Android Auto

It seems that Google has another competition to deal with when it comes to Automotive devices in your car. Microsoft already has Windows Embedded Automotive for example and especially for the rare Windows CE powered GPS devices for the car but instead of Android or Windows related OS, it is likely that the on-board computer devices in your car are using other OSes and especially for the GPSes that don't use of Windows CE at all. You may have to check which one doesn't use the embedded Windows OS or Android OS as there may be security issues going on today.
Speaking of security issues, the existence of Android Auto can make things WORSE than Windows Embedded Automotive or CE devices in your car! The first thing that makes this vulnerable to accidents is the fact that your Android Auto will be internet-connected through your Android device so that it can have Google Maps, text messages and even online music services. What the, TEXT? What kind of text is that going to be, your notes, your schedules or even the chat or email messages? I don't know if they are trying their best to make sure that accidents don't happen with text related app. Hopefully, the text elements for reading aloud by the device will be part of the map as well as the GPS, not parts of the freaking email messages or chats on Android Auto because it ruins your driving concentration. NO, we don't allow email app or the chat related app to be in Android Auto to avoid such kinds of distractions but even then, another problem arises when it comes to such distractions coming from your Android device. You may as well turn off the notifications but when it comes to calls to answer, it may sound like another problem to get around with.
Online music services on Android Auto should as well be done usefully before you start driving compared to the actual on-car radio devices where you can switch radio channel even easier. So, how does radio channel switching work on online radio services on Android Auto? What about the music collection you have in your Android device while connected to Android Auto?
The voice instructions may be useful in Android Auto just like the other GPS devices instructing you but security-wise, you may be better off using the GPS and media player devices that don't make of Windows or Android related OSes and trying to search the catalog like that is a challenge if you want better security for your car. What if the Android Auto is tempered with by the hackers? Will they make mess of whatever that is in the Android Auto that will make you lost while you drive?
And for whatever reason of mine, the Android security isn't anything perfect nowadays and anything that uses Android technology may make things vulnerable to all kinds of cyber-network intrusions. Hell, I have seen some hardware technology for the PSP that turns the console into the next GPS but the interactivity isn't going to be that great compared to some similar technology for the PS Vita. If there's one for the PS Vita, then things may be better for the interactivity. The downside is the fact that they are the portable consoles that they have to be switched to GPS mode at all times while you're driving. When you're finished driving, this is where you can switch the console back to game mode.
The Android Auto will be released for some vehicles this year and I don't know if this is going to be an useful move or a controversial one.

Books Kinokuniya at Bugis Junction

Sure are tons of comic books to buy from and so far, I made the decision to buy the non-main chapter comic books of Attack on Titan from Books Kinokuniya. Check out Attack on Titan as it is surely looking badass. Last time, I tuned in to the first episode in Crunchyroll as the example at the ViewQwest booth or whatever that ISP was during some IT show I attended. It turned out that with the Freedom VPN, you can view whatever stuff you want as if you're bluffing through the service into thinking that you're living in the US. However, the Freedom VPN subscription may last for 3 months or something once you subscribe to that ISP and once it expires, you may have to extend it if you want to watch more of those.
OK, most of those books can be bought easily in Chinese language but for English language, it doesn't seem to be much promising in the local stores so I may have some issues in knowing what's going on in Chinese.
There's another one called the NSX-39 device which is the portable Vocaloid hardware device but then, it may seem more complicated to use and the device has like 5 lyrics slots with maximum of 64 characters each and trying to make use of them one by one is a freaking mistake of difficulty the hardware developers have made. But the cool thing is the keyboard section along with the vibration, reverb, and other effect adjustments you can do from both the DAW software and that hardware. Buy that if you want provided that you know how to use it.

