FUNside

Remote connection software has been around since the console age and was for many years used by “busy” professionals that couldn’t stop working while at home. But now that computers have become a large part of everyone’s reality, remotely connecting to another computer is convenient and adds to our potato-couch lifestyles.

Here’s an introduction on the technology…

I always like giving examples of my own life so here it is… I have a Q1 UMPC which I remotely connect to my multimedia PC in the living room so I can use it as a controller instead of another wireless device. Playing puzzle games on the big screen has never been more enjoyable

But the real purpose of this post is to present some popular options you can choose from to instal remote connection software on your computer. Firstly, I should note that there may be such software already installed by your operating system. Most of the times though it is quite limited in features (no common clipboard etc.) and performance.

Let’s start with the open source solutions. Free is always appealing and there is some quality software in this field, that have proven their worth. My software of choice would be the always popular:

TightVNC

Website: http://www.tightvnc.com/

TightVNC is a free remote control software package derived from the popular VNC software. With TightVNC, you can see the desktop of a remote machine and control it with your local mouse and keyboard, just like you would do it sitting in the front of that computer.

Other cool software you can find for free:

EchoVNC

Website: http://sourceforge.net/projects/echovnc

EchoVNC is a secure, “firewall-friendly” remote-desktop tool with support for VNC, Remote Desktop, and RAdmin servers and viewers. With it, a Windows PC or OSX Mac can be remotely accessed regardless of firewall, router or web-proxy configuration.

Chicken of the VNC

Website: http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/

Chicken of the VNC is a VNC client for Mac OS X. A VNC client allows one to display and interact with a remote computer screen. In other words, you can use Chicken of the VNC to interact with a remote computer as though it’s right next to you.

If we are going to look into more commercial versions of the software, the most popular solution I guess is:

Remote Administrator

Website: http://www.radmin.com/

Radmin (Remote Administrator) is the world famous, award winning secure remote control software and remote access software which enables you to work on a remote computer in real time as if you were using its own keyboard and mouse.

RealVNC

Website: http://www.realvnc.com/

RealVNC provides remote control software which lets you see and interact with desktop applications across any network.

Just to connect to Windows computers from a Machintosh, Microsoft has provided the software with the less imaginative title….

Remote Desktop Connection Client

Website: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx

Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2 lets you connect from your Macintosh computer to a Windows-based computer or to multiple Windows-based computers at the same time. After you have connected, you can work with applications and files on the Windows-based computer.

And of course there’s the always simple…

CoRD

Website: http://cord.sourceforge.net/

CoRD is a Mac OS X remote desktop client for Microsoft Windows servers using the rdp protocol. It is easy to use, fast, and free for anyone to use or modify.

Read this chart which has for more programs for more platforms.

Whatever you choose be careful with your security, so you won’t be allowing unauthorized access to your computer. But apart from that the technology is mature enough to operate in a stable and responsive environment – you won’t even feel you’re on another computer

After spending some time with AS3 (almost a year) I can now make that (weird) statement. For those that have no idea what I’m talking about, let me make a brief introduction:

Flash, the major player in online rich-media, started as an animation-drawing tool and not a platform for full-blown apps. It took years of effort from the software developers to get rid of its ancestry – and all those years actionscript sat on top of the drawing platform, more in an assisting role rather than a proper scripting language. But now it’s a reality. It has a learning curve over the previous actionscript 2 and that is frustrating at first but it’s all for the best.

Experienced programmers appreciate the new syntax and object oriented structure, bringing the platform up to date with other “proper” scripting environments. But for the non-coders the new structure just seems more logical. And although you can do most of the things you want with AS2, noone can deny the fact that AS3 is waaay faster.

