vrokolos

Skyrim E3 2011 - Extended gameplay footage by John Smith

2011-06-08T22:10:00.001+03:00

2011-01-02T13:53:00.001+02:00

New version of vroksub with some minor fixes.. Moved to github: https://github.com/vrokolos/VrokSub

Some icons for fast dial / myfavs

2010-05-28T17:10:00.003+03:00

bit.ly	deezer	gametrailers	thepiratebay
pixlr	utorrent	wakoopa

Avatar vs World of Warcraft

2010-01-22T15:23:00.019+02:00

<--- World of Warcraft

Avatar -->

thanks to Friday Fives – James Cameron Plays World of Warcraft

Vroksub is now open source

2009-03-21T18:11:00.003+02:00

http://vroksub.googlecode.com

Since I don't know too much about open sourcing stuff (licenses, code reviewing etc) just let me know if I did something wrong here in the comments.

Here's a google group I created for vroksub: http://groups.google.com/group/vroksub

Web apps - What's missing?

2009-01-27T01:15:00.001+02:00

zoho, gmail, gdocs, picasa, meebo, mibbit, last.fm

I can see 5 major drawbacks in using web applications right now:

1) You can only paste text into web forms. No images, audio, video or files. I hate those Upload File: Browse prompts in all the web pages. Why can't I just paste a bunch of pictures into flickr or facebook directly in the browser? Why can't I paste a screenshot I just took into a google document or zoho writer?

2) You can't get notifications from a web page outside of the browser. Although some applications like bubbles for windows or fluid for mac add support for notifications (like gmail incoming message in the traybar or pidgin-msn chat popups) I want a native - direct way for a website to do that without additional software.

3) No global hotkeys. How can I replace winamp with any web music player if I can't use my multimedia keys to control it?

4) Separate web space from web applications. I've got 2gb of pictures uploaded in skydrive.live.com. I need to access those from flickr, facebook, zoho, mesh, picasa etc without synchronizing them all the time between services.

5) File associations and offline mode. You can associate gmail for mailto links but what about doc, mp3, wav, jpg, avi and other online services? Why can't I associate doc files with google docs in windows?

How to surf the web using a remote control

2008-05-11T01:50:00.003+03:00

I have a home theater PC in my living room for watching movies, listening to music and playing games using my projector and surround sound system. I can do all these using a wireless gamepad and a remote control in order to avoid having my bulky keyboard and a mouse (you also need a surface for that) laying around the living room. The only thing I couldn't do with these two devices was web surfing which is quite important for me. A few days ago I "stumbled" upon stumbleupon which is a social bookmarking service that also suggests web pages for you to visit based on your preferences. It works by comparing your favorite pages history to other people with similar interests and suggests pages they liked and you haven't visited yet.

What you'll need:

Firefox (I couldn't make this work with IE)

a stumbleupon account and the stumbleupon toolbar

A remote control (You probably have one already)

A PC infrared receiver like usbuirt

Software that maps your remote control's buttons to keyboard shortcuts like girder or remote2key

First customize your stumbleupon account by selecting which topics interest you most (movies, video games, humor etc). When you're done go to Tools -> Toolbar Options -> Shortcuts in your stumbleupon toolbar. You need to assign a shortcut key to each of these actions: Stumble, Rate "I like it" and Rate "Not-for-me". I use alt-`, alt-1 and alt-2.

Configure your keymapping software and assign those same keys to your preferred remote buttons. Also assign a button to start firefox, a button to alt-f4 so you can close it and assign the arrow keys if they're not yet assigned so you can scroll the web pages you'll visit. You should also assign F6 since it lets you focus the next frame.

That's it. You can now relax on your sofa, turn on your hdtv and grab the remote. The "stumble" button will pop up a web page that matches your preferences. Whenever you press the rating buttons stumbleupon will learn what your favorite pages are and suggest similar ones in the future.

10 cool uses for your PDA

2008-04-25T15:35:00.002+03:00

1. Amateur astronomy

Have you always wanted to know more about the night sky and you didn't know where to start? You can stop thinking about buying that pretty expensive big software guided telescope right now. The best way to make your first steps into amateur astronomy is through a PDA and optionally a pair of cheap binoculars. After a few nights out with these and you'll be able to distinguish constellations, stars and maybe even a galaxy with just your naked eyes. Plus you won't ever have to say "I wish I had my pretty expensive big software guided telescope with me right now" whenever you find a clear sky view away from the city lights.

