DIY fix for Broken gamepads analog stick

Finally fixed the Gamepad.. Had discovered it was working with my android tablet, so decided to resurrect it.
Basically the right analog stick had broken and was just sliding around doing nothing..

so i flipped it over and found a bunch of screws.. philips head.. scrounged around a and found an old screwdriver that fit.. and opened it up..

found that the circuit board was also screwed onto the top of the gamepad.. and to get to the analog sticks i'd have to remove it. After removing it and gently extracting the two sticks i found the problem

one of the shafts had broken :( and could no longer fit on the controller's peg/pin

Now i could use some super glue.. but i didn't want to take the chance that it would come apart again.. it was a pain taking out all those screws!
so decided to go with good ol M-Seal

Most people use this for plumbing or art projects and don't think its good for anything else..
I beg to differ. Its a good adhesive, and once hardened is pretty sturdy.

and so...
i used it to not just stick the broken pieces together, but also reinforced the shafts on both the joysticks.. just in case(i really don't want to have to unscrew all those tiny screws again).


the Epoxy compound starts to harden immediately, but will only be rock solid in 30min at room temp.

so while i waited i kicked back and watched a bit of tv.

after 30 min i put it all back together and started playing :lol:


only to realise a few seconds later that the right stick.. though it works fine mechanically..
is not translating correctly to the tablet.. :ko:

it was giving me
left and right = up and down
up and down = left and right


don't think theres anyway i can fix that.. without desoldering, rotating and then resoldering the damn thing.. not to mention all those screws again :faint:

Input Textbox with default text in flash forms

Figured this out today(with help from Anoop and Bala),
Documenting it for future reference(coz i never remember this stuff).

How to make an Input Textbox with default text(in flash forms)
Simply creating an input text field in flash allows the user to type in stuff.. however if you wan't to add "default text" that will be visible until the visitor starts typing.. thats a different story..

here's how to do it:

1) Create your form artwork


2) Create a text field. Type in the text you want as the "default text".

make it an "input text" field in the properties panel
also remember to embed whatever non system font you plan on using.



3) Give the text field an instance name


4) Copy this code to an empty frame

txt_email.onSetFocus = function ()
{
if(this.text == "Type Your Name Here")
this.text = "";
};
txt_email.onKillFocus = function ()
{
if (this.text == "")
{
this.text = "Type Your Name Here";
} // end if
};

make sure your default text is exactly the same in the code(two locations) as well as in the text field

thats it.. should work now.
for more advanced tutorials(about the rest of the form, try this awesome site. this was just for my own reference in future projects.

Gamepad with Android Tab

Just found out that my old off-brand gamepad works with my acer tab..

Problem is while wiping it clean(hadn't used it in years) i broke one of the analog sticks :(
will have to DIY a fix later

ShadowGun Exansion Pack

Just got the Shadowgun Expansion Pack!

Was just about to play some of the old levels, when it told me that there was some 250mb download available.. so i got it.. and its the expansion pack called ShadowGun:Leftover ..
heres what the first few seconds look like-



So basically the story picks up exactly where it left off .. should be fun :)

UPDATE:
so heres whats new so far:
1) a new "roll" button has been added, that lets you... roll.
2) The new Toltek badguys are some kind of soldier/science team that are there to recover whatever tech they can.. so they are supposed to be smarter.. which is why you hear them talking etc. they wear gas masks..infact theyre a bit like the badguys in Halflife.. the ones in white.
3) These new bad guys bring new weapons.. one of which you get to use early in the expansion pack, its an energy firing weapon with a mag capacity/charge of 100 shots. am looking forward to what other new weapons may come.
4) The new bad guys will occasionally unleash a bunch of the old mutant drone type baddies, to slow you down.
5) Theres a new Badguy whose a bit like the predator type with the gatling gun from the old game, but with a lot more armour.. he's tough to kill.. so far used up loads of ammo just killing a couple of them.
6) All the old baddies and weapons are still there.
7) A new "jump" button is available at certain parts of the map.. that lets you jump across a chasm..or down a vent, under a beam.. etc. so far its been cinematic events like the earlier trapdoor/hatch ones.
8) there have been some fixes in some of the graphics glytches.. like earlier some of the flying and spider drones' explosion animations were missing.. theyre all there now. Theyve also added some awesome looking bullet trails
9) Other smaller artwork tweaks and changes i noticed are icons for the weapon's caches, and some of the textures on boxes and stuff now have the "Toltek" logo.
10) theres a new "see/look" icon on some of the consoles.. that lets you access security camera feeds.. mostly fun cinematics so far, nothing tactically useful yet.

