NPAPI is of no more in the future

Netscape Plug-In API or NPAPI is already damn old and it will be phased out in the future. Even Mozilla is already planning to block those plugins in December this year with Google doing the same thing in January next year. For Google Chrome, this will be effective in Stable channel by default.

However, the downside for doing this is that Silverlight, Unity, Java, Facebook Video, Google Earth and Google Talk are likely to be blocked as well but to avoid disruption to users, they will be temporarily whitelisted for security reasons. For Silverlight, I may still need it by the way for Microsoft Virtual Academy thing. For Facebook Video, I don’t know if it will be using Adobe Flash Player technology to playback videos like that.

Good thing is that the Adobe Flash Player technology and PDF viewers are not NPAPI related as if you can use them in the first place.

Steam Machines next year

In addition to the SteamOS that will be arriving, there will be Steam machines that will be arriving next year. They will be low-end, mid-end and high-end machines so take your pick on which one do you want for Steam gaming. Of course, the OS itself is Linux based ever since the former Microsoft employee working at Value had taken Windows 8 for a major product disaster.

But first, those machines are still in development and you can participate in hardware beta-testing. You have until October 25th before the list will be locked according to the official website.

Until then, we may have to know what kind of Linux OS Steam OS will be using and besides, we have to wait until the OS itself is out. Will this be a new opportunity for me to try out on my existing computer as there are way too many Linux distributions to choose from?

Windows 8–Vulnerable to some backdoors that lead to spying?

It seems that the German government was concerned about some vulnerabilities detected in Windows 8 including Windows 8.1 which had already gone final stage but going below Windows 8 doesn’t mean you’re safe from those spying agencies. That article was already discovered long ago at Neowin and I forgot to blog about it. We don’t know if Microsoft is going to patch the OS from those vulnerabilities probably due to the OS being insecure like that. But I can guess that they will have no such plans like that like they may lie to their consumers. If this is the case, why don’t we use something else right now?

Marco Civil

While they are in the middle of the preparation for a big set of actions to be taken against the tyrannical NSA for the agency’s lies, spying and going too far a month from now, there is some bill in Brazil that we must make sure that it doesn’t end up like the CIS** bill or something like that.  The voting will take place within 45 days from two days ago or something as planned by the President of Brazil. Marco Civil is one of the most progressive frameworks for internet policy ever drafted. It would secure the right to high-speed access and network neutrality, privacy standards against surveillance and guarantees for freedom of expression online. This is something we around the globe should keep watch on.

Unfortunately, the Brazilian telco lobby or whatever it is wants the Marco Civil to be used in similar ways CIS** bill is but thankfully, President Rousseff came out strongly in support of the Marco Civil’s net neutrality provisions. Not only are the protections crucial to upholding the integrity of the framework, they are an opportunity for Brazil to set international precedent. Also, we may have to be concerned that there are similar amendments to the bills that require the large companies to do the same shit as what the baddie NSA orders the companies to do so to the American users. We must not allow that kind of amendment to corrupt this bill like that. We must ensure that even the Brazilian Congress members are serious about the net neutrality protections as well.

More news to come by email from Access Now and other stuffs and the action to take is available from here: https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/hands-off-the-marco-civil.

Beatmania IIDX Tricoro Gameplay Report 9.21

For whatever reasons, the turntables are receiving non-immediate input response that I may have to stick on the CRT machine of the game at Bugis Virtualland arcade if I want to Non-Assist Clear songs one day.

Now, there is some good news of progress. I cleared B4U in Hyper in IIDX Tricoro but my grade is like shit as in below C grade. How am I supposed to get the timing right and my timing from Timing Adjustment is at +0.5 or +0.4? However, even with that adjustment, it appears that I’m never able to get the better grade in IIDX.

Project Diva Arcade Gameplay Report 9.21

Looks like there’s unexpectedly a Contest Mode where you have to fill in the medal bar or something. The bar is divided into four different colors and getting at least 150% onwards is a must in order to pass. I gained the Silver medal from fulfilling the requirements for obtaining the Silver medal. Unfortunately, to complete one Contest Level, you will need to play this game twice as each Contest Level consists of four stages. I chose the Middle Level which you must clear the songs in Hard difficulty. Unfortunately, there are various Vocaloid songs I’m not familiar with and I attempted them straight away that affected my playing.

