Some cool Commodore 64 gameplay videos. Brings back memories. Anyone remembers playing this stuff? More after the break.
Category: blog
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New version of Kobo Deluxe available!
When Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.9 was released on November 1st, 2007, starting preparing the TTCS OSSWIN CD. Hmm….a few more updates since I last checked the TTCS OSSWIN CD for updates….: Gimp v2.4.1, Scorched Earth, Freeciv….. ….then I see a version 0.41 of Kobo Deluxe is available!
A description for the uninitiated : Kobo Deluxe is a third person scrolling 2D shooter with a simple and responsive control system – which you’ll need to tackle the tons of enemy ships that shoot at you, chase you, circle around you shooting, or even launch other ships at you, while you’re trying to destroy the labyrinth shaped bases. There are 50 action packed levels with smoothly increasing difficulty, and different combinations of enemies that require different tactics to be dealt with successfully.
Kobo Deluxe is loads of fun, classical arcade style (and addictive!) gameplay! I’ve already created a Windows installer for the TTCS OSSWIN CD.
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New November 2007 pricing for Flow Trinidad broadband
In Tuesday’s 30th October 2007 Guardian newspaper (Update : Nov 4th, 2007 : corrected URL), Flow Trinidad has announce new pricing for Flow Trinidad’s broadband pricing to mark the completion of its ARCOS fiber optic cable from Trinidad to Curacao.
According to the Trinidad Guardian article :
- A 20 hour limited package with speed at 2mbps for $69.99 TT
- U click unlimited one package with speed up to 2 mbps for $189.99 TT
- U click unlimited two package with speed up to 6 mbps for $349.99 TT
- U click unlimited three package with speed up to 15 mbps for $689.99 TT
Over the next 60 days, persons can try Flow’s broadband packages risk free with a 30-day money back guarantee and enjoy free installation and a modem during the promotional period.
Flow’s website has not been updated with the new pricing. (Update : 4th Nov 2007 – Flow’s website updated! – see the TTCS wiki page : http://ttcsweb.pbwiki.com/Cable_modems_in_Trinidad )
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Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.9 to be available soon
Was thinking of pushing out a TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.82 release in time for the weekend, but just saw the Mozilla Firefox Developer News talking of Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.9 coming out very soon. Release Candidate builds of Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.9 are available for testing.
As such, TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.82 will be published soon after Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.9 is released, hopefully early next week.
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Gimp 2.4 available
Gimp 2.4, the image editor suitable for photo retouching (its features are often compared with Photoshop) for Windows 2000/XP/Vista (support for Windows 98 has been dropped) is available for download. You can read a summary of what new in this release from the Gimp documentation.
Gimp v2.4 will be included in version 1.82 of TTCS OSSWIN CD ; the Gimp Help files for v2.2 on the TTCS OSSWIN CD will be dropped to make room for Gimp 2.4.
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Google Gmail increases storage and offers IMAP support
Over the weekend I’ve noticed that Google’s gmail increased its mail storage from 2.8GB to 4.4GB. Cool. Tonight, I see this post on Download Squad : Gmail gets IMAP. Switch to my Gmail tab in Mozilla Firefox, click on Settings, and yes!
Google has several documents about IMAP support :
- Getting started with IMAP for Gmail (this page has several other links about how Google implements IMAP
- Supported IMAP client list
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Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.1.1 released
Abode Acrobat Reader v8.1.1 is available for download which corrects a potential security vulnerability with Windows XP and IE 7.0 which also affects Acrobat Reader 7.09.
Download Adobe Reader from FileHippo.com .
While that’s downloading, you can follow this excellent post at stealthpuppy.com on how to silently deploy Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.1 .
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TATT auction of radio spectrum for Broadband Wireless Access services
The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) recently conducted an auction on October 5th, 2007 for radio frequency spectrum in the 700 MHz, 12 GHz and 28 GHz frequency bands for the delivery of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services.
Out of five companies which were pre-qualified to participate in the auction, three companies took part :
- Green Dot Limited.
- Telstar Cable System Limited.
- Open Telecom Limited
The other two companies which qualified but didn’t take part were Sigma Communications Limited and Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited. The auction was held at the Hotel Normandie with PricewaterhouseCoopers as the auction manager.
The results of the auction were as follows (quoting from the October 5th, 2007 TATT press release (PDF ; 35K)) :
- “In the auction of spectrum blocks in the 12 GHz band, there was one (1) Winning Bidder. The Winning Bidder is Telstar Cable System Limited, who won all twelve (12) blocks in this band at TT$ 650,000.00 per block per annum. The annual licence fee for Telstar Cable System Limited will therefore be TT$ 7.8 million per annum in total, for spectrum awarded in 12 GHz band.
