ebscer

Pixelated Updates in App World to version 1.2

2009-10-28T13:08:00.003-04:00

Pixelated, a simplified but free version of Pixelated Plus has now been updated to version 1.2 in BlackBerry's App World.

This update expands the number of supported BlackBerries to include the 8900 Curve, the 9700 Bold, the 9630 Tour, and the 9500, 9520, 9530, and 9550 Storm.

Pixelated is a game of colour in which the object of the game is to change the colour of the squares until the entire screen is a single solid colour. This is done by using the coloured buttons on the bottom of the screen to change the colour of the square in the upper left hand corner and those surrounding it. Changing this square to the colour of those around it, allows it to slowly grow until it fills the entire screen. The ultimate goal is to do so in as few moves as possible.

While Pixelated lacks some of the advanced features found in Pixelated Plus, such as stat tracking and additional playing modes, Pixelated is still a fully functioning game with no limits on it's game play.

Pixelated Plus adds support for the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and the upcoming BlackBerry Bold 9700

2009-10-21T14:31:00.002-04:00

Pixelated Plus, one of the top rated puzzle games for the BlackBerry Storm and Tour, is now also available for the BlackBerry 8900 Curve and the upcoming Bold 9700.

Pixelated Plus is a game of Colour and Strategy. The newly released version 1.2 adds support for the 9700 and 8900. This update now displays the instructions when it is run for the first time and also addresses some font issues.

About Pixelated Plus. The object of the game is to change the colour of the squares until the entire screen is a single solid colour. This is done by using the coloured buttons on the bottom of the screen to change the colour of the square in the upper left hand corner and those surrounding it. Changing this square to the colour of those around it, allows it to slowly grow until it fills the entire screen. The ultimate goal is to do so in as few moves as possible.

The game has two grid sizes for varying the strategy of play. Win/loss percentages are calculated for all difficulty types and grid sizes, as well as for the all time best scores.

OTA AppWorld Link

AppWorld website

Pixelated Plus adds support for the BlackBerry Tour 9630

2009-08-27T23:54:00.000-04:00

Pixelated Plus, one of the top rated puzzle games for the BlackBerry Storm, is now available for the BlackBerry Tour as well.

Pixelated Plus is a game of Colour and Strategy. The newly released version 1.1 adds support for the 9630 and also addresses an issue with large font sizes.

About Pixelated Plus. The object of the game is to change the colour of the squares until the entire screen is a single solid colour. This is done by using the coloured buttons on the bottom of the screen to change the colour of the square in the upper left hand corner and those surrounding it. Changing this square to the colour of those around it, allows it to slowly grow until it fills the entire screen. The ultimate goal is to do so in as few moves as possible.

The game has two grid sizes for varying the strategy of play. Win/loss percentages are calculated for all difficulty types and grid sizes, as well as for the all time best scores.

OTA AppWorld Link

AppWorld website

Pixelated releases in BlackBerry App World

2009-07-14T10:30:00.000-04:00

Pixelated, a simplified but free version of Pixelated Plus, is now available through BlackBerry's App World.

Pixelated is a game of colour in which the object of the game is to change the colour of the squares until the entire screen is a single solid colour. This is done by using the coloured buttons on the bottom of the screen to change the colour of the square in the upper left hand corner and those surrounding it. Changing this square to the colour of those around it, allows it to slowly grow until it fills the entire screen. The ultimate goal is to do so in as few moves as possible.

While Pixelated lacks some of the advanced features found in Pixelated Plus, such as stat tracking and additional playing modes, Pixelated is still a fully functioning game with no limits on it's game play.

Pixelated Plus

2009-05-13T08:07:00.002-04:00

Pixelated Plus is a game of Colour.

The object of the game is to change the colour of the squares until the entire screen is a single solid colour. This is done by using the coloured buttons on the bottom of the screen to change the colour of the square in the upper left hand corner and those surrounding it. Changing this square to the colour of those around it, allows it to slowly grow until it fills the entire screen. The ultimate goal is to do so in as few moves as possible.