Best PDA: Any PDA
Best software: PocketPC StarMap (free) or AstroNavigator II (commercial)

2. Dictionary

A PDA with additional software can easily double as a pocket sized dictionary. It can translate words to hundreds of languages and can even speak those foreign words for you so you can learn how they are pronounced.

Best PDA: Any PDA
Best software: SlovoEd (commercial)

3. Games

You can play any kind of game genre (even some mmorpgs got released) with your PDA. Some are better suited for the controls than others. There are hundreds of games developed specifically for PDAs that are quite good but usually they're not as "polished" as the similar ones for the portable game consoles. Don't worry because a huge amount of emulators and ports are available for free: Mame, Gameboy, Gameboy advanced, NES, SNES, Amstrad CPC, Genesis, Playstation and many more. My best pick is scummvm which lets you play the old legendary adventure games (lucasarts mostly) using your pen to "point and click".

Best PDA: Dell Axim X51v fast, 3d graphics card, VGA, big screen, fast!!
Best software: scummvm (free)

4. eBooks

"Hey honey, turn the lights off so I can sleep". You won't hear that phrase again if you get accustomed to reading ebooks on your PDA. You can fit thousands of ebooks (around 500kb each) in a single 1gb memory module so you'll always have a book that matches your current mood. Although most books can be read fine on a PDA screen, the technical ones are messy. For example a programming book with source code and screenshots is quite hard to read on a 3 inch screen because of all the tedious horizontal scrolling you'll need to do.

Best PDA: Any
Best software: uBook (shareware with a nag screen every 10 pages)

5. Navigation

A PDA is very useful for finding your way in unknown or forgotten territory, with or without a GPS device. Many navigation software suites are available with a vast variety of maps to choose from. If you don't have a GPS device you can easily replace all your maps with one of these. But if you need something more than just plain maps, you'll need a GPS unit. With it you'll be able to calculate distances, speed and location.

Best PDA: Fujitsu-Siemens Loox N560 good gps, big screen, VGA
Best software: TomTom

6. Encyclopedia

You can download the entire wikipedia from the internet and copy it to your memory module. There are various versions of wikipedia available. Some include pictures, others include partial content and a few are snapshots of older versions. The version you'll get will mostly depend on the size of your memory module.

Best PDA: Any PDA
Best software: Tomeraider (commercial) More ways to view wikipedia

7. Universal Remote Control

If you've seen the movie "click" with adam sandler you know what a universal remote control can (almost) do. What you don't know is that you don't need one if you have a PDA. There are software suites that can emulate all the functions of a URC using your PDA's touch screen and buttons. You can even create advanced macros for your various devices. For example I've mapped my OK button to:

turn off the tv
turn on the projector
turn on the hifi
set hifi input to optical
set 5.1 speaker mode on windows
switch nvidia display output to dvi
open mediaportal on my PC.

All these with a single button!

Best PDA: Any PDA with many hardware buttons, good battery and good infrared transmitter
Best software: NoviiRemote (commercial)

8. Music

Most mobile devices support some kind of music playback. A pda though has some advanced features that you can't find in every mobile phone or mp3 player out there. These include advanced library view, a voice recorder, equalizers, advanced visualization and sound manipulation. The size of a PDA may be a bit larger compared to mobile phones and compact mp3 players but all the extra features make up for it.

Best PDA: Any small sized PDA
Best software: GSPlayer

9. Movies

There are many portable movie players out there. Most of them have a 7" screen and a dvd reader. They can play most movie formats and have outputs for TVs and speakers. Some PDAs can do all those and fit in your pocket. The most important features a movie-player-PDA should have are 1.screen resolution 2.screen size. A vga PDA with quite a large screen beats all other compact movie playing gadgets like ipods and mobile phones. You don't even have to convert your movies to a special format in order to view them on the PDA. Just copy them to your memory module and enjoy!

Best PDA: O2 XDA Flame TV-Out, VGA, big 3.6" screen, huge memory
Best Software: TCPMP (free) or Coreplayer (commercial)

10. Internet

The best use of a PDA hands down. A laptop is better you say?
Would you be comfortable doing these with a laptop?

Surfing amazon.com for a book price to compare when you're in a book shop.
Check imdb rating while browsing your neighborhood's movie rental store.
Surf for sexy babes while taking part in a boring discussion about earrings.
Check your digg.com story status while taking a dump.
Read your emails while waiting for the bus.

and the list goes on.
If you are an internet addict, a PDA is the best gadget for you.

