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Guides

How To Open Windows 8 Style Apps in Desktop Mode

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Windows 8 is unlike any other Windows OS we’ve seen and although the new “tile system” is pretty cool. The look and feel of full screen applications on Windows 8 are also a big departure from what we’re used to, but not everyone is enjoying it.

ModernMixSS

If you’re one of those people who have a few favorite apps that are exclusive to the new Windows 8 style UI (metro) and would much rather have them open up on the “classic desktop”  in a regular window, then you’re in luck.

There’s a great app from Stardock called ModernMix that does all of this for you and isn’t just a change of appearance either. These are fully functional windows that can be resized, pinned to the taskbar, and completely closed using the familiar “X” button.

Sounds simple enough, and if you’re not enjoying the new style of  Windows then this could be a perfect solution.

You can try it for free for a month and the application is only $4.99 to purchase.

How To Skip Activation on The Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Fascinate

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samsungGalaxyS3

Sometimes you find yourself wanting to use a phone for Wi-Fi, gaming only, or maybe you just need to access content on an old phone but you can’t seem to get past the activation screen.

There has to be a way to make an “un-activated” phone more useful. Well, there is, and it only requires a secret key press combination to get you past the activation screen.

Obviously, you will not have the “full” functionality of the phone, but at least you don’t have to use it as a paperweight.

For the Samsung Galaxy S3 press this key combination:

  • Bottom left corner
  • Bottom right corner
  • Bottom left corner
  • Bottom right corner
  • Volume up

* TIP: You should be on the language selection screen when entering the key combination.

For the Samsung Fascinate:

  • Enter the emergency dialer
  • Dial *#83786633
  • Press Send
  • Press Home Key

 

 

A Quick Look at How Lightning Works and a Cool Video

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It’s that time of year again in most the United States when we start to see warming temperatures and that means a lots of thunderstorms. We see the flash and then hear the rumble of thunder as we witness the power of our planet’s weather system.

Although many of us have experienced a thunderstorm, few truly understand what’s going on out there when lightning strikes. It’s quite clear why it would be difficult to determine exactly what’s going on when a thunderstorm produces lightning, after all, lightning happens in a split second. Thankfully, there are lots of people out there studying storms and using high speed cameras to slow everything down, this helps us get a clearer picture of what’s happening. One of those people is Tom A. Warner, a photographer who has captured some amazing footage of lightning, among many other things.

Lightning occurs when a storm becomes electrified. As the storm moves over an area, it’s negative charge causes the ground around it go become positively charged. This build up and difference in electrical charge is why lightning occurs. What’s even more interesting is that the lighting doesn’t just come lying out of the cloud, at least not initially. A Stepped Leader (-) begins to make it’s way down from the cloud as streamers (+) move upward from the ground. When the streamer meets the step leader then connection is complete and we see the resulting discharge as lightning. In the video above you can clearly see the Stepped Leader searching for the best path for the lightning to take.

Anything can produce a streamer towards a storm cloud, it’s usually a tall object but even you could be producing one. What’s worse is you could become part of the circuit and bam, you’ve been hit by lightning. That’s why it’s important to follow safety guidelines if your caught in a storm

Lightning Animation B
Stepped Leader Animation (Credit: NOAA)
Lightning Animation A
Streamer Animation (Credit: NOAA)

 

 

 

Nintendo’s Secret Song and How to Hear It

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Who doesn’t love finding hidden things? In video games there are often many different hidden secrets within the content and sometimes these little gems are referred to a “Easter Eggs”.

Easter Egg

One unique secret is actually a song known as “Totaka’s Song”. This interesting little number was created by Kazumi Totaka, a video game the composer who has created music for titles such as Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

The song, like any good secret, can be quite difficult to find. One of the easier ways to find the song is in the game Mario Paint where all you have to do to hear the special tune is click on the “O” when your at the title screen of the game.

Here is a list of known titles that contain this secret song:

  • Animal Forest (Japan) and Animal Crossing (World)
  • Animal Crossing: City Folk
  • Animal Crossing e-Reader cards (#P15, “Boy”, “Who’s Dunnit?”)
  • Animal Crossing: Wild World
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf
  • Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and the DX version
  • Luigi’s Mansion
  • Mario Artist: Talent Studio
  • Mario Paint
  • Pikmin 2
  • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  • Virtual Boy Wario Land
  • X
  • X-Scape
  • Yoshi’s Story
  • Yoshi Touch & Go

 

How To Test Your CPU Performance with SuperPi and wPrime

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superPi

For a custom PC builder there’s nothing more satisfying than finishing up your build so you can put it to the test. Sure you can open up an application and perform certain tasks to give you an idea of how your new build is performing, but you can also use specific programs that are designed specifically to benchmark.

One of these applications is actually quite simple. SuperPi calculates Pi to a specific number of digits and then displays the time it took to calculate the answer for each iteration. You can also determine the accuracy of the calculation which can also help determine stability of the system, this is perfect for overclocking.

It’s important to note that SuperPi is intended to test single threaded performance, if you’re looking to test multi-threaded performance you can utilize wPrime.

wPrime uses a recursive call of Newton’s method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we’re square rooting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n(k)2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum.