Its been a very long time since we have worked on the project. The project was continued with today’s productive day. I’ll post some accomplished task this week.

–Do Disturb Team

I have now watched several times the new Transformers trailer and I have to confess, I?m now super excited. It is cool how you get to see various of the transformers in both guises and transforming. Optimus Prime also seems to look less gash than normal, so much so, that I took a screen grab!

I?m just downloaded the new version of Windows Live Writer which is from Microsoft. My initial impression is that this tool is a little more intuitive and easy to use than the regular wordpress backend editor.  You should probably check out this new tool while the price is right, if you know what I mean.

Windows Live Writer

As many of you know that scorpio was publically available last week to beta test. One of the nicest features that coldfusion 8 has is image support and some debugger tools. I personally havent tested the coldfusion’s capabilities but hopefully when its released.

I’ll be blogging next week or so on coldfusion 8 features and its details.

 Syed

New firmware update available on May 24 upscales DVD movies but requires the use of HDMI.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has announced the release of a new firmware upgrade that will enable the PlayStation 3 gaming console to output not only games but DVD movies at high-definition 1080-progressive (1080p) resolution.

The firmware, version 1.80, becomes available on May 24 and will also enable users to connect to the PS3 via a PlayStation Portable games console, giving them access to their music, video and photo collections via a standard WiFi wireless network connection.

The firmware’s primary upscaling feature will enable the PS3 to play compatible PS1 and PS2 games and render them at 1080p resolution suitable for use with the latest high-definition televisions. It will also now upscale DVD movies to 1080p, a feature initially only available in high-end DVD players and recorders.

While upscaled games will be playable on any TV using either an HDMI or component-video connection, upscaled DVD movie content will require the use of the PS3’s HDMI connect system and an HDMI-enabled television. This should also include HDMI-enabled data projectors such as Sony’s own VPL-VW100 with its native 1920×1080-pixel resolution and HDMI input.

Content streaming is another feature coming to the PS3 for the first time with this new firmware, giving it the ability to receive video and music streams from any DLNA-enabled device. DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) was set up by the computer, entertainment and mobile communications companies to help foster interoperability between computers, home entertainment devices and wireless networks. The Alliance consists currently of Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Matsushita, Microsoft, Sony, Philips, Samsung and Nokia.

A new firmware 3.50 will also be released next week for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) gaming unit to expand its ability to access data from the PS3. Since November 2006, the PSP can stream audio and video content to and from the PS3 directly however the new firmware will enable the PSP to do this via any WiFi-enabled wireless network without a direct-wireless-connect to the PS3.

Sony has also ramped up the PS3’s photo printing ability. The new firmware will allow printing of images stored on the PS3’s hard drive to a printer connected to the USB port. At the moment, Sony has nominated select Epson printers as being compatible with the process.

Users can install the PS3 firmware update by connecting their console to the internet and selecting the System Update option. Alternatively, the firmware can be downloaded onto a PC and transferred to the PS3 via disc or USB storage device. And if that’s all too hard, Sony says the firmware update will be released on upcoming game discs.

 Microsoft released Virtual Earth v5.0. So, what’s new?Improved Support for Feature Cusomization

• Virtual Earth Shapes - Easily customize and modify pusphins, polylines and polygons with the new Virtual Earth Shape class. Customize line colors, widths and transparencies of shapes, as well as add custom icons.
• Info Boxes - Shapes now have associated info boxes which can be shown and hidden as a response to user actions (e.g. clicking on the shape). The info box text and text style are completely customizable.
• Find Method - More customizable find method integrates the new Shape class to find locations and businesses easier than before.
• Keyboard and Mouse Events - Override almost any keyboard or mouse event, and use it to execute any Virtual Earth map action.

Rich End-User Experience

• Bird’s Eye Panning - Pan continuously across the map in bird’s eye view.
• Tile Over-fetching - Programmatically enable tile downloading to either increase panning performance or optimize page load time.
• Small Navigation Controls - New options for end users to customize the interface by utilizing two new options for smaller navigation controls.
• Mini Map - The mini map provides a small map legend, giving the user better bearings as they navigate.
• Compressed Map Control - The map control code base is now compressed, reducing the initial download size to around 25% of the original download.
• Programmatic Market Selection - Localized market support, beginning with Japan, which is now supported in the Virtual Earth API

New Level of Control and Flexibility

• Pushpins, Polylines and Polygons - Once seperately-coded objects, the new Virtual Earth shapes are now richer and easier to customize. Move shapes on the fly, show and hide them programmatically, and give them custom icons using your own image or your own HTML.
• GeoRSS Imports - Import pushpins, polylines and polygons using the GeoRSS feed, which is becoming the de facto standard.
• Info Boxes - Shapes can now store HTML and CSS content for custom info boxes, which can be shown or hidden programmatically.
• Shape Layers - New and improved shape management capabilities allow grouping of pushpins, polylines and polygons. Show or hide a group of shapes, or make changes to the individual shapes within them.
• Find Method - Easily customize search results with the updated find method which sends the resulting pushpins directly to a shape layer.
• Tile Layers - The tile layer interface, used for adding, deleting, showing, and hiding tile layers, is now more straightforward and easier to use.