Groove Coaster EX first-time play

Seems that Level 8 and above is already that difficult for me when I tried this game for the first time. Luckily at that time, there weren't so much people playing those games non-stop at the Bugis Virtualand arcade. Unfortunately, the coin mechanical problem is bound to be targeting the left Groove Coaster machine this time while the LCD Beatmania IIDX machine has the fixed coin mechanism. Perhaps, they repaired it according to some complaints from the players. However, what did they not fix though was the network connection for that machine and the router there was getting lazy or something and it TOOK A LONG FUCKING SWEET TIME TO SAVE MY GOD-DAMN NESICA DATA after finishing my first-play.

Windows 8.1 Update for Enterprise Jump Start Day 1 missed

Yikes, it was a shame for missing the Day 1 of the event I attended like I shouldn't have fucked around or something. I should have known my interests all along like what is already specified in my bio as written in my About.me page.
What I did on the day however prior to attending this was that I made additional arrangements to the songs from Reflec Beat Groovin as well as to improve the previous arrangements I already did 1-2 years ago. Of course, my busy-ness doesn't end here. There are additional songs coming in from Jubeat Saucer Fulfill and Reflec Beat Groovin.
Well, that surely explained on what was going on that caused the delay in the educational progress.

IT Show at Singapore Expo by Courts

Another event I attended after the days of Windows 8.1 Update for Enterprise Jump Start so far and it was organized by Courts. It has the respective home furnitures as well as the IT related stuffs along with more smart TVs. One of them is the Smart TV with Android by Phillips in which you can play games on it just like the other Android TVs I had previously seen. Another cool thing is the removable expansion bay from Lenovo on one of the advanced gaming laptops at $2000+. Using that bay, you can insert the graphics card, the fan, HDD or even the DVD burner drive. Each one has its own purposes suited for you that you may need to keep on swapping in between. Then, there was the Casio booth with pianos but I was too shy to try one as piano thingy is kind of difficult to begin with.

Windows 8.1 Update for Enterprise Jump Start

It was unfortunate that I missed the first day of the Jump Start that I may need to get the recorded videos of the Jump Start for compensation to learn the modules from Day 1. But fortunately, I had attended the Days 2 and 3 of the Jump Start. For this Jump Start, it includes the update to Windows 8.1 as we already know of with the second update that involves the classic Start Menu to be released in the future. But what I don't jump into is the freaking PowerShell stuffs that contain so much scripting. Parts of the scripts may do some command-line execution that may perform similar or different functions in making adjustments to the domain and ensuring that the clients are able to join the domain. When joining the domain, you can specify the organizational account to log in but this may take some luck for that to function properly as the hosts had the hard time troubleshooting that. Another downside was that ADFS is not an easy thing to use but it may be how you join to the workspace in Windows 8.1 as well as to get the business services and apps from the domain servers.
The next thing is the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure in which the Work Folders were shown. It acts like the private cloud version of Onedrive where you can synchronize your work data in that folder to the enterprise network. Of couse, there's already the new Microsoft Remote Desktop for IOS, Android and Windows and just like the other software that does the private cloud remote access, the new Remote Desktop surely does that although I don't know if RemoteFX is supported for the new Remote Desktop in my opinion and especially the fact that the Gen 2 VM software like VirtualBox doesn't support that.
Lastly, the Juimp Start might be long but to cut-off conflicts, it was split into three days to ensure that you get enough information without getting tired. Sure, I was tired like that in previous Jump Starts that I missed out various information but then, I somehow don't have time to revisit all the Jump Starts I attended.

