Tag: COMPETITION

After teasing us earlier this month, Mozilla Labs has now opened its doors on the Game On 2010 competition. Other than the stipulation that the front-end of the game uses only Open Web technologies -- HTML, CSS, and JavaScript -- anything goes. No plug-ins or add-ons can be used, but the back-end server-side portion, if the game requires it, can be written in any language. Games will be ...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mozilla Labs Gaming. Now, don't make the same mistake I did: Mozilla isn't becoming a games studio. No, instead it will act as a catalyst -- an incubator -- for games built with 'Open Web' technologies. The Open Web is a new term that encompasses free, open-source tools that work across all platforms, and in theory across all next-generation Web browsers. The ...

Pinnacle Game Profiler (PGP) is, in essence, the best game controller programming software in the world. For that statement to make any sense, I should explain what controller programming is: basically, PGP maps commands and functions to the buttons of your controller. That controller can be an Xbox 360 or PlayStation pad, a Wiimote, a Sidewinder or steering wheel -- it doesn't matter: as long ...

When you've got competitors (and what business doesn't?), it's always interesting to try and figure out how they're doing. Is the grass really greener on their lawn? Do they get more visitors than you do? That's what third-party Analytics services like Comjuice try to help you with. It integrates some metrics from Alexa and Compete.com, and adds some of its own. Unfortunately, it appears to be ...

It appears as though the Browser Ballot screen Microsoft recently pushed to EU residents via Windows update is having the desired effect -- at least if you're not Microsoft. Opera, who recently shined up version 10.50 of their browser, has seen downloads triple since the screen went live. In a post on ComputerWorld, Opera's Rolf Assev said that downloads have exceeded their expectations for a ...

Hopefully by now you've read my review of Timeline and decided whether you want a copy or not. In a nutshell though, Timeline is a front-end for Subversion (SVN) version control within Photoshop. It automates the process of checking files in and out -- that's it. I want to say that casual users probably won't find Timeline very exciting -- but is there such a thing as casual Photoshop users when ...

It's Friday AGAIN! Amazing how, like clockwork, Friday continues to occur every seven days. Incidentally, while on the topic of the day/night cycle, what part of the Earth is shown in the Firefox logo to the right? I presume that little lump is meant to be the United Kingdom, but the rest... I don't know! News from Mozilla and Firefox has actually been pretty slow this week, probably because ...

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes had some big news this morning. At long last, a deal has been worked out that will see Microsoft implement a browser ballot screen which allows users to choose something other than Internet Explorer. So, what are the major changes which finally allowed the two sides to see eye-to-eye? The screen will be presented in a "neutralized window" rather than ...

Back in July, Microsoft thought they had a pretty solid compromise to put before EU regulators with their web browser ballot screen. Concerns were raised throughout the process -- first by Opera and later by Mozilla's brass -- but it looks as though the EU is giving Microsoft the go-ahead. According to Nelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition Policy, the ballot screen will include the ...

If you compete in anything - sports, fantasy sports, online games - you might someday find yourself organizing a tournament. Konkuri is a web service that can help you do that with relatively little fuss, whether you're starting a just-for-fun league with some friends or doing something a bit more serious. It has both round-robin and bracket modes, and you can either manually pair up competitors ...

What if computers could play video games? Well, technically they can. Whenever you play a game that has other beings that can move independently (for example a hockey or football simulator, or a first-person shooter), AI (artificial intelligence) is employed. Basically, the better the AI, the better and less predictable your computerized opponents will be. AI can also be used to control a player ...

Tumblr's new stats page, Tumblarity, draws from a couple of major web trends. First, there's been a big demand for stats for everything, with people getting excited about new ways to visualize the numbers in your life. Nicholas "Feltron" Felton's Daytum is the most elegant example of this. Secondly, social networks are getting more competitive. From Twitter follower counts and Favrd to becoming ...

Web 2.0 is all about mashups, and Microsoft wants to get in on the action. They have set up a new competition where winners can walk away with up to $25,000. The competition, announced at the 3GSM World Congress, is asking developers to create mashups that merge telecommunications features with Web 2.0 applications. So, basically, calling for some applications that weave voice and text with ...

Google's Code Jam finals are here. The world's best coders will be hosted in Manhattan, at Google's second largest development center. If you're up for the challenge Google is presenting, make sure you are brushed up on accurately and swiftly solving challenging problems with your computer, and sign up now! Google is flying out the best 100 coders to New York, with all expenses paid. First prize ...

It could be a simple answer. A few months ago I inquired about the disappearance of the domain the5k.org. Someone from the previous team emailed me back saying something about their domain getting hijacked, and they were getting it back. The domain was then briefly a Godaddy parking space, and now it's just blank. Odd. This just a couple of years after SIGGRAPH supposedly absorbed the 5k ...