The game has two grid sizes for varying the strategy of play. Win/loss percentages are calculated for all difficulty types and grid sizes, as well as for the all time best scores.

OTA download.

Acid 3 on Blackberry

2009-04-29T10:12:00.005-04:00

Research in Motion's BlackBerry Browser scores a 54/100 on the Acid3 test. While not perfect this is respectable as it actually beats out Firefox 2 and IE8. In comparison to other phone browsers, it beats out Opera Mobile, but is right behind MobileSafari and Opera Mini.

Worth noting is that the BlackBerry Browser doesn't actually even fully pass the Acid2 test, but comes close, and due to the limited spacing is likely to intentionally not be fully compatable.

Disney Pictures: Epcot

2009-02-18T19:26:00.007-05:00

Epcot's Geodesic sphere

Epcot from the Boardwalk

Matsuriza Taiko Drummers in Japan

Epcot fireworks from the Boardwalk

The Boardwalk at Night

A Smile in the Clouds

Disney Pictures: Animal Kingdom

2009-02-07T17:16:00.008-05:00

Animal Kingdom

White Rhino

Expedition Everest

Crocodiles

Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse in the Magic Kingdom

Disney Pictures: Magic Kingdom

2009-02-03T20:23:00.009-05:00

Cinderella's Castle

Mickey Mouse

Pirates of the Caribbean

Country Bear Jamboree

Cinderella's Castle at Night

Obama post election

2008-11-22T14:20:00.002-05:00

Now that Barack Obama has been nominated as the President of the United States he has turned his attention away from foreign policy and is concentrating solely on sports. While his favorite sport is known to be basketball his attention has been elsewhere in the sporting world.

On the Monday Night Football the day before the election, Obama mentioned his support for a playoff system in college football. He was not exactly taking a chance by saying so, but now that the election is over he is pushing for this change far more then for any change to social security.

Also since the election, he was video tapped discussing the Arizona Cardinals with John McCain. Obama was very impressed with the passing game they have going, which to any NFL fans should not be too much of a surprise.

Also he has been pushing for the International Olympic Committee to host the games in his hometown of Chicago. Sports has been the thing that the president elect has been most concerned about, but I'm not to say that is a bad thing.

Boys Like Girls - Cute Is What We Aim For Concert

2008-10-24T22:45:00.008-04:00

Boys Like Girls, along with opening bands Cute is What We Aim For, and Lights played in Rochester, New York, at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) on October 12th. The stop was the second last on their Verizon sponsored Northeast college tour.

The concert was started by Lights (presumably not her real name), who had a good voice but was unknown to most of the audience. Still she played a decent length set, even bringing out a keytar for a number of songs.

The second band, Cute Is What We Aim For, was well received by the crowd, and had a number of fans who had made the trip from the band's nearby hometown of Buffalo, New York. The band played a mix from both of their albums. The largest crowd reaction came not from their well known hit "The Curse of Curves", but from their old song "There's a Class for This" and their new hit "Practice Makes Perfect".

The headlining band of Boys Like Girls played almost every song that they have, and also performed a cover of Frou Frou's "Let Go". The crowd knew almost all of the songs, and sang along with their hits like "Hero/Heroine", "Five Minutes to Midnight", "Thunder", and "The Great Escape". The lead singer had such a tenacity for throwing his picks into the crowd, that he had to stop the concert part way through, in order to restock. However, with only one album released, the Boys Like Girls ran out of material, and were unable to perform an encore.

Overall the night was a performance of great music, good performances, and a perfect example of why rock concerts should have a minimum age limit.

Version 2.0 of EBU

2008-08-19T10:58:00.002-04:00

Ebscer Batch Updater has reached version 2.0 along with a few new features. This is a tool which will automatically update a whole collection of files for you at once. You simply select the files that you wish to update, enter the text you want replaced, enter the new text that you want in it's place, and all of the files are automatically updated in one go.

