but it's an attractive game nonetheless. Zooming from an isometric view to a third-person perspective is slick, and while environments don't hold up quite as well when viewed up close, they're consistently lovely when viewed from above. On the flip side, the Xbox 360 version looks positively disappointing. Textures are highly compressed and colors are washed out, though the upside is that this version maintains a smoother frame rate than on the PlayStation 3, where things might get jittery when swiveling the camera around. The PlayStation 3 version features higher-quality textures than those on the Xbox 360, better color saturation, smoother facial animations, and shorter load times. Minor visual hiccups, like corpses that disappear and reappear, are a bit more common on the PS3, however. The PC version is the superior experience, but if you're choosing between the two console releases, the PlayStation 3 has the upper hand. Some minor glitches are shared between the console versions, however, such as rare occasions when the soundtrack or voice-overs disappear. We also ran into a few quest malfunctions that could be replicated on all three platforms, though they were relatively minor and did not interfere with the progress of the main quest.

No matter which version you choose, however, there are plenty of audiovisual details to note. In many ways, Dragon Age looks and sounds like other high-fantasy games, but while the towers, forest paths, and underground caverns are what you've seen before, the art style is attractive, and a few sights, such as an underground dwarven city, are particularly eye-catching. Character models don't exhibit Mass Effect-level expressiveness, but they look good and animate smoothly enough. Also of note are the splatters of blood that appear on your party members after battle. It's a nice idea, but the splotches look like they've been splashed across you with a paintbrush. The crimson stains are a cool thematic touch, however, because blood plays an important role in Dragon Age. The sound effects are excellent, console glitches notwithstanding, and the soundtrack, while typical for a fantasy game, swells and murmurs at all the right moments.

Few games are this ambitious, and even fewer can mold these ambitions into such a complete and entertaining experience. You might spend 50 or more hours on your first play-though, but there are so many paths to follow, so many details to uncover, and so many ways to customize your party that you'll want to play again as soon as you finish the first time. PC owners even get an extra dash of depth via the downloadable toolset, which lets you create new levels, spells, skills, and even cutscenes. But any way you slice it, here's the fantasy RPG you've been waiting for, the one that will keep you up late at night, bleary-eyed, because you have to see what happens next. Like the best fiction, Dragon Age will sweep you up in its world, so much so that when you're done, you'll want to experience it all over again.

Source : Gamespot

How to Use Seven Segment

2009-11-05T21:47:00.005+07:00

Some of you might think that this is actually not important, because you can try this yourself. But, do you know how many volts do you need to light a LED? Do you know about the current limit that will light a LED without breaking it? Of course you can try this yourself, but some of people are just too lazy to do this. :P

Now, what are the limits? LED is a diode that emits light. The LED in seven segment is just a small LED, so it can’t take too much power from the source. A common LED in seven segment only needs approximately 3 V and a current limit of 20 mA. If you have a 5 V battery or 4.5 V battery, you should insert a resistor in the circuit to prevent a current overflow. Usually, the resistor is about 330 Ohm. The LED should be bright enough to be noticed.

How can you light the LEDs? You just need to set a battery and a 220 Ohm resistor with the LED. The positive side of the battery should meet the anode of the seven segment and the negative side of the battery should meet the cathode of the seven segment. If you are using common-cathode seven segments, there are 8 pins of anode that can be paralleled to light every segment of the seven segment. We will give you a simple circuit below.

Core Temp , CPU temperature monitoring utility software

2009-11-04T20:29:00.001+07:00

Core Temp is a compact, no fuss, small footprint program to monitor CPU temperature.
Now Windows Vista and Windows 7 ready! (x86 and x64)

The uniqueness of it is that it shows the temperature of each individual core in each processor in your system! You can see in real time how the CPU temperature varies when you load your CPU. It's also completely motherboard independent.

Intel and AMD recently published detailed, public information about the "DTS" (Digital Thermal Sensor), which provides much higher accuracy and more relevant temperature reading than the standard thermal diode sensors do. (How does it work?).

This feature is supported on all Intel Core and Core 2 based processors as well as the whole AMD's Athlon64 line of CPUs. For a full list of supported CPUs see the CPU Support List.
Note: AMD Phenom is supported, but it does not report absolute temperature. More on this in How does it work?.

Core Temp also has a logging feature, allowing a user to easily record the temperature of his processor(s) over any period of time, then the data can be easily transferred into an excel datasheet for easy graphing.

Core Temp works on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista (both 32bit and 64bit versions).
Thanks to CoolIT Systems for providing a digitally signed Core Temp driver which now works on all Vista versions.

You can download Core Temp here http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

RivaTuner , GPU / VGA Overclocking Utility Software

2009-11-04T20:22:00.001+07:00

RivaTuner is a complete powerful tweaking environment, providing you everything you may need to tune NVIDIA GPU based display adapters. The widest driver-level Direct3D / OpenGL and system tuning options, flexible profiling system allowing to make custom settings on per-application basis, both driver-level and low-level hardware access modes, unique diagnostic and realtime hardware monitoring features and exclusive power user oriented tools like built-in registry editor and patch script engine make RivaTuner's feature set absolutely unmatched.
RivaTuner supports all NVIDIA display adapters starting from Riva TNT family up to the latest GeForce 7 series and widest range of NVIDIA drivers starting from the oldest Detonator 2.08 up to the newest ForceWare drivers family.

In addition to complete NVIDIA hardware support, RivaTuner also provides limited support for display adapters based upon ATI RADEON 8500 and newer ATI graphics processors. All RivaTuner's features besides driver-level tuning options are also available on supported ATI hardware.
The RivaTuner Support Forum can be found here. System requirements:

Windows 98 (updated MFC libraries required), Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server x32, Windows XP x32, Windows XP x64 edition, Vista x32 or Vista x64 (disabled driver signature checking required). Note: Windows 9x/ME is no longer officially supported since version RC15. It doesn't mean that RivaTuner will not work under Windows 9x/ME, but it does mean that RivaTuner is no longer tested for compatibility issues under these OS.

Any desktop display adapter based on NVIDIA GeForce or ATI Radeon grarphics card. Mobile solutions are not supported.

You can download Rivatuner here http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=163

Basic Digital Display : Seven Segment

2009-11-03T23:36:00.006+07:00

Seven segment is a display component that have seven segments(actually eight). Each segment represented by a LED. Seven-segment displays are widely used in digital clocks, electronic meters, and other electronic devices for displaying numerical information. Beside seven segment, there are fourteen-segment and sixteen-segment, usually used for making an alphanumeric character.

The segments of a 7-segment display are referred to by the letters A to G, as shown to the right, where the optional DP decimal point (an "eighth segment") is used for the display of non-integer numbers.

The animation to the right cycles through the common glyphs of the ten decimal numerals and the six hexadecimal "letter digits" (A–F). It is an image sequence of a "LED" display, which is described technology-wise in the following section. Notice the variation between uppercase and lowercase letters for A–F; this is done to obtain a unique, unambiguous shape for each letter.

As shown to the right, a seven-segment has ten pins under the display. Based on the pins, seven segment can be divided into 2 kinds, common cathode and common anode. A common anode seven segment consists of 2 pins of anode and 8 pins of cathode. Each cathode pin lead to cathode part of each segment(LED) on the display. Both of anode pins are short-circuited, and lead to anode part of each segment(LED). A common cathode seven segment is the opposite of a common anode seven segment. There are 2 pins of cathode and 8 pins of anode.

The image on the right is the pins of the seven-segment. X is the common pin, if it is a common anode, then X is anode, and vice versa. The other pins are the complement of the common. For the common anode, to turn the LED on, we must place the plus sign of the battery on the common and the minus sign of the battery on other pins.

GPU-Z , GPU / VGA / Graphic Card Identification Utility Software

2009-11-03T10:09:00.006+07:00

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.
Main features of GPU-Z :

Support NVIDIA and ATI cards
Displays adapter, GPU and display information
Displays overclock, default clocks and 3D clocks (if available)
Validation of results
No installation required
Support for Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit versions are supported)

You can download GPU-Z in http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

CPU-Z | CPU and System Identification Software

2009-11-03T10:02:00.002+07:00

CPU-Z is a freeware system profiler (system monitor) application for Microsoft Windows (for all versions from 95 on) that detects the central processing unit, RAM, motherboard chipset, and other hardware features of a modern personal computer, and presents the information in one window. CPU-Z is more in-depth in almost all areas than the features that a Windows OS provides to identify various hardware components, and is thus needed to identify certain components without opening the case, especially the core revision and RAM clock rate. It has an unusual ability to directly detect hardware features, especially the ability to access, read and display the SPD data from memory modules. The ability to document clock speed makes it an important tool for motherboard overclockers, as a way of proving the CPU speeds achieved by various experiments.
Source : Wikipedia

CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.
CPU

Name and number.
Core stepping and process.
Package.
Core voltage.
Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
Supported instructions sets.
Cache information.

Mainboard

Vendor, model and revision.
BIOS model and date.
Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
Graphic interface.

Memory

Frequency and timings.
Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

System

Windows and DirectX version.

You can download CPU-Z here http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Microsoft Office 2010

2009-11-03T09:59:00.001+07:00

Microsoft Office 2010, codenamed Office 14, is the successor of Microsoft Office 2007, a productivity suite Microsoft Windows. Extended file compatibility, user interface updates, and a refined user experience are planned for Office 2010. With the introduction of Office 2010 a 64-bit version of Office will be available for the first time. It will be available for Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Furthermore, Office 2010 will mark the debut of free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, which will work in popular web browsers (Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari), although, surprisingly there is no support for the Opera browser. Microsoft has confirmed that it will be released during spring 2010, and a public beta to show up in November 2009.

Development started in 2006 while Microsoft was finishing work on Office 12, released as Microsoft Office 2007. The version number 13 was skipped because of the aversion to the number 13. It was previously thought that Office 2010 (then called Office 14) would ship in the first half of 2009; however Steve Ballmer has officially announced that Office 2010 will ship in 2010 with a more specific countdown (days) provided at office2010themovie.com

On April 15, 2009, Microsoft confirmed that Office 2010 will be officially released in the first half of 2010. They announced on May 12, 2009 at a Tech Ed event, that Office 2010 will begin technical testing during July and was publicly released to those who signed up to test on 07/08/09. It will also be the first version of Office to ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

According to an article published in InfoWorld in April 2006, Office 2010 will be more "role-based" than previous versions. The article cites Simon Witts, corporate vice president for Microsoft's Enterprise and Partner Group, as claiming that there would be features tailored to employees in "roles such as research and development professionals, sales persons, and human resources." Borrowing from ideas termed "Web 2.0" when implemented on the Internet, it is likely that Microsoft will incorporate features of SharePoint Server in Office 2010.
Microsoft Office 2010 will implement the ISO/IEC compliant version of Office Open XML (OOXML) which was standardized as ISO/IEC 29500:2008 in March 2008, though will also have the option of implementing as a setting the ISO/IEC compliant version of Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1, beyond 1.0 which was standardized as ISO/IEC 26300:2006 in May 2006
New features are also said to include a built-in screen capture tool, a background removal tool, a protected document mode, new SmartArt templates and author permissions. The 2007 "Office Button" will be replaced with a menu button that leads to a full-window file menu, known as Backstage View, giving easy access to task-centered functions such as printing and sharing. A refined Ribbon interface will be present in all Office applications, including Office Outlook, Visio, OneNote, Project and Publisher. Office applications will also have functional jumplists in Windows 7, which would allow easy access to recent items and tasks relevant to the application.

Source : Wikipedia

Electronic Symbol

2009-11-02T16:14:00.002+07:00

An electronic symbol is a pictogram used to represent various electrical and electronic devices (such as wires, batteries, resistors, and transistors) in a drawing of an electrical or electronic circuit. These symbols can (because of remaining traditions) vary from country to country, but are today to a large extent internationally standardized. Some symbols (such as those of vacuum tubes) became virtually extinct with the development of new technologies.

Source : Wikipedia