The creatures have big bulging eyes and a single proboscis for sucking up brain matter. They forage during the night and nest on the scalps of hapless homosapians. There is no known treatment for an infestation. They are surprisingly resilient against all known pharmaceuticals and topical treatments. Brain death follows within a week… after which all the bugs die except for one. This one now has control of the host’s central nervous system. The resulting zombie can be neutralised through decapitation.
This was a quick sculpting and texture painting exercise done entirely in Blender in one sitting.
I was fascinated with a new sculpting option called Dynatopo (Dynamic Topography) that creates new polygons as you sculpt.. a big improvement over the old way of sculpting on an existing mesh.
so i discovered that my new phone is upposed to have NFC..
i have two things that have NFC circuitry in them -
1) a Delhi Metro Token i found in my suitcase after returning from a trip a month ago
2) my new Bangalore metro card
on receiving the phone i discovered that it couldn't read either of them..
so obviously the NFC on my device is not working.
on investigation i found that the NFC antenna is a sticker on the back cover..
and the problem is that the copper contacts for that are on the wrong side!
i tried fixing it myself(DIY) by using aluminium foil, copper wire etc..
but nothing worked..
so informed the seller.. they were apologetic and say they'll ship a replacement back cover soon . will post an update once that happens.
recently when my dad arrived in town i tried the metor token and card with his phone which is a Samsung galaxy S3.. it read both of them.. Android BEAM wouldn't work with my phone either.
NOTE: when i made the purchase i didn't even know that the phone had NFC.. it was a bit of a post-sale-surprise. so if it doesnt work.. i won't be too disappointed .
via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/64318992
A week back i acquired a korean android phone called the Vega Racer 2(heres that old post). the device's specs were upto gaming spec(as far as non-tegra devices go).
so i proceeded to load up some of the games i've played on my acer tab before.. and heres what i found.
(note: i won't mention games like Angry Birds.. since they obviously play on specs like this)
here are the specs:
Pantech SKY Vega Racer 2 A830S
-Android 4.1
-Dual Core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4
-RAM 1GB
-Internal memory 16GB
-dimensions: 68.9mm X 132.4mm X 9.35mm
(4.8" screen)
-screen resolution - 1280x720(HD 720p) 306ppi
-NFC enabled.
-AnTuTu Benchmark score: 10476 (identical to the Galaxy Note)
so heres what i've played and the respective verdicts:
as you can see, i didn't give MC3 5 stars.. even though i'm a fan of the franchise, and have played the preceding games.
this is because it had some serious issues.. but considering that games like ShadowGun,Bombshells and shine runner ran without issues.. i have to believe that the fault is not with the device but with MC3. a quick look at the comments confirms it, i'm not the only one dealing with these issues..
heres what happened:
Issue #1
the game would fc(force close) on launch.. after skimming the comments on the google play page i realised its an issue with "Force GPU rendering" .. basically you have to turn it off for the game to run :bomb: .
actual screenshot from the Vega Racer2
so anyway once you do this the game runs great! the graphics are impressive and highly detailed for a mobile game. here are some more screenshots from the Vega Racer 2
actual screenshot from the Vega Racer2
actual screenshot from the Vega Racer2
actual screenshot from the Vega Racer2
so anyway all seemed fine, and i was happily playing the first level when i noticed that it was becoming uncomfortable to control.. because my fingertips were getting hot! the game really pushes the cpu and gpu on this device.. so anyway i quit after sometime and went to the desktop widgets to check the temperature..
it was at +50˚C !!! :yikes:
actual screenshot from the Vega Racer2
need to do further tests.. but i don't think i've had this heating issues with the other games.
After doing the indian coins.. i realised that the simplicity of the project makes it an excellent exercise for beginners.. so heres a tutorial on how to model your own Silver Dollar
Not everyone has awesome 3d modelling skills.. but there are some things that don't require that much modelling to begin with! and with todays technology, anyone can create something that has a professional finish using free opensource tools. here i'l show you how to model a simple 3d object that will end up looking a lot more sophisticated once your done. I'll also show you how to put it up so others can see and appreciate your effort. Will be using: Blender for the 3d modelling get it here- http://www.blender.org/ Gimp for the textures get it here- http://www.gimp.org/ the Normal Map plugin for Gimp - https://code.google.com/p/gimp-normal... a more detailed tutorial on creating normal maps can be found here - https://developer.valvesoftware.com/w...
via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/63684392
Modelled some Indian coins(and one old one from the East India Company). .then did a structure that would be impossible to create in real life.. unless you used super glue or something :)
So all these years i'd been managing with underpowered entry level phones.. phones with typically 800mhz processors and 256-512mb of ram.. and miniscule internal memory. That was also because i refused to spend more than INR15000 on a handheld device that i might accidentally drop!
My last phone was good. The rough and tough Motorola Defy+ was a good phone.. had used it for a year, but had started to notice sluggishness with some apps like Flipboard and simple games like Temple Run..
so last week i decided to upgrade.. while maintaining the sub 15k budget.. but to get a performance device.
So i started looking at Micromax's Canvas phones.. they seemed like they fit the bill.. great processor, ram, etc.. and then i saw the miniscule internal memory. So finally i got fedup and started doing some research..
Samsung is great.. but they can't be the only big brand that makes great phones in Korea? a little digging and i discovered this brand i'd never heard of - Pantech. Google results showed that they were second to Samsung in Korea.. and had recently enterred the US market.. no on entering India though.
Then after digging up some names for their year old models i found a few promising ones.
went over to DHGate.com and found the fastest of the models available for INR10,000 !
Now it is their 2012 flagship model... which is why it was so cheap... but the thing is, in india Samsung and HTC's 2011 flagship models still cost INR30,000 !!
so basically i was getting a phone that was better than those.. for one third the price!
so i ordered it. and it arrived today.
here are the specs:
Pantech SKY Vega Racer 2 A830S
-Android 4.1
-Dual Core 1.5GHz
-RAM 1GB
-Internal memory 16GB
-dimensions: 68.9mm X 132.4mm X 9.35mm
(4.8" screen)
-NFC enabled.
My Critical eye caught these details:
-back cover is flimsy.. comes off with little effort(like old nokia phones).. will have to keep an eye on it.. might get super loose over time.. can use the yellow bumbper case then.
-main camera is ok.. nothing great.. have to check video quality, but most reviewers have said its nothing special
-since its not gorilla glass(like my Moto Defy) i have to be careful.. this is the first phone i'm putting the protective film on!
all in all seems good for 10k (+1900 for customs duty)
will know what the battery is like in a few days(probably bad, coz they gave me a spare one!)
Here are the extras that came with it(not mentioned on the site or anywhere)
- a mini capacitive stylus,
- a yellow bumper case,
- a green rubber ball with a suction cup thing... that i later figured out was a stand :)
(the manual is in korean)
- a weird telescopic antenna .. need to look this up
i'd already ordered a neoprene cover from another guy, that fits fine.. but i think i'll use that when am wearing trousers and don't want to have too much of a bulge in my pocket.. for daily use will try out the yellow thing.. but most likely i won't use a case :P
it seems to have nfc options.. but i have no way of testing till i find a nfc deployment in some mall or somewhere :P
oh and the shipment was delayed a few days, so i wrote to the seller asking about that.. they promptly replied that they were installing a Jellybean ROM for me :)
more updates to follow.. initial game tests have rocked!
via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/63437722