BeatStream and Beatcraft Cyclon

At the beginning of this year, it appeared that Pentavision ceased to exist that the on-going developers of DJ Max series went on to form a new company that would later publish the international version of DJ Max Technika Q as well as to develop Beatcraft Cyclon, another DJ Max spinoff. But from what we saw from these two upcoming games for the arcades, the gameplay is unoriginal as if it is a touch-screen only knockoff of Sega's Maimai. What are they thinking? The original parts so far are the six virtual buttons with three of them on each side as well as the four rotational arrows. That is for BeatStream by Konami as we haven't seen the location test videos of Beatcraft Cyclon in action so we don't know how the gameplay of that works. Another serious problem for BeatStream is that it uses the two screens that may make the cabinet setup look like the DJ Max Technika knockoff but then, we had already seen various arcade cabinets with two separate screens so I don't know if BeatStream really rips off DJ Max Technika when it comes to the cabinet design. The OS BeatStream is running is Windows Embedded Standard 7 as seen in some JAEPO video when someone's play is interrupted technically live, shocking everyone in the process. Ironically, the game runs in extended screen mode unlike DJ Max Technika.
Beatcraft Cyclon on the other hand doesn't have the complex gameplay BeatStream has. The gameplay is still played like Maimai but is has two additional buttons on the top-right. The F button may represent the Fever mode similar to other DJ Max games but the E and those things on the bottom left? It might seem that you can make adjustments to speed and other in-game behaviors before starting the song in DJ Max Technika series including the one on the PS Vita but trying to adjust them after starting the song may seem kind of awkward for us. The interface seems appealing to me unlike BeatStream which is going completely solid with no signs of colorfulness whatsoever.
But if these two games are to be released in the arcades, we don't know if the developers may face some sort of lawsuit or not. Nurijoy's idea for Beatcraft Cyclon is centered around cars and turntables but we don't know how the gameplay works until some video shows up.

Android Wear

OK, there might be Ipod Nano along with the fact that it can be wearable as a watch and we know that the little amount of apps can function well with that thing. It may be the same for the upcoming Android Wear which is the official Android watch from Google. Just how many precious technical watches you may want to buy? For security and better performance sake, you may probably want the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 running some OS that is NOT Android. With the other OS on that smartwatch, it should save the battery life and improve various performance while retaining the third-party interface invented by Samsung. Speaking of performance, we don't know how the Android Wear can perform.
The common features of smartwatch should include the various Sports related apps, emails, social networking related apps, alarm clock, notification, music player and so on. Of course, having a Videos app or Photos app inside the smartwatch is like a little bit lame as it looks too small on the device like that compared to Ipod Classic or the new Ipod Nano. The old Ipod Nano can be used as the smartwatch with some accessory and that's the good thing but for the new one, it may look like the modern day Ipod Classic devices. Another thing for social networking is that you should be able to retweet, favorite tweet, like or share the Facebook post, etc. but some features like Reply may be insane on the smartwatch as they require that you type in various stuffs. It may be the same for email when it comes to forwarding or replying as if you're better off replying or forward with your phone, tablet or computer.
The Android Wear will be shown at Google I/O sometime this year.

Continuous fight of US request for foreign data

OK, even the warrant like that was corrupted into the devil level as if the company would be forced to hand over the data of the foreign customer by the US government but Microsoft is not giving up the fight and there are like already tens of thousands of such similar illegal requests. No proper reason why but it is that the warrant is in violation of the Constitution of United States and especially that the warrant is bound to invade the privacy of the one whose data is being surrendered. The on-going case may be getting in Microsoft's ways in planning to encrypt their services to protect their customers' privacy as well as to apply the new Terms of Service of freedom by the end of next month.
One example is some data from the Ireland Microsoft server in which that country was already conquered with some stupid law two years ago about censoring some shit online, leaving the rest of the globe to be safe from it.
Other good news includes the support from Apple, Cisco, AT&T, Verizon as well as EFF in which they can wish that they can get the US government to stop making use of domestic search warrants to demand data surrendering as it is already considered privacy invasion.