New features added to version 2.0 include remembering what folder files were last pulled from using the program, and remembering the size and location of the program on the screen. It also includes the ability to create file lists so that groups of files that need to repeatedly be updated together can be quickly accessed. Also the program now includes an update function, so that any future advances to the program can be easily added.

*Download here
*Former versions found here

Summer Olympics

2008-08-10T21:22:00.002-04:00

Does anyone know why horse riding (technically Equestrian) is in the Olympics? Honestly this is not a sport. While the same could be said about gymnastics and diving, at least those take athletic skill of some sort. Equestrian on the other hand prefers that you compete well wearing a top hat.

The only reason I found this of course was due to nbcolympics.com and their streaming video of a ton of sports. The time zone difference of the games being in China, makes viewing hard, but the video viewer that nbc is offering is really cool. Not all sports are offered (swimming and volleyball are noticeably lacking) but it allows me to watch stuff like badminton and handball which would never be shown on tv.

The video player that nbc made works well (even on my slow internet connection), and really is only lacking a full screen mode. The other thing is it uses Microsoft's Silverlight. They have been trying to get people to download it and this may do the trick. I last downloaded a beta version of it, and was instructed to download a version 2.0 to view the video. Better still, it works fine in Firefox, which was a welcome surprise for me. No word yet if there is a working version for mac or linix, but I somehow doubt it. The other big surprise is the lack of advertisements. I'm not complaining, but if they wanted to place some adds between halfs instead of an empty field I really wouldn't hold it against them.

Right now I'm watching men's Field Hockey (Germany is up on China 2-1). I never knew that they even had field hockey for men. I watched part of a woman's game the other day and even that was far different from field hockey on the high school level. While they still use sticks that are way to small, the fact that they play on turn rather than grass, means that they can hit the ball a long ways, so the game plays more like soccer than the hackfest that it turns into when played on real grass. The men are getting almost constant breakaways on this fast surface despite the wetness, if this were real grass the entire field would just be mud.

I also saw woman's team archery yesterday (why is that a team sport?). The Italian team lead by Pia Carmen Lionetti (who is kindof cute) beat Chinese Taipei (which is what they say for Taiwan in these olympics). I'm glad I can get the oppertunity to watch this type of stuff, and to be honest this is what I expect all tv to be like in the future.

Ebscer MovieData (Version 1.0)

2008-07-18T10:23:00.003-04:00

MovieData is a program that helps organize everything that you would ever need to know about your favorite movies and tv series. MovieData allows you to create your own custom lists, and to keep private ratings about your movies while also seeing what others think of them. Additionally it provides you with all of the background data for your selected movies, and tv shows including cast lists, plot summaries, and writers, directors, studios, as well as runtimes and release dates.

Plans are in place to release a version 2.0 of this program around Christmas time. As such any requests for additional features are more than welcome. A new version of Ebscer Batch Updater is also in the works.

Tweetle Beetles

2008-07-15T19:31:00.001-04:00

When tweetle beetles fight there battles in a puddle, in a bottle, with their paddles and the bottle’s on a poodle and the poodle’s eating noodles, they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle.

Ebscer MovieData (beta)

2008-06-26T20:00:00.004-04:00

Finally working on a new piece of software. Ebscer MovieData is designed to give you information about movies from a number of online sources (mainly imdb.com) and allows you to store and compare information about movies on your computer or a local server. The current version is still very beta with version 1.0 expected to be released in early July. Download the beta version here. As it is a beta, please feel free to note any noticed problems in the comments here.

Known issues include

Will crash if not connected to the internet

Save functions not yet implemented

Sort functions not yet implemented

Other improvements scheduled for version one include

An options menu

Multiple movie choices will be moved to a popup

Improve ratings information (especially for tv)

Better tab ordering on controls

Marian Hossa's Big Decision

2008-06-12T21:58:00.001-04:00

Marián Hossa was a critical part to the Pittsburgh Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup finals this past season, but now he is the most sought after unrestricted free agent in the NHL.

The two teams most likely to pick Hossa up this summer are the Dallas Stars, and the Washington Capitals. Both teams made the playoffs this past season and are expected to next year as well even without any big moves this off season.

