The next [X-Prize] is worth $10M and will be awarded for building a brain-computer interface. It sounds similar to the [Emotiv] helmet. However, most of the posts are talking about surgery. It would be nice to develop a brain computer interface that could avoid the surgery part.

My Macbook details:

2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRM-2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive@5400rpm
SuperDrive 8X DL
MBP 15" Glossy WS Display.

Today the temperature in Monroe, WA is the same as Miami, FL. That means it happened. The world finally tilted. Greenland is the new north pole. Even [magnetic north] is moving east.

The [Propellerhead forums] made a reference to [ASIO4ALL], which is a program that lets you tweak your audio devices and place them on a single device driver. This is especially useful for programs like Reason Record. The best part is this is a free driver. It works on Windows-7 64-bit and the control panel shows in the system panel as soon as the device driver is in use.

[POD Studio GX] connects a guitar input to a usb port and [interfaces with Reason].

I just started using multiple audio devices with Reason Record and quickly ran into some [work flow issues]. There are several [Video Tutorials] on the Reason website.

The [64-bit Windows-7 Drivers] for my [M-AUDIO Audiophile 192] released last month.

I hadn't used my midi keyboard in a while. I needed the [Yamaha UX16] driver. The driver connects a MIDI device to the USB port.

Unfortunately, I found today that when using ADO.Net in Silverlight 3, some policies weren't being used preventing cross domain data services from working. There are two policies that can enable cross domain usage. [ClientAccessPolicy.XML and CrossDomainPolicy.XML] each can enable cross domain features, but these are not used by Silverlight 3. There's a [big workaround] but it's not what I'm looking for. I'll catalog this failure with [SL3 not supporting LINQ joins]. Luckily [Silverlight 4] will have "enhanced" support for cross domains and ADO.net.

Last week I was working on a unit placement feature in a level editor. I made a nice painting feature for doodads. Doodads are random stuff that appear a level that don't do anything other than display a graphic. Doodads are stuff like bushes, or trees, or rocks. The feature paints the ground anywhere you place a doodad. For example, if you place a tree, leaves would be painted on the ground around the tree. This week, I'm working on fences, roads, and railroads. For the last year, I have mainly been using C# and [Unity3d].

Each time Unity compiles C# source code, an assembly with a guid name is generated. This makes deserialization with a binary formatter difficult. Luckily a [deserialization binder] can be used to make the assembly signature match the serialized data.

I started doing some strange C# LINQ coding today. The syntax compared to the usual C# that I'm used to is unusual.

var record = from a in Service.tbl_a
   join b in Service.tbl_b on record.field equals b.tbl_a.field
   where record.boolField
   orderby record.field
   select record;

It's good to periodically review the [MSDN Subscription Use Rights].

"MSDN Subscription Software Use Rights

MSDN subscriptions are licensed on a per-user basis. One person can use the software to design, develop, test, or demonstrate his or her programs on any number of devices. Each person who uses the software this way needs a license..."

I purchased Windows-7 through Amazon to get the 50% off deal. And I installed a new 1.5TB harddrive, so I'll have plenty of space for development and media.

I typically install [My Preferred Development Environment].

To start with I am installing on a new hard drive.

[MozBackup] restored my email profile for [Thunderbird] flawlessly. I did have to manually copy my signature file.

Might as well try [Visual Studio 2010].

Quick links to favorite apps:
[7-zip]
[Adobe Acrobat Reader]
[Cygwin] - openssh - unzip - vim - wget - zip - subversion
[Flash Player]
[Gimp]
[Google Talk]
[iTunes] - [OGG]
[Java]
[Jing]
[MagicDisk]
[Modo]
[NVIDIA 9800gts 7350le] drivers
[OpenDNS]
[OpenOffice]
[Picasa]
[Safari]
[Skype]
[SpeedFan]
[Steam]
[Stripem]
Subversion client: [SmartSVN] / [TortoiseSVN] / [Versions]
[Synergy]
[Textpad]
[Unity3d]
[VirtualBox]
[VMWare Player]
[WinMerge] - [7-zip plugin]
[WinRar]
[X-Chat]
[Yuuguu]

And Firefox add-ons:
- Chatzilla
- FireBug
- FireFTP
- FoxClocks
- XMarks [XMarks for Safari]

Synergy doesn't seem to work when Windows-7 UAC pops up.

Manual installs:
- Office 2007 Ultimate (with Groove 2007)
- [Silverlight Development Environment]

The monitors at the top of my desk are really high. I have an idea on how to angle the screen downward cheaply. I just need to build a monitor stand with 3 small pieces of wood to get the desired angle.

I recently used a brand of Selenium to script a web based game. [Molybdenum] uses an XML based recordings and runs them as tests. In my case, I played a web based game and recorded some common actions. Like buying hammers and putting money in the vault. I put a [Loop] around my script and now every 10 minutes the game is automatically running my script. Molydbenum runs as a Firefox add-on and is super handy.

The latest Firefox update asks to update Flash which by default tries to sneak McAfee on to your computer.

Devin and I were playing around with ZBrush 3.1 while we wait for the 3.5 upgrade.

[ZBrush 3.5] has just released with a ton of new features as a free update for existing users like me. GoZ is also available for download on the support site.

These camera settings are useful for 2.5D painting. I had written a script to set these and need to find it or rewrite it.

I was paying $60 a month to keep my LAN phone and I didn't want to cancel because I would lose my home phone number. [3JAM] let me port my local phone number and forward calls from my home phone to [SKYPE] for just $5 a month. With Skype for just $2.95 a month you can make unlimited and local and long-distance calls. 3JAM let's you connect to one Skype account. If you want forwarding to more than one Skype account, for $2,95 a month you can get a Skype virtual number and have 3JAM call forward to the virtual number when calls go to your home phone number.

I was just playing around with fur material settings.

[This] Luxology forum post is so good it motivated me to make a second attempt at modeling the sports shoe.

Part 1: (of course as I post this I see an N-gon)


Removed that N-gon

I got a bluetooth mouse from Amazon. It's a Logitech mouse V470. I couldn't tie the middle mouse button to a middle click given the software. I sent this rant to Logitech support.

------

I can't believe that this product was shipped. You have a 3 button mouse. There's really no excuse that you didn't check that all 3 buttons work.

The software only allows the middle mouse button to be tied to zoom functionality.

I want to tie the middle mouse button to the middle click. This isn't rocket science.

Please post a software update to this trivial problem.

Peeved customer,

~Tim Graupmann

-----

Reference #
090626-001959

----

And of course right after I send the mail, I figured out how to assign the key. Doh! Bad interface design.

I couldn't update Thunderbird because my Logitech Quickcam software was running. Weird. Somehow Logitech had locked the file: [mozMapi32.dll].