Sound Voltex II Gameplay Report 9.21

Okay, I take it that I’m sticking on up to Song Level 9 as going for Level 10 onwards is really difficult for me. From the music select screen, there are multiple categories ranging from Touhou Arranges, Bemani, Sound Voltex Floor, Exit Tunes and other stuffs. Sure, certain Vocaloid songs we know of from non-Konami rhythm games are parts of Exit Tunes as licensed songs but there are Vocaloid songs we don’t know of. I don’t know if I will be attempting the shit out of all the Vocaloid songs in SDVX II as it can be crazily more money consuming than attempting all the Vocaloid songs in Maimai series.

Project Diva F 2nd Update

Wow, sure has newer parts of the gameplay we never even understand of until the explanation is revealed in the game’s official website. From the game’s official website, you get the scratch, double-scratch and link-scratch. What is Link-Scratch? How does it work? Well, I know two out of three but by assumption that is. I assume that for double-scratch, you may have to scratch twice like you scratch the turntable forward and backward. Scratching forward or backward is one time while scratching back and forth is two times.

Now, the existing songs from the previous Project Diva games will be remade for this upcoming sequel with improved graphics and redone notechart. For Playstation 3 users, you may get the graphical upgrades as well as the redone notechart for the existing songs in this upcoming sequel even though you may have seen the same music videos before in the previous Dreamy Theater games.

The game will be out for Playstation 3 and Vita next year.

Firefox Metro version delayed to January next year

The Metro version of the Firefox browser is supposed to be released sometime in December this year for Windows 8 and above but due to the decrease of the average team velocity, it seems that the amount of time taken to work will be longer than usual. For the Metro version, the interface may look comparable to the Android version I’m using except that it is much more solid than ever. For the mobile version, the tabs bar can be toggled with the button on the top-left so if you’re in Vertical orientation mode, the tabs bar will be on top for example. It may look comparable to the one in IE metro version although you still can’t move the tabs for whatever reasons, I don’t know. The good thing about Firefox Mobile version is that you can still synchronize your stuffs from your computer to your mobile devices although it can’t be the same for the addons and other stuffs. For Windows 8 tablet users, you can still use Firefox desktop edition with addons and stuffs for price sake or something but the desktop interface doesn’t seem to be touch-friendly so you may need some mouse for that.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

To be ultimately great in Tetris, you should have tolerated through the 20G speed and cleared the game like that as that speed is seriously difficult but hardcore to be eligible in becoming a true hardcore Tetris player. That is the famous hardcore feature ever since Tetris The Grandmaster series. Sure, there’s even the Marathon Mode as played in various Tetris games but things don’t seem to be that hardcore enough so it’s quite tolerable although further levels are when things are starting to get difficult.

And speaking of Tetris games today, I expect such a speed like that as well as the modern controls and smoother gameplay. For Tetris Battle on Facebook, I found things kind of laggy so fuck it. At least you can have played those epic Tetris games made in Japan instead even if they are doujin games or some sort.

Now comes the collaboration of Puyo Puyo and Tetris in which Sega and The Tetris Company are not kidding about, you can choose whichever gameplay type you like and then commence the battle. Sure, when it comes to battle, you may have sent a bunch of nuisance blocks to your opponent’s field so you may have encountered that kind of battle in various Tetris games that have the VS modes. Also, I may expect such a very high speed in this upcoming game that will be released next year.

And speaking of the game’s release, it will be released for Wii U, 3DS, PS3 and PS Vita. I don’t know if this will be in Asian PSN so that I can get this in the future.

Beatmania IIDX Tricoro Gameplay Report Sep 13th

Damn, looks like I failed the third level of Skill Analyzer in SDVX II which was fucking bad by the way but I believe that Skill Analyzer and Dan Certification Modes are not likely to be my first steps anymore. Even with progress made, I may still be stuck.