I’m planning on implementing virtual earth with our social networking project and other getcoding project. I just have to keep on coding…

We’re now working on the profile section of our social network. The new design (theme) has been designed. The new theme has web 2.0 kind of feeling. The theme has been designed to keep things simple and easy understandable.

 Here are the new specs development wise:
ColdFusion MX 7
MS SQL 2005
Ajax

 Since we are now working on coldfusion, we will post some tutorials on this blog regarding coldfusion. Keep checking back for more updates.

Deadlines: We will post some screenshots of our new social network system by April 20th, 2007

 Development Team

We were first developing this Do Disturb site on php. We were half way finish and our target was Feb 15, 2007 to finish entire site and put it up for beta test. Large amount of people recommanded that we should use asp.net 2.0 + sql 2005 for extra performance. So, now we’re developing this new Do Disturb Social Networking site with following configuration:
Win 2003
ASP.NET 2.0 (With Ajax functionality)
SQL 2005

� We hope to get good performance through these settings. Also, our development cycle is now renewed, as you know we’re starting from scratch.

� New Completion Date will be posted by: Feb 10, 2007

With a few exceptions, Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Portable hasn’t had many good games since it was released a few years ago. The new “Metal Gear Solid: Portal Ops,” (Rated M, $39.99) is one of those rare titles to buck that trend. This latest in a long series of spy-action thrillers from Hideo Kojima is about as good as gaming gets on the PSP.

I’ve always been enamored with the “Metal Gear” series and its blend of Cold War intrigue, calculated action and oddball humor. This successful mix continues with “Portable Ops.”

Despite a few glitches that mar an otherwise perfect game, this new edition adds many enhancements that make it worth considering.

Technologically, “Portable Ops” is a huge leap over previous PSP versions in the series such as “Metal Gear Acid 2.”

Previous games were turn-based, but this time the world of espionage and infiltration plays out in real-time 3D graphics that look superb on the PSP’s dazzling screen.

It’s one of the few games that seems to have harnessed the true potential of the PSP.

The single-player story finds the gruff, eye-patch wearing Naked Snake in a South American prison in 1970. Inexorably, he is sucked into the vortex of a military conspiracy involving the CIA, the Soviet Union and a host of mysterious military operatives and organizations that fans of the series will find familiar.

There are some excellent additions to the usual tasks, such as sneaking around guards to snag secret documents and crawling through underground tunnels.

What’s most engaging are the role-playing elements: you can take out enemy soldiers, drag their sleeping bodies back to a waiting troop transport vehicle and then recruit them to your cause.

Eventually, you’ll be controlling squads of converted troops with special abilities such as medical skills, sniper accuracy and stealthiness. These abilities are more than just a stat sheet: you’ll need to deploy the right mix of abilities to successfully perform missions.

There’s an incredible array of online modes beyond the single-player story, which neatly ties together other games in the series.

You can even recruit characters from other “Portable Ops” gamers who are within reach of the PSP’s ad-hoc and infrastructure wireless capabilities.

Once you’ve organized these characters into squads, you can put them to work in various online multiplayer modes, such as death match and recovery missions.

Though “Portable Ops” offers plenty to do, the doing part sometimes gets bogged down by weird controls that had me switching between first-person and third-person perspectives.

Switching between the two can be frustrating, especially if you get caught in a sudden firefight. And as good as the graphics are overall, some of the textures when I was crawling in a ventilation shaft were bland and ugly when viewed up close.

These are relatively minor complaints, however, in a game that really combines the best elements of the “Metal Gear” series into one portable game.

To put it simply… EXCELLENT MOVIE!

There is nothing deep about this movie, it is just, quite simply, a very funny, fun, and enjoyable ride!! It’s one of those movies that children would love, and adults would love just as much. The comedy isn’t outlandish or vicious in any way. The characters (even the bad guys) are likable in their own ways.

One of my favorite moments was in the diaroma room. In one display is the roman empire, and right next to the romans is a scene of the expansion of the american railways out to west. These two groups are feuding, and in one scene you see the romans using a battering ram against the wall leading into the wild west scene, and when asked what they are doing, they respond “we must expand to survive!”. In the wild west scene, they are setting up dynamite against the moutain shaped wall leading to the romans, and when they are asked what they are doing, they respond “It’s manifest destiny!”.

Robin Williams… always a wonderful comedic actor… plays Rosevelt and is Ben Stiller’s character’s support throught the movie, offering up advice and trying to help Stiller’s character become a better man by having him face all of the challenges head on. One of the best things about Robin Williams he is a wonderful lead actor, but also a wonderful supporting actor. He can share the spotlight very easily. Never once did he ever seem like he was taking over a scene, and yet, he lent just the right amount of humor to the movie.

Do Disturb
Movie Review Team