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.