Progress-wise for IIDX Tricoro, I might have attempted the songs like Smooooch, Sayanora SUPERSTAR, Re:Generation, Freeway Shuffle, Follow Tomorrow, Blue Straggler, etc. The song names mentioned here and attempted this week were the ones I previously arranged the last time and posted the arrangements on YouTube but I also chose the songs whom I did not arrange at all times.

Maybe next time, I will try to attempt the SDVX songs in Standard mode like Daily Lunch Special, Smooooch, Hallelujah, Butterfly-cat, Freeway Shuffle, Trigger Happy, etc. I already unlocked Trigger Happy as well as some Touhou songs but man, there sure are many Touhou arrangements as well as so many Vocaloid songs there. Nowadays, there are even Vocaloid songs which I’m familiar with as well maybe because they are also in Sega rhythm games today in addition to SDVX II.

California schools being spied?

You know, this is one of the stupidest ideas ever fulfilled in California schools to spy on the students like in case whatever school offense or any lazy thing is bound to happen. Indeed, having to monitor all students’ performance and behavior like that is one of the stupid ideas because nobody cares for those ideas by the way.

Now, you can sign the petition here at http://cms.fightforthefuture.org/schoolspying/ to take action against that spying idea because if nothing is done to stop it, then the spying may eventually spread. Even worse is that other US School Districts have already tried this method as well. However, the good information is that a few years ago, it was said that it is illegal to spy on the students in Pennsylvania. Well really, those fools? Even the personal and mobile gadgets of the students are pretty much affected by the spying stuffs as well as if it can’t be helped. We don’t know if even private browsing is going to help either and especially when the gadgets boot up the other operating systems which are not affected by the spies.

Bitlocker the technical betrayal?

Articles about the NSA and FBI stuffs are everywhere in the globe and wiping them out is one of the stupid orders/plans like what someone already issued in wiping out hard disks containing leaked documents of the evil spying motives at The Guardian. According to some article I discovered, it seemed that there was some backdoor implemented inside BitLocker so that this evil spying can continue ever since the Windows Vista days.

Also, there is some progress going on from EFF, Fight for the Future, IDL, etc. that more stuffs are coming in on what those evil spying agencies have been up to. The targets range from computers, tablets, smartphones and even your private stuffs in US powered technology brands. However, to be frank, I have been SICK AND TIRED of talking and blogging about these as there’s no FUCKING END to this saga. If THIS is the BULLSHIT they’ve been continuing against the civilians, then there may be no point using technologies affected by that.

SDVX II First Run

OK, the timing has more ease than IIDX itself and especially for the inclusion of Skill Analyzer which is similar to IIDX’s Dan Mode but the Laser notes posed me the challenge like trying to turn the knobs to the beat properly.

Now, I started off with the Skill Analyzer when playing this for the first time from the lowest level. I’m at Level 2 right now but I don’t know when will I go any further. The input response is immediate, so is the one for IIDX machines at the Bugis Virtualland arcade.

Project Diva Arcade Gameplay Report Sep 9th Edition

What was some lady doing in the arcade asking me for stupid donations and so forth while I was playing? THIS IS BY FAR THE WRONG PLACE TO ASK FOR DONATIONS LIKE THAT? It’s like she wanted to cause any stupid trouble at the arcade. Imagine that this kind of donation thingy takes place at the Bugis arcades. I’m sure those asking for donations will be like out of luck.

Now, talk about the updates of the Tampines Mall Timezone arcade, it appears that the Maimai game is updated to Maimai Green and there are 5 PDA machines  now with the fifth one that is vulnerable to the players blocking some path but since the fifth machine addition was kind of recent, the touch screen interactivity surely worked on me like the cursor effect did not appear away from my finger when I tapped unlike other machines where their touch screen thingy is starting to become even worse. Unfortunately, it appears that the Maimai game is damn popular that the random groups of players have been playing it. I can’t be going to the arcades like everyday or so and each play is pretty damn short if you will.