Read more on This Off Season's Most Coveted Free Agent...

Switchfoot concert

2008-05-06T12:40:00.004-04:00

I had the opportunity to see Switchfoot concert at Roberts Wesleyan College this past weekend, and it was pretty cool. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so sorry, but no pics.

The opening band was Mae, who sounded good, but I really didn't know any of their stuff. Most of the (surprisingly large) crowd was also a bit lost with this band on stage, but it was more to do with unfamiliarity then the band not doing well. In fact early in their set they did play a longish instrumental song which sounded really cool, and should really be the background music to some video game. I thought the British band Athlete was also supposed to play, but apparently not, as they were no where to be seen.

Switchfoot came out and played a set that differed surprisingly little from when I last saw them two years ago. Even Awakening was already being played on that tour. They did play a few new songs, and actually started with "Oh! Gravity", and also played "Faust, Midas, and Myself" which is really good live. "Gone" has also changed a bit too. While "Gone" hasn't been played as it appears on record for quite some time now, it has strayed even farther from it's origins and now includes melodies by Beyonce and even a quick detour in Rihanna's Umbrella song. The fact that my favorite band is getting their inspiration from the hip-hop industry is a tad bit disturbing, but after Switchfoot covered Beyonce's "Crazy in Love", I've actually found myself even likening the original.

The best live Switchfoot song is still "This is Your Life". From Tim's opening bass line to Jon screaming through the guitar at the end, that song just rocks, and is awesome to see live. The set was a bit light on the acoustic side of things, but the encore was started with Jon singing "Your Love is Strong", which is a good song, and one I don't actually know yet as I've put off buying the Spring album until I can get it along with Summer. They also played their new Chronicles Of Narnia inspired song "This is Home", for which the movie is coming out in the next week or so.

The concert was alot of fun, even if I was rather far from the stage. Also, someone needs to teach Switchfoot fans how to mosh. I know it's not appropriate for every song, but it would go great with "Ammunition" and even the Sum 41 crowd stood still to sing along with "Pieces".

John McCain is old

2008-04-16T12:31:00.002-04:00

Not to turn this into a political blog, but Presidential candidate John McCain is really old. We get it already. Can't we just acknowledge this and move on? It almost appears as if the only reason not to vote for the guy is his age. That's not quite something that his campaign is going to deny, or try to hide. They also know that he is old.

There is alot of discussion and political humour going on in the run up to the presidential election. This ranges from commentary on CNN and MSNBC to comedians like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Jay Leno, yet the only thing that is ever said about McCain is that he is old. Yes it was funny the first time, and yes it may have been sufficient when there were 20 candidates on the Republican side and you could get away with a single joke. However these no longer apply. McCain is the only Republican left, and is one of only three Candidates left, and the joke has gotten old. While he clearly hasn't been presenting the drama that Obama and Hillary have there has to be something else to ridicule the guy about.

All of these McCain jokes are so old that Ben Franklin first used them...

Green Bay needs a new QB

2008-03-04T15:53:00.002-05:00

After 16 years with the Green Bay Packers Brett Favre has officially announced that he is retiring. While some people had been speculating about his retirement for years now, I had never really thought it was ever going to happen. Brett looked as if he was having so much fun playing that I didn't think he would leave the team until he was so old that he got himself cut. But instead Favre has surprised me and is now done with football. Since Favre took over the number one role in Green Bay the Buffalo Bills have had nine different starting quarterbacks starting way back with Jim Kelly. Too bad Favre wasn't willing to play another ten or so years. I at least would have continued to root for him.

Banks

2008-02-22T11:44:00.002-05:00

If my bank is only open monday through friday, and only from 9-4 when exactly am I supposed to go? It's not as if I work odd hours, in fact if I did it wouldn't be a problem. The paradox here is that the people who can't go to the bank are the ones who actually need to go in the first place. Without direct deposit this problem would be even far more troublesome.