you can see some of these things in this trailer-

Sketchbook Project 2012

Done with the 2012 Sketchbook.. will be mailing it off tomorow.

you can see it online here
or below


alternate video link here(in case youtube is blocked for you)





for hirez pics go to the photostream here or ebook here

the previous one, for 2011 can be seen here

Discovered Bastion today

Was browsing through the Chrome store today, and found this jewel of a game. Its called Bastion and is the first offering from Supergiant Games. The gameplay is typical RPG isometric gameplay set in a visually stunning universe.
The game's artwork immediately pulled me in, see the samples below..

the environment design is brilliant

the characters are well executed

and the action can get quite frenetic sometimes..

yet the game runs smoothly and apart from the loading screens(the chrome version downloads content frequently) i give the game ????? :jester:


The narrative that accompanies the gameplay is basically like a running commentary of all your actions ingame.. fun to listen to :lol: see the video below to get an idea:


Anyway the game is available for Xbox, PC (via several sources including steam here) and in the Chrome browser itself. The chrome browser version(get it here) gives you a free level to play, after which you can choose to purchase the game.

DayTripper

Just finished reading the graphic novel DayTripper by FabioMoon & GabrielBra
..quite different from what i usually read..loved it! Thanks to a friend who lent me her copy.
will now hunt for one myself.

Daytripper starts of with Bras de Oliva Domingos, son of a famous Brazilian writer and a writer himself (he writes some thoughtful obituaries for the local paper). His mother(calls him “Little Miracle”) due to some incident during his birth.
One evening he has to attend a gala in his father’s honor. He gets there early and walks into a nearby bar for some cigarettes .. this results in his death during a holdup. theres an obituary.. and then.. the next chapter starts., the story continues as if the climactic event never happened and you get to see several vignettes from his life.. and severla other potential "end points" with obituaries. quite "trippy" :coffee:


Incidently Daytripper won the 2011 Eisner Award


More info on the authors at their blog
.

Relocating the Blog eventually

When i started this blog in 2007 it was meant to be something i used for documenting stuff that i tediously figured out with - Ubuntu, Custom PSP Firmwares, PSP Homebrew etc. I wasn't a blogger and expected to lose interest in it, in a few days.. really had not forseen that i'd one day have this many posts :)

I picked the MyOpera community because i was already a member in the forums.

never really compared the pros/cons of blogger and other more popular platforms.

So now it was time to look into migrating the website to a more customisable and flexible platform.. that i could host on my own server. I wanted to be able to customise the theme a lot more, add widgets, ads etc.. Wordpress was the first blog platform that came to mind, coz i had set up a bunch of them for friends and clients. Was already pretty familiar with the backend.


Thats how i decided to start a mirror of my blog on my own server. I used a wordpress plugin called feedwordpress which uses the RSS feed from the opera communiity hosted blog to pull content and post it to the wordpress system. the only drawback is that the rss feed can only give it 20 posts.. so the new blog has only got the last 20 posts :P

Anyway, will see if i can find a way to migrate the whole blog over there eventually. for now will be using both the one on the Opera community (can't abandon the awesome community)
my.opera.com/chaitanyak

and the one on my own server(always a good idea).
chaitanyak.com/blog

Assassin's Creed Revelations

As soon as I complete all the Arkham City side missions, will be getting this(need to make space on my hdd).

Published More apps on the Android Market!

A few days back I posted a tutorial on how to use Conduit to build apps that use content from rss feeds earlier. While the possibilities are limited to simplistic apps.. it is possible to create stuff that people will actually like.

heres a perfect example:
The Unofficial Behance Networks app

As a regular Behance.net user(my portfolio) i keep receiving email updates from them. A few days back i got a mail announcing the cool new Behance App! Unfortunately there was only the iphone version available. Instead of cribing about it, i decided to be a bit proactive.. if not devious and created an Android app myself! And this was the result.
Click here for the Android Market link
According to my developer panel's stats i have

349 total installs (users)
174 net installs (devices)

I dont know what the first number means am just going to assume that there are 174 users for my app right now.
Anyway heres the Windows Phone version.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heres a new Scifi art gallery app i just created using various themes on the deviant art site. The great thing about the Deviant art site is that it qives you rss feeds for every search query you make!
lets see how this does in the coming days.

