GeekwithEnvy

PC

Diablo III Anniversary Brings Gifts

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It’s hard to believe that it has already been a year since the release of Diablo III (May 15 2012) but it’s not time to sit and reflect, it’s time to celebrate. Blizzard is offering players who login to Diablo III between May 15 and May 21 a 25% boost to their Magic Find and +EXP stats plus your magic find bonus will stack above the 300% cap. That’s a pretty sweet deal.

To make your desktop look a little less lame and a little more evil, Blizzard has also put up some new Diablo III wallpapers. Blizzard also has a few other fun things going on in celebration of the anniversary including live streams and having you spread the word by showing off your love of the game by taking a picture of you and your friends holding a “Happy Birthday Diablo III” sign and then tweeting it, and if they like what you send them they will re-tweet it.

*Interesting Fact: Diablo III sold  3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours after it’s release, making it the fastest selling PC game.

It’s No Longer Blue, It’s Windows 8.1

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Windows 8 LogoThe next update to Windows 8, which was codenamed “Blue”, now has an official name, Windows 8.1. That sounds about right, there’s really no need to put any spin on it, just increment and improve please. Windows 8 is an adventure and whether you love it or hate it, it’s clear that the OS needs a bit of repair and a whole lot of love. The update will be available for free.

One of the biggest problems I have with Windows 8 is it’s dual personality. Currently, the new UI doesn’t allow you to access to all of the settings that are available in the control panel, instead you end up back in “Desktop Mode” with the “old” control panel open. The experience needs to feel complete and flipping between old and new just breaks up the flow. It needs to be one or the other. Windows 8.1 will hopefully address some of these issues by fully integrating your settings into the new UI.

This is the first of many updates that will eventually hit Windows 8 users as Microsoft has ramped up their update release schedule. Some see this new cycle as an advantage for Microsoft as it allows them to keep things “fresh”. Others have criticized the new cycle saying that updates could be a lot less stable and/or secure since they have less time to work out the bugs. No matter what we think, Microsoft has chosen a direction and time will tell whether it was the right direction.

 

 

Diablo III for PS3 Available for Pre-Order

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D3Console
Source: Blizzard Entertainment

Diablo III for the Playstation 3 is now available for pre-order through Amazon, GameStop, and Walmart. Pre-orders will also include an “Infernal Helm” and Experience Bonus. The game will retail for $59.99.

The PS3 version obviously has some pretty significant changes to the UI in order to make it work well on a console but otherwise the game appears to look pretty much the same. Believe it or not this actually isn’t the first time Blizzard has released Diablo for the Playstation. In 1998 Blizzard released the original Diablo on the first Playstation and that game also featured significant UI changes and even some graphical updates.

If your a PC gamer then this may not interest you much, especially if you already own D3, unless your trying to put a collection together. However, this does offer up an opportunity for Blizzard to bring Diablo 3 to a larger audience.

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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.

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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.

Awesome New Way To Experience Google Street View

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An amazing little project by Teehan+Lax changes the way we use Street View by creating incredible “Hyper-Lapse” video from the images in google’s Street View database by stringing them all together. The end result is just plain awesome to look at.

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Even better, you can make your own version, although it will be a slightly lower quality version. All you need is a browser that supports WebGL, like Goole Chrome, Safari, Opera, or Firefox and then you can simply head here to set a start and finish point and make your “Hyper-Lapse” video.

Hyper-lapse photography – a technique combining time-lapse and sweeping camera movements typically focused on a point-of-interest – has been a growing trend on video sites. It’s not hard to find stunning examples on Vimeo. Creating them requires precision and many hours stitching together photos taken from carefully mapped locations. We aimed at making the process simpler by using Google Street View as an aid, but quickly discovered that it could be used as the source material. It worked so well, we decided to design a very usable UI around our engine and release Google Street View Hyperlapse.”

To Enable WebGL in Safari on the Mac (Safari 5.1 and Up):

  • In Safari, open the Safari menu and select Preferences.
  • Click the Advanced tab in the Preferences window.
  • At the bottom of the window, check the Show Develop menu in menu bar checkbox.
  • Open the Develop menu in the menu bar and select Enable WebGL.

Firefox (4 and Up) WebGL is on by Default

For Internet Explorer you can use this plugin.