Here is an (obvious but genius) idea. A bank that is open all day on Saturdays. Why no one has come up with this simple idea before is beyond me. A bank that is open on the weekend would be so convenient to so many people that they would get tons of customers. So, HSBC whenever you want to open up on Saturdays I'll be there to put some money into my account or something...

Su (version 3.0)

2008-02-02T10:27:00.001-05:00

After a longer than expected wait, version 3.0 of Su is finally available. Download the latest version here.

Download Su (3.0)

Version 3.0 of Su adds numerous features to the program such as advanced options, and the ability to undo your most recent solve. The new features for version 3.0 include reorganized windows, to better handle the default appearance of the help and about screens, including fade effects for XP users (every program already fades in Vista). The program also cleans up the default save folder of My_Documents/Su if it detects that it is not being used. Additionally there are more keyboard shortcuts, and an option panel, to allow you alter parts of the default behavior, such as turning on or off the new error alerts that warn you against giving the program bad input. The program also remembers it's location on the screen, and gives options for the pattern used for tabing through the boxes. The default tab order is horizontal, to change to reflect the default tab order in versions 1.5 and 2.0 change the tab order option to "boxes".

Former versions of Su are still available here. If you enjoyed this program also check out Ebscer Batch Updater and Desktop Running Back.

The Beginning of the End

2008-01-31T14:26:00.000-05:00

After almost a year Lost is finally coming back on the air tonight for the start of season four. It's been a long time since Charlie died and we got to see future Jack, but the show is finally back. Unfortunetlly season three was planed to be down eight episodes to only 16 and is now finding itself down eight more as the writers strike has prevented more than eight from being completed. The Second half of season four could very well be pushed back to the fall unless the strike ends by the end of February.

A few predictions for the next season and beyond, some the producers have hinted at, while some of these are my own random thoughts...

With the possibility to have flashbacks set in the future, we could see somebody's death in a flashback. I think this is almost guaranteed to happen.

Claire is not going to be happy that Charlie died. While this is obvious I have the feeling that this is going to leave her very messed up through the entire season. She won't want to leave the Island anymore, but eventually Desmond will convice her to do so.

Nobody is to be trusted. While this has been true in lost all along, I expect alot of people will be lying at a Ben like level.

Speaking of Ben, my gut feeling is that once this is all said and done, he will turn out to be on of the good guys (like he has always claimed to be). I may not like the idea, but I think it is going to happen.

On the other hand, I'm going to go back to season one thinking and say that Locke is evil. Jack may be wanting to go back to the island, but that doesn't mean that Locke is right either.

Remember the casket in the finale of last season? At the time I guessed it was Sawyer's, but now I'm thinking it might even be some character that we haven't even met yet. (Although there is the possibility that we never return to that scene and we never find out).

With Charlie finally dead, Desmond will lose his ability to see the future. However, he may develop the ability to see the past instead.

Flashbacks will be a mix of future and past depending on the episode, but I doubt that too often we will be left wondering which we are looking at. (I'm guessing the first episode shows the future...)

Remember to follow the most memorable quotes on Lost!

The Cloverfield Question

2008-01-08T09:22:00.000-05:00

All of the criticism for JJ Abrams upcoming film Cloverfield is based on the fact that nobody knows what the movie is actually about. The Question though is if that is actually a bad thing? Do people really want to know the entire plot line of the film before seeing it, or would they rather be surprised. We already know that it is a monster movies directed by one of the best in the industry. What more do you really need to know? If you want to see a monster movie or what not, you can go ahead and see the film, and watch it for yourself to find out the details. I actually hate it when they give away a major plot detail in previews, because then you spend have the movie just waiting for the scene you already saw to happen. I really don't see how not knowing the plot to the movie before seeing it is a bad thing...

Win - Win

2008-01-04T11:21:00.000-05:00

As the election season starts, leading up to the general election in November Iowa was a solid start. In a win-win situation, both Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama won their respective parties. The primary season is not over, but lets hope that these trends continue. If we get Huckabee and Obama going head to head next fall, than we don't even need to vote as we would win either way.