Microsoft updates Terms of Service with higher privacy

A brave action by Microsoft into protecting their users and respecting their privacy that will take effect next month with the updated Terms of Service. At the beginning of this month, the Reset The Net campaign had recently won and protected the customers' privacy but then, the crooky ISPs in America or something are like some of the enemies left as well as the TPP bill that has yet to be thwarted. If we don't keep fighting for the internet freedom, then perhaps this new Terms of Service thingy from Microsoft is likely to backfire. But they're already doing their best to protect their customers' privacy by encrypting their respective services we already mentioned in the previous blog posts.
Another brave thing is that even your Xbox Live accounts are going to be protected starting next month as well as your Outlook, OneDrive and Bing. What about Windows Azure and Office 365? Are they missing out? Without the same protection for those two as the one Microsoft's planning, there won't be better reasons to use the latest version of Microsoft Office again. Also, what about Internet Explorer as well? I bet its mascot is going to have a harder but sad time fighting the mysterious cyber-spies alone.
The last thing is that, they WON'T be using their users' personal stuffs to target advertising. It's similar to what they swore when it to came to the Xbox One Kinect but the Xbox Live was something they had to protect and encrypt even more because the Xbox Live as we know it is already affected the cyber-spying agencies. The worse thing was that those agencies were bound to be making use of the Xbox 360 Kinect for the similar motives as well but we and Microsoft are not gonna let that happen to all the Xbox services and systems. Now, the thing is, the accounts for the respective services above are going to be protected starting next month but if the services are getting full protections, that will be the great opportunity to use them again.
Even better is that after the Reset The Net days, the other companies are planning to encrypt their services as well. Wordpress, Mozilla, Google, Dropbox, etc. were some of the major companies involved, leaving Microsoft to be already preparing for similar protections as they already had enough information based on the bad news they had received.

Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python - Coursera

Spoiler alert: I might have discovered Coursera through some Access Now email I received. Coursera is the online educational learning site that offers the amount of courses you can choose to learn. It's basically allowing you to mimic the university experiences and useful for any student who hasn't gone to the university yet in the future. It's available globally but it is banned in some of the countries for reasons unknown.
This course is about the basic game design kind of programming in Python where you write in the respective codes that will make the games work. It will start off from the console level to the GUI level. And as you progress through the course, there may be various functions you will need to learn so that you can use them in the mini-projects. Speaking of mini-projects, the further parts of the courses were tough for me that I needed some help from the internal forums for solutions. Unfortunately, I followed the solutions with like either minor or major modifications to them to make things more original. But the difficulty was what I had like the lesser amount of original codes in the first place for further mini-projects. Besides mini-projects, there may be quizzes/homeworks to do in Coursera as well as the lectures to take a look at. Just like the actual universities, there may be slides and videos of the lectures which can be found on the internet. Hell, certain universities have their official YouTube accounts and they have the video lectures like that. Overall, even though I failed some of the mini-projects, I still managed to pass this course with 74%+. By getting 70% and above, I got the Statement of Achievement. Another certificate upon fulfilling this is optional but then, you will need to pay some money for that.

However, you may notice that the final average score for this course in the illustration is inaccurate but the way I calculated was that I totalled up both Quiz Scores and Mini-Project Scores respectively before getting the average scores for both of them. After that, I got the final average score of two averages but that's not the point because the full quiz score is about 1/3 of the total course score with the mini-project having 2/3 so their calculation must be quite deep for that.

Facebook app listens in to your surroundings?

The worse case scenario is that certain apps in your IOS may end up bringing you to the Facebook app perhaps for linking those apps you're using to your Facebook account but here comes another offensive plan from Facebook as part of the dumbness act, listening in to your surrounding with the app. It may be an issue to the privacy but it may be simple to remove this app from your mobile devices. Today or perhaps yesterday in the eastern regions, there were already plans to Reset The Net and Google for instance was famously involved. However, it seems that Facebook is trying to betray us again with this controversial update to the Facebook app. Anything you say or type in the message through this app will be sent to the advertisers which is the main bullshit you may want to avoid!

Apple's new Swift language (Repeat offender, Fl***y B**d creator?)