Makato Asada at MAGES.–Working on untitled Xbox One game

Is the betrayal or rebelling near when it comes to Makato Asada working on Xbox One game that will be released in the future? Other information includes MAGES working on the Xbox Live Arcade version of some PC game that will be released next year. So, we don’t even know what kind of game is he working on for Xbox One at MAGES but the thing is, we still want the Playstation 4 to have the greater shmup support as the console itself gives you MORE FREEDOM.

This year, he might have left Cave Interactive into working at MAGES as if the Cave-like resources are still with 5PB Games. They might have recently released Ketsui for Playstation 3 based on the Xbox 360 port with the new company alias for that version. So if Ketsui for Playstation 3 has made it to PSN, there may be more chance for people to buy in case the retail copies are sold out and especially when it can be played on the Playstation 4 as well.

Playstation 4 to be released next year in Japan

Alright, there are tons of Japanese-made Playstation 4 games coming as well as the console itself to be released next year so we may have until next year if we want to play them out once they are released in Asia as well. Sure, not all Japanese games are released in Asian regions un-translated or something.

Various examples I know of include the new EDF, new Dream C Club, new Idolmaster, new Phantom Breaker, new Guilty Gear and so on. Of course, out of these here, I may be interested to take a look at the new Idolmaster and Phantom Breaker games for the Playstation 4 that will be released next year.

OK, I don’t know why the conference about these took place yesterday like I supposed it should be taking place earlier or later than yesterday as I’m frankly sick and tired of everything C****-ish. It’s a serious damage to my brain like I can’t even do well ever since like few years ago. Maybe I should have avoided anything special about September 9 and moved on.

COMEX IT Show (September 5 to 8)

What a big IT show due to taking two halls from Hall 5 to 6 at Singapore Expo! There are tons of tablets, desktop and laptop computers to check out ranging from Windows 8 related computers and tablets and Android tablets from the familiar brands like Acer, Asus, Samsung, HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc. The other same brands are back such as Rangers, Microsoft, Apple, Logitech, etc. in which they are displaying their accessories again. Also, there are other Android devices by other brands I don’t even know of such as those devices made in America or some Chinese-speaking countries. Compared to my Android tablet device which is Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, there are differences in the Android interface depending on the Android device.

Other big things included the ISPs, TVs, GPSes, Cameras and so on. I also went to the ViewQwest booth to make more talks about it and made comparison between ViewQwest and the ISPs we know of now. For ViewQwest, they have both the fiber broadband, Freedom VPN and the Android TV device to be controlled with the mouse and keyboard similar to other Android TV devices I had already seen. Before I made a discovery with ViewQwest, it seems that the OpenNet fiber device is somewhat an add-on to your existing home network and I don’t even know how it works except that I was told that you can use some VPN technology with OpenNet. I’m still having the ADSL Broadband connection which is by far not the fastest compared to Fiber technology. Unlike Fiber-Optic connection, the ADSL Broadband connection has its own lifespan or something whose performance decreases over time. There were even projectors and pianos by Canon and the projectors were damn recent. Cool thing about them was that they had the Digital Zoom effect, the HDMI port and the remote control. Hopefully, the companies and schools should use the projectors with new features like that in the future as there has been bitching about not able to see the screen from far distance due to using VGA or something. One unnecessary thing was the inclusion of the USB drive port for presentation and other stuffs. You can store your presentation to your USB flash drive to be hooked up to the projector but the presentation format is not what you know of. You’ll need the driver software CD for installation to do this if you want to present by USB alone. What a downside of those projectors for me but they are damn great overall.

Lastly, there was another company that offers the certified courses to study. This is not the first time I was in the IT show where I discovered the previous company that offers those courses. The downside is that they may be expensive as hell but I don’t think I will be ready for those courses anytime soon. Also, there were other accessories like the new earpieces, headphones, speakers, external hard drives, Chromebooks, NAS and D-Link booth. Chromebooks are looking like the rare thing but from what I saw of the interface of Google Chrome OS, it looked even better than what I saw back then when the OS was still in development. After this IT show, you can look for those Chromebooks at Courts retail stores.