That fact made (finally) possible the implementation of 3D graphics in flash. A series of engines have been created for flash, nowhere near software 3D engines but it’s a start…

Here comes the show off part so feast your eyes with some 3D goodness:

More resources on Flash 3D:

• http://drawlogic.com/category/3d-engines/
• http://blog.papervision3d.org/
• http://blog.alternativaplatform.com/en/
• http://papervision2.com/
• http://www.cs54.com/blog/?cat=15

I envy the new developers that start learning AS3 straight away. They don’t have the baggage of the previous experience of the more limited previous versions of Flash. But it’s a state of mind I guess to simply discard the past and embrace the possibilities of the future.

The other day I was looking into Processing (actually I was reading the blog of Felix Turner and stumbled on it)…

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions…

Hmm, that sounds interesting. Even more interesting are the examples I found from Robert Hodgin and Lennyjpg:

To top that Processing has supporter developers that have integrated OpenGL textures and GPU-accelerated effects (GLGraphics) as well as connect it with Sunflow, a ray tracer written in Java (P5Sunflow).

Looking through the structure I can’t say it’s anything groundbreaking. The coding part is pretty standard. I’d even go as far as saying that Flash 3D is probably more promising (although it is meant to be on the same level as C++, with which there is no comparison really…)

Hopefully I’ve given you enough insight to check it out yourselves. If you want to experiment with graphics in Java (and I can’t stretch the word “experiment” enough), this is a good environment for you to start playing

Voila:

Yes, I did it. I made a movie comparison with the Matrix. I always detested when an action movie was compared with the Matrix but I think that enough time has passed and bullet-time could be cool again…

“Wanted” doesn’t even try to replicate its predecessors. I think the director understands the essence of what made those movies a success and doesn’t try to follow any specific recipe of success.

But the general outline is the same: Take a normal human with an ordinary life and seconds-thoughts about the meaning of his existence and put him trough a mind expanding journey. From there on, it has the bullet time and all the stunt work of the Matrix and the brutality and self-narration of Fight Club.

Generally, I applaud these kinds of stories because they help all us with the 9-5 lives make a reality check and consider that there could be something different out there. And although I like the attitude I don’t think that this movie will change anything in the common people minds.

Don’t forget that both the Matrix and Fight Club are already a decade old – and what has changed since then? But this is not the point. The movies are created to entertain – and if they have underlying criticism about society all the better but that’s just an artist’s voice against the world.

In the end all that remains is the visual impact (which was outstanding in this movie) and the joy it brought to the masses (I have a feeling it will go well there too). I kinda got bored seeing each bullet being stopped by another bullet (yeah right…) and I have a few other objections like the one dimensional characters of the fraternity, but the good certainly overthrow the rest:

Good performances from the actors, natural blending of the special effects, a screenplay with a fine balance between the action and story telling and a realistic ending that is satisfactory.

I would recommend this movie simply because its a notch above other action movies you can see at cinemas these days, but if you also want to get into a self-realization experience it would indeed be what you’re looking for…

I’m always keen to blog about games that have a unique approach in their presentation and are aiming to provide the user with an experience rather than a stress reliever.

When I first came across Flow (as a Japanese release) it seemed mysterious, dreamy and out of this world. I’m pretty sure this was the intended image the creators wanted the game to project. After playing it all the way through though I can say it’s pretty straight forward – a unique but simple game.

Here you can see an extended walkthrough of the game, which includes almost everything you will do with the game:

I certainly don’t want to start negative comments but having an 8 min vid summing up the whole experience is pretty embarrassing. The game does VERY WELL what it’s title is, setting up a floating universe but other than that its a stale environment where nothing really changes throughout the game… You will get to control half a dozen cell-sized “creatures” which you can size up to a multi-cell form by eating other creatures – and that’s it. So, gameplay-wise don’t expect too much.

To be honest games like these are ment to be this way. Having real challenges and a morphing scenario my alienate a group of people that simply want one easily to absorb experience. And people of older ages, that will most likely play this game, don’t have much time to get immersed in a real full-blown universe…

I loved paying this game right before I went to bed because it was calming and I didn’t have to strain myself to complete achievements. It was a doorway to dreamland (for real) and for that I will always keep it dear to my heart

Read other reviews of this game