OK, it appears that the developer at Apple is trying out the new Swift language to make a game that turns out to be the clone of the terrible but popular F***** Bird as the test subject within fours of release. Perhaps, the developers may claim that it is quite easy to program using the new Swift language but it may seem that this is based on the Objective-C code which is the programming language for IOS and Mac OSX development.
This was all before the WWDC's announcement regarding the new Swift language so we don't know if this was mentioned as part of the event but still, this test subject he had made should be regarded as a test subject and not a public clone of that terrible game that should be released to the public for fun. Maybe, this should be a freaking template in game development but the only problem is the contents in that original. The graphics, sounds and certain object movements are apparently ripped off of SMW games on SNES. I may expect a LAWSUIT FROM NINTENDO AGAINST THOSE MOBILE GAMES TO HAPPEN FOR GOOD! Even if you've NEVER PLAYED THOSE M**** GAMES BEFORE, IT IS WRONG TO RIP OFF STUFFS LIKE THAT FOR YOUR MOBILE GAME DEVELOPMENT!
And if that is not freaking enough, there's some lack of achievements and item upgrades as well as the way you move up and down through tapping which is FUCKING BULLSHIT TO ME! So, what kind of mobile games I had played in the past before the existence of this crap? Jetpack Joyride? Yes, I'm fucking honest and serious that I played that before because it's fun and it has enough content for a casual game! And if you clone that Fl***y B**d shit with anything taken from Nintendo games and release that clone to the public, then shame on you and fuck you! I bet that someone will file a lawsuit against you and Fl***y B**d creator to pay Nintendo the amount of damages you have done! That is some game I had no interest in blogging it before this news!
Lastly, if that wasn't enough to piss me off on Twitter, it seems that Fl***y B**d creator has the guts to put his game back the App Stores and Play Store in August to increase the popularity like stupid even more. I give that a THREE, 3 OUT OF 10! It is one of the casual games that we may end up tearing it into shreds!

Reflec Beat Groovin

This one's recently released in the arcades! Check out the modes that are equivalent to the ones from IIDX and DDR such as the equivalent to Step Up Mode and the Expert Mode as well as the one that is equivalent to Infinite from SDVX or Challenge from DDR. Other additions include the Pastel Wonder Quest which is an event where you explore various places like it's a freaking board game or something. There are boss stages where the additional songs can be unlocked from. Not to mention, the improved player customization.

Results from WWDC as seen by Neowin

Apple says that users have bought Android by mistake
Will there be a serious fan-war or something over these two platforms? So, what are the problems Android is having nowadays? The first thing is that Android OS may seem to be the target for the amount of malwares due to the apps from outside the Play Store in which the custom apps can be installed through Package Installation similar to the way you install in Linux. Android 4.3 is the first OS to start simplifying the interface visually and Android 4.4 is like the most recent one so comparison between IOS 7 and Android 4.4 is a strange thing. What about the Android 4.3 that was part of the comparison? Well, the thing is, Android 4.4 is already the recent one in the Android series OSes for both the phones and tablets but not all Android devices can be upgraded to the latest versions and that's the thing. Also, I can't guarantee if you are going to upgrade your Android device to the latest Android OS the non-official way.
But then, the encryption of the Google services is already at the beginning at the next level to improve the security but it's already taking companies like Google some time to finish implementing all the security improvement plans.

Bing being the default search engine in Mac OSX 10.10
What happens to the rivalry nowadays between Apple and Microsoft? And why the hate on Google by then? Is security issue the reason on why someone at Microsoft was bashing the hell out of Google? With this collaboration between Apple and Microsoft as friendlies instead of rivals, they've better do good this time with their Mac OSX 10.10 as well as the service encryption at higher levels that will protect their customers' rights and put some unsecured and pointless Google services to shame. Another promising thing is that Bing is receiving some momentum thanks to Mac OSX, Siri and Windows 8 but then, there shouldn't be a mockery of Windows 8 and 8.1 in the first place on stage during the event. The main problem for causing this mockery was on how heavily criticized Windows 8 was when released and some of the criticisms are still intact with Windows 8.1. The amount of Windows 8 users is probably decreasing as many users have upgraded to Windows 8.1 as if the mockery by Apple is kind of as inaccurate as a mistake. Have they included Windows 8.1 in the mockery as well? Hell, how about someone pretending to resume the Google bashing to see how this can anger the amount of Google users?