- In the auction of spectrum blocks in the Lower 700 MHz band, there was one (1) Winning Bidder. The Winning Bidder is Green Dot Limited, who won three (3) blocks in this band at TT$ 177,000.00 per block per annum. The annual licence fee for Green Dot Limited will therefore be TT$ 531,000.00 per annum in total, for spectrum awarded in Lower 700 MHz band,
- In the auction of spectrum blocks in the 28 GHz band, there was no Winning Bidder and, as a result, no award of spectrum blocks.”
Green Dot and Telstar Cable System Ltd are eligible for the spectrum license for a period of 10 years.
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GNSO report on policy for introducing new gTLDs ; questions for ICANN workshop for 29 October needed
A followup post to the Summary of GNSO report on policy for introducing new generic Top Level Domains.
The controversy (as I see it), is the meaning that people associate with certain letter combinations. For example, if the North American Zookeeper’s Institute wanted its own top level domain and met the technical requirements for a registry gTLD, then a .nazi gTLD could be created. Hmmm…….
The list of gTLD that could offend someone based on their thoughts of morality, religious beliefs are potentially limitless. Governments which object to expression of certain ideas could also object to creation of certain gTLDs because of the ideal the gTLD gives recognition to. Some examples :
- Should a group be allowed to get a .god gTLD for example? Or .jesus gTLD? Or a .mohammed gTLD?
- What about a .casino gTLD? Lots of persons object to gambling.
- Or a .freetibet gTLD?
- Or .gay?
- Or .porn?
- Should a group outside Trinidad and Tobago create a .tnt or .trinidad gTLD?
- Should a group/country outside Trinidad and Tobago object to a local group here applying for say a .trinidad being formed? What if the word “tnt” is a racial slur in another language? What if it offends religious sensitivities in other country?
How to make this equitable to all? That’s want the policy for introducing new gTLDs is trying to do. As such, the proposed recommendations #6 and #20 re: new gTLDs are the ones generating the most controversy
- #6 : “Strings must not be contrary to generally accepted legal norms relating to morality and public order that are recognized under international principles of law.”
- #20 : “An application will be rejected if an expert panel determines that there is substantial opposition to it from a significant portion of the community to which the string may be explicitly or implicitly targeted.”
What are your thoughts on this? Read the reports on the proposed policy and edit the wiki page
at http://ttcsweb.pbwiki.com/New-gTLDs with your proposed questions for the ICANN workshop for October 29th, 2007 (edit the page by clicking on the “edit page button” ; the password is “ttcswebwiki”)If you’re willing to meet in person to debate/discuss this issue over the 20-21 October weekend, email me at admin a.t ttcsweb d,ot org. If enough persons are interested, the TTCS could arrange to meet on a Saturday or Sunday.
Relevant links :
- TTCS New-gTLD wiki page
- The summary of the report on the Introduction of new Top Level Domains (PDF ; 191K)
- The Actual Report on the Introduction of new Top Level Domains is available in two parts :
- A working group mailing list has been setup at : http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/gnso-liaison_atlarge-lists.icann.org
- NCUC/At-Large – gTLDs – Freedom of Expression meeting at ICANN San Juan 2007
- Full transcript of NCUC/At-Large gTLD – Freedom of Expression meeting at ICANN San Juan 2007.
- New Geo-TLDs – More Consumer Choice or More Consumer Confusion? at ICANN San Juan 2007
- IP Justice campaign re: gTLD at http://ipjustice.org/wp/campaigns/icann/gtlds/
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Updated street maps of Trinidad in Google Maps
(Update 24 June 2008 : see Google Mapmaker enabled for Trinidad and Tobago )
(Update : 23 October 2007 : added links to hybrid versions and image of hybrid Google map of Port of Spain)
Just noticed that there are updated street maps in Google Maps for Trinidad. The street maps are more detailed in certain areas of Trinidad (sorry Tobago, no updated satellite imagery or street maps so far) and some of the streets are labelled along with several landmarks such as schools, shopping centers and police and fire stations. Neat stuff!
Check out the Google Maps of :
- Trinidad
- Port of Spain. Hybrid version of Port of Spain showing satellite imagery with street names.
- Diego Martin. Hybrid version of Diego Martin showing satellite imagery with street names.
- San Fernando. Hybrid version of San Fernando showing satellite imagery with street names.