Best PDA: Any PDA with integrated phone
Best software: Opera mobile

DiggBeep 1.10

2008-04-07T00:03:00.010+03:00

The new version of DiggBeep is out! Now "popular" stories will be displayed using a blue background to separate them from the "upcoming" ones and when you double click on a story it will open the story page instead of the external link so you can see the comments. I also fixed a bug that appeared whenever someone undugg your stories and would make diggbeep beep forever!

For those of you who haven't tried diggbeep yet, it's a story manager that sits on your traybar and whenever someone diggs or comments your stories it will beep! Find more information about it here.

Note: First decompress this and then run it. It won't work if you just run the exe from the zip file. THIS REQUIRES .NET FRAMEWORK 2
You can get it here: DiggBeep 1.10

VrokSub 1.10

2008-04-03T18:44:00.005+03:00

New version (1.10) of vroksub, the automatic subtitle downloader released. I added a lot of features that have nothing to do with subtitles. It can now download covers and data from imdb and save it to a nfo file along with your movie. It can create folders for your movies, you can change the naming format for both the file renaming and folders. You can set an output path so that each movie with subtitle will be moved there and more.. Check it out here

PropellerTray

2008-03-28T14:18:00.016+02:00

So now that I have everything set up for diggbeep so it works ok, I thought about releasing a similar program for www.propeller.com. So after 3 hours of copy-pasting code I present you the "copy-paste-replace-etc" release notes:

This windows application monitors your recent propeller (www.propeller.com) stories from your traybar. It will show you how many people vote each of your stories and how many people left comments using a simple MSN-like interface. You can also hear a sound when any of your monitored stories gets voted or commented while you do other stuff with your pc (Optional). All you have to do is run propellertray and enter your username.

You need the .net 2 framework in order to run this. Get it from microsoft.

Recommendations:
- Use as long interval as possible because this will consume both yours and the propeller.com server bandwidth. The default is 60 seconds.
- If all those voting sounds are getting annoyed just disable them from settings.

Post any bugs you find or any *reasonable* suggestions you have here.
note1: I hate installers so don't come complaining! :)
note2: The propeller dude picture and the propeller icon are registered to propeller.com.

Download it here

DiggBeep - Hear your stories getting digged!

2008-03-27T03:13:00.019+02:00

DiggBeep is my new GUI program. It sits on your traybar and monitors your most recent stories. If you are a digg addict and want to know about your story's appeal you'll love this.

DiggBeep will show you how many people digged each of your stories and how many people left comments using a simple MSN-like interface. You can also hear a sound when any of your monitored stories gets digged or commented while you do other stuff with your pc (Optional). All you have to do is run diggbeep and enter your digg.com username.

You need the .net 2 framework in order to run this. Get it from microsoft.

Recommendations:
- Use as long interval as possible because this will consume both yours and the digg's server bandwidth. The default is 60 seconds.
- For the same reason be cautious of how many stories you'll want to monitor. The default is 25.
- If all those digg sounds are getting annoyed just disable them from settings.

Post any bugs you find or any *reasonable* suggestions you have here.

note1: I hate installers so don't come complaining! :)
note2: The digg dude picture and the digg icon are registered to digg.com.

Download it here: DiggBeep 1.10

Change speaker mode using command line (speakersetup)

2008-03-24T21:01:00.011+02:00

My new program is yet another command line utility. This time it's about changing speaker settings mode found under control panel. I developed it mainly because I got tired of going to control panel to switch my mode to headphones every time I wanted to play Counterstrike. It's best suited for gamers and htpc addicts to change between speaker modes using shortcuts and remote controls. I myself just created two shortcuts. One for headphones mode ("speakersetup.exe hp") and one for stereo speakers ("speakersetup.exe 2"). I assigned a hotkey to each and now I can just press ctrl-f2 before starting Counterstrike to switch to headphones. You can also use it with AutoHotKey to assing a single hotkey to cycle between speaker modes (go there for an example). So here are the details:

Useage:

speakersetup.exe [Speaker Mode]

[Speaker Mode] can be one of the following:
hp: Stereo headphones
1: Monophonic speaker
2: Desktop stereo speakers (2.0)
4: Quadraphonic speakers (4.0)
5: Surround sound speakers (5.0)
5.1: 5.1 surround sound speakers
7.1: 7.1 speakers

Examples:

speakersetup.exe 5.1 will switch to 5.1 surround sound speakers.
speakersetup.exe hp will switch to headphones.

Download it here.

A lookup combobox in flex

2008-03-18T06:37:00.012+02:00

If you are used to the LookupComboBox control in delphi or the similar ones in .net and you wish you had something like that for flex well wait no more. Here is a LookupGridColumn component:

LookupGridColumn.mxml code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:DataGridColumn
xmlns="*"
xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
editorDataField="LookupValue"
labelFunction="Lookup">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
// LookupGridColumn.mxml
// Help here: http://vrokolos.blogspot.com/2008/03/lookup-combobox-in-flex.html 
//the lookup field of the lookupProvider objects
[Bindable]
public var lookupField: String;

//the description field of the lookupProvider objects
[Bindable]
public var resultField: String;

//the provider for the values of the combobox
[Bindable]
public var lookupProvider: Object;

//given an object, it will return the lookup's description
public function Lookup(theOb: Object, column: DataGridColumn): String
{
 var tempResult: String = "";
 for each ( var n: Object in lookupProvider )
 {
   if (n[lookupField] == theOb[dataField])
   {
     tempResult = n[resultField];
     break;
   }
 }
 return tempResult;
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:itemEditor>
<mx:Component>
<mx:ComboBox
 dataProvider="{outerDocument.lookupProvider}"
 labelField="{outerDocument.resultField}">
<mx:Script>
 <![CDATA[
   //returns the lookup field of the selected item
   public function get LookupValue(): Object
   {
     if (selectedItem != null)
     {
       return selectedItem[outerDocument.lookupField];
     } else {
       return "";
     }
   }

   //whenever the row changes, find the selecteditem
   public override function set data(theOb: Object): void
   {
     super.data = theOb;
     for (var i: int = 0; i< dataProvider.length; i++)
     {
       var k: Object = dataProvider[i];
       if (k[outerDocument.lookupField] == theOb[outerDocument.dataField])
       {
         selectedIndex = i;
       }
     }
   }
 ]]>
</mx:Script>
</mx:ComboBox>
</mx:Component>
</mx:itemEditor>
</mx:DataGridColumn>

Now let's see an example. Suppose we have these two classes in our model:

[Bindable]
public class Category
{
public var UniqueId:int;
public var Name:String;
}

[Bindable]
public class Product
{
public var UniqueId:int;
public var CategoryId:int;
public var Name:String;
public var Descn:String;
}

where each product's CategoryId links to the UniqueId of it's Category. To use this relationship in a datagrid we just have to do this:

<mx:DataGrid id="grdProduct" editable="true" dataProvider="{Products}">
<mx:columns>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Name" dataField="Name"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Descn" dataField="Descn"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="CategoryId" dataField="CategoryId"/>
<local:LookupGridColumn 
  lookupProvider="{Categories}"
  headerText="Category"
  dataField="CategoryId"
  lookupField="UniqueId"
  resultField="Name"/>
</mx:columns>
</mx:DataGrid>

And here's the example: (try changing the category and focusing another row to see what happens to CategoryId)
UPDATE: Someone noticed that if you focus the field categoryId (that one specifically) before changing rows and after selecting another value in the lookupcombobox it won't save the changes. I don't think this will affect any of your projects since the field categoryId or the similar ones will most likely be hidden or read-only.

Grim Fandango Font Editor

2008-03-15T17:55:00.019+02:00

This will allow you to edit fonts for the game Grim Fandago. It works like an icon editor and
it was used for converting the game's codepage to greek - translation project forum page
First get a codepage ascii character map like this.
Check which codes you need to change for the game to support your codepage.
Load a laf file, change the fonts for each character code and then save it.

Download it: GrimFontEditor

Cycle nvidia display outputs using command line and autohotkey

2008-03-15T04:46:00.006+02:00

New nvidia graphic cards usually come with a tv output, a vga output and a dvi output. You can use those outputs at the same time or you can switch between them. I prefer the latter. Going to the control panel all the time to switch displays was a pain in the ass. So I made this autohotkey script to cycle between my TV, my Monitor and my Projector using Ctrl-F2:

currentMode = 0
^F2:: ;Ctrl-F2
if (currentMode = 0) {
run rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll`,dtcfg setview 0 standard TA,,Hide ;TV
currentMode = 1
} else if (currentMode = 1) {
run rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll`,dtcfg setview 0 standard DA,,Hide ;DVI
currentMode = 2
} else if (currentMode = 2) {
run rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll`,dtcfg setview 0 standard AA,,Hide ;VGA
currentMode = 0
}
return

AutoHotKey + Two SoundCards + One Volume Control

2008-03-15T04:36:00.004+02:00

I use my audigy 2 for my speakers and my onboard sound card for my headphones so I can switch between them without plugging and unplugging anything.

AutoHotKey is a nifty program that helps you assign scripts to keyboard, mouse or remote. It's quite useful for stuff you do often.

Using AutoHotKey I managed to synchronize the volume for my two sound cards. It was getting annoying for me to monitor both volumes so I just came up with this script:

SC120:: ;Mute Button on Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard
SoundSet, +1, , mute, 3
SoundSet, +1, , mute, 1
return

SC12E:: ;Volume Down Button
SoundSet, -5, , ,3
SoundGet, vol_Master, Master,, 3
SoundSet, %vol_Master%, , ,1
return

SC130:: ;Volume Up Button
SoundSet, +5, , , 3
SoundGet, vol_Master, Master,, 3
SoundSet, %vol_Master%, , ,1
return

Where 1 and 3 are my sound card ids.. Just use 1 and 2 if you only have two sound cards. (I also have a tv tuner with id 2)

Now both my sound cards volume levels change simultaneously with the press of a button

VrokSub released!

2008-03-15T00:13:00.033+02:00

UPDATED VERSION 1.20
UPDATE 25/3/2010: Fixed /newonly and made it so it downloads many files in multiple phases
UPDATE 22/3/2010: New opensubtitles api url
UPDATE 5/11/2008: Made it so it works with the new version of the opensubtitles api

This command line program will automatically download subtitles for your movies, rename your movies using a customized format, create folders for your movies and download imdb covers and details. You just pass a folder path and a preferred language list and it searches for subtitles using your avi files. It uses opensubtitles for the search and it requires the .net 2 framework runtimes which you probably already have.

Useage:

vroksub.exe "[Folder Path]" [Language Code Sequence] [Params]

Folder Path: The path to the folder that has all your movies. VrokSub will search all subfolders of this path for movies.

Language Code Sequence: A sequence of two letter language codes according to your preference separated by coma. You can find the two letter codes here: http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php VrokSub will search subtitles of the first language code and if it doesn't find one it will continue to the next code.

Params:
/rename will rename all the movies for which vroksub has found a subtitle using the format found in vroksub.exe.config.
/newonly will only try to locate subtitles for movies without subtitles and ignore the ones that have subtitles already
/nfo will download data from imdb.com (like actors, directors etc) and save them to a .nfo file named like your movie
/covers will download the cover images imdb uses and save them to a .jpg file named like your movie
/folders will create a folder for each movie and move all files there. If /covers is used with this then a folder.jpg will also be created so that whenever you browser your output folder with explorer's thumbnail view, this cover will be displayed over the folder icon.
/move="[Output Path]" will move all files and folders for movies who's subtitles were found to the given path. Useful if combined with /folders so you don't have both old and new folders in the same directory

Config:
Edit your vroksub.exe.config to alter the way vroksub renames your movie files with /rename or creates folders with /folders.

CDFormat is the format used for the current CD. %C is the CD number.
FileFormat is the format used for renaming your movies. %M is movie, %C is the CD string after format and %Y is year
Example1: %M renames to Casablanca
Example2: %M(%Y)%C renames to Casablanca(1942)-CD1.avi
FolderFormat is the format used for the /folders parameter to get each folder's name.
Example1: %M%Y creates outputPath\Casablanca(1942)
Example2: %Y\\%M creates outputPath\1942\Casablanca

Examples:

vroksub.exe "c:\my videos" gr,en

This will first try to locate a greek subtitle for every movie in c:\my videos (including subfolders) and if it doesn't find one it will try to find one in english. You can use more language codes if you'd like.

vroksub.exe "c:\my videos" gr,en /rename
will also rename all movies where subtitle has been found with the format found in vroksub.exe.config. default: MovieName(Year)-CD2.avi

vroksub.exe "c:\my videos" gr,en /newonly
will only search for subtitles for movies that don't have a subtitle already.

vroksub.exe "c:\unsubbedvideos" nl /rename /folders /nfo /covers /move="c:\my videos"
1) Creates a folder for each movie under "c:\my videos" with the name format found in vroksub.exe.config
2) Renames each movie using the format found in vroksub.exe.config
3) Downloads dutch subtitles for each movie
4) Downloads imdb details and saves them to the output folder
5) Downloads imdb covers and saves them to the output folder as folder.jpg and movie.jpg

Note: Only movies with found subtitles will be affected (the language sequence parameter is required)

New version of vroksub with some minor fixes.. Moved to github: https://github.com/vrokolos/VrokSub