The information about features for IOS 8 and Mac OSX 10.10 can be seen at Neowin site as there may be too much information to blog about.

Android TV

Android MiniPCs that are hooked up to the TV may be equal to using Android on TV but for AndroidTV is like calling it the Android Smart TV or perhaps Android Media Center. The Chromecast is likely to be running Android TV but Android TV is some kind of a service that can be integrated to Smart TVs. Speaking of Android for TV, there will be Play Store although the problem is that certain Android apps are already touch screen and other gesture-oriented. Better than Google TV but at least, Android TV has like lesser flaws although I don't know if there's a feature to make use of your existing Android device as the secondary one for your AndroidTV in case you want to play games on TV but the resolutions may be different.

Tizen on Galaxy Gear

If you have known the serious criticism on the original Galaxy Gear, then be prepared for the surprise that Samsung is finally doing the right thing for security, battery-life saving and better performance. With Tizen on Galaxy Gear including the new Galaxy Gears, you should be able to buy one as long as your device supports it. I may recommend that you buy the new Galaxy Gear running Tizen so that your device can support it that easily. Older Samsung devices like the one I have don't support it of course.
The only problem is that Tizen is one of the underrated OSes but putting it in the Galaxy Gears is like a good move.

WWDC of this year for Apple

A good move from Apple in terms of the way they use the features? Somebody had the advise of not to merge IOS and Mac OSX into Mac OSX 10.10 like what Windows 8 is in multiple modes? If that's the case of Mac OSX 10.10, you will still get into Desktop Mode after logging in and of course, the Launchpad or whatever it is where you can see the amount of apps has made things easier to browse through although the classic way is that you can launch the apps through the Dock or perhaps the Search Spotlight. On Ubuntu, you can launch the applications the classic way through the menu on top but with Unity, the OS is starting to behave like another Mac OSX kind of OS but with Linux features. Windows 8 on the other hand, you get different ways to launch the desktop apps through the Start Screen but by having two multiple modes in one OS, it is already a disastrous idea for all types of computers. The desktop mode is still as touch un-friendly as it is on the tablet but for desktop and laptop users, the tablet mode interface is completely out of place. To solve the disaster, it looks like Apple is planning to have the Mac OSX versions of various features that were already in IOS.
Also, there will be easier connection between Mac OSX and IOS devices. There was AirDrop for both of these platforms but there was no way to transfer data in between. Perhaps, there will be a way to transfer for real as ITunes is kind of limited for that. Plus, the Apple Maps was like a disaster back then that Google Maps took over. The only positive thing about taking out Google Maps from IOS is that it is for the sake of security and that app doesn't belong to Apple as it is not the first-party app. Yes, the app came back as the third-party app but we can try to make sure that Apple does something right with the new version of Apple Maps.
TextEdit and Preview for IOS will be available in the future where you can edit documents that are in Mac OSX but how will that work? Will that require the new AirDrop? If so, it may be better than using the ICloud to do all that editing of the documents.
Other features include the Soundhound like feature that is part of Siri where you can identify songs by holding the Home button, Windows 8-style multi-tasking, AirDisplay like feature where you can use your Ipad as the second display although the performance won't be that good that way as I may assume it's remote desktop powered.
The last brave thing from Apple is that they will be coming out with the ARM-based Macbook although I don't know if that will overheat or not since the CPU fan will not be included on that thing. Tablets don't seem to overheat or something as I know of. The event will start tomorrow at 10AM Pacific Time, 1PM Eastern and 6PM BST.
And, what the hell is wrong with Microsoft like that when it comes to Windows 8 and 8.1? We got THE DISASTROUS COMBINATION meaning to say Desktop Mode + Touch Mode into one whole disaster, but not this upcoming separation from Mac OSX 10.10 with cleaner UI? But that doesn't mean that I had regrets in using them because Windows 8 was supposed to be part of my New Year's Resolution two years ago. And of course, anything you do to the client OS in terms of OS developement will affect the other counterparts too such as the embedded or server OS.