Deviant Art Scifi

Click here for the Android Market link

Heres the Windows Phone version.

App just got blocked

Heres the android installer for my Deviant art - erotic art and pinups app
that got blocked by the android market today


http://filesocial.com/btbu42
enjoy

Update:
heres the version for windows phone users http://bit.ly/A14itm

This blew my mind: 3d painting

ICN gallery proudly presents Goldfish Salvation by artist Riusuke Fukahori from 1 Dec 2011 - 11 Jan 2012.

Artist Riusuke Fukahori's London debut exhibition "Goldfish Salvation" transforms ICN gallery into the world of goldfish. When struggling with artistic vision, Fukahori's pet goldfish became his inspiration and ever since his passion and lifelong theme. His unique style of painting uses acrylic on clear resin which is poured into containers, resulting in a three-dimensional appearance and lifelike vitality.

This video gives you a glimpse of his amazing painting process.

Exhibition: 1 December 2011 - 11 January 2012
Opening: 1 Dec from 19:00

Artist will also be painting the gallery window on Dec. 3 between 2:00-3:00pm.

UPDATE:
don't know why the above video is locked now, but you can see it below

Just got a Pocket Wireless Router

Decided to buy this a few days back after months of waiting and perusing reviews on various tech sites. Its the Lava W150 Pocket Wireless Router.

Basically laptop is now a akin to a "desktop" semi-permanently affixed to the dining table at home :)
Now that i have a tablet and a phone that travel with me, i was looking for a way to use my existing Tata Photon broadband usb dongle while on the go.

With this device i now have a wifi connection wherever i go.


Features:
?Supports EVDO and 3G Dongles

?50 meter range outdoors

?Multi User Support - Upto 32 users on Local LAN
(i have no way to test this so will take their word for it)

?Ethernet Support (RJ45)
(plan to check this later)

?Plug and Play
This blew me away. Connecting a usb dongle to a pc requires you to install drivers and stuff the first time.. here theres none of that hassle. it just works out of the box. I guess since its an indian/chinese brand it came with all the drivers etc, corresponding to all indian service providers preloaded.

I just had to login via a browser and set passwords ..
for the device control panel, and the wifi security(wpa-psk).

?WiFi Standard 802.11 b/g/n - Speed Upto 150 Mbps
?Secure Access through WEP and WPA - Built in Firewall

Full list of features and Cost at the online store here.
Fiarly detailed review here.

The built-in 2300 mAH Li-ion battery can be charged using a standard USB charger or a USB port on a PC. A fully charged battery can provide wireless network access for up to four hours...

...The W150 has a transmission power setting, which is set to 100 percent in the factory defaults. We recommend setting this to a lower percentage as you might not need the 50 meter range when using it outdoors. The lower transmission range will not only ensure that your signals are not intercepted by unknown persons around you, but will also extend the battery life substantially.

-tech2 review

Merry Christmas to my Russian Orthodox brothers!

Orthodox Christians worldwide are celebrating Christmas. About 5,000 believers attended the Orthodox Christmas liturgy at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow and associated celebratory services. The Russian Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar, with Christmas falling on January 7.

Published my first app to the Android Market!

My first published app is available for download on the Android App Market here. or on the page Conduit created for me here(also has the PC/MAC browser version of the app)


The following is a quick tutorial on how practically anyone can create one. ...

Animated Gif in Twitter

twitter never allowed me to put animated gifs(profile pic or attachment) before now..

anyway i kept checking, occasionally, and today it did(profile pic)!
am torn between an older yello bones one and the current xray one

yellow bones:


xray:


maybe its a new year thing.. or maybe i finally made a gif that was really small.. or maybe its coz i recently crossed the 5k tweet mark.. no clue why twitter allowed it. but am happy they did! :cheers: