TOTW: Elon Musk’s Super-Train Hyperloop

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11 years
by in TOTWs

Last year, the state of California gave 7.7 billion dollars to a project trying to build a high speed rail-train, California High Speed Rail (quite self-explanatory). But, this money was just enough to build a small section of the train, and in general, wasn’t that promising to the tech tycoons living, working and scheming in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk, the living comparison to Iron Man (though not as super-hero like), had an idea based off of the old 80s concept, the Hyperloop supertrain. The CHSR was just too expensive and slow, estimated to be around 220 mph. The Hyperloop will probably (hopefully) be 750 mph. Beat that, Californian government.

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Elon Musk Himself

While being able to go from San Francisco to LA in half an hour, we can’t help wondering, “How?” Well, as I said before, Musk took his idea off of the old vac-train concept. The train itself is in a tube, and because of California’s earthquake tendency, on pillars. On top of the tube are solar panels to help fuel the train. If it’s that fast, it might as well be green, to.

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The Train

The train, while in action, will ride on top of a floor of pressurized air, letting it, and helping it, gain and gain speed to 800 mph without those pesky sonic booms. To passengers, it will feel like a plane ride. But, after a recent announcement from Musk, we know that it just might be better. First of all, it will be cheaper for passengers. Musk said that the tickets will be cheaper and, not counting the machinery, the pods and tubes will be 6$ billion to build.

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The Tube

Secondly, Musk says that there will be a car option in some of the bigger tubes. You just drive into the train, take off, and be there in 30 min with your car, which can be very useful in cities like LA. Also, you save money, and hassle, from taxis. Overall, the Hyperloop train is so high-tech, cheap, green and revolutionary that I hope it carries through. It has the potential to take over from regular train everywhere. Then again, as Elon said, “Over 1,000 miles, the tube cost starts to become prohibitive, and you don’t want tubes every which way. You don’t want to live in Tube Land.” 

TOTW: Omni Virtual Reality Treadmill

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11 years
by in TOTWs

Complete virtual reality is still something for the future, but many companies are trying to make this future come faster, including Google, Oculus Rift, Microsoft and more, but we are often still missing something very important: physical movement. Yes, there is motion-tracking like on an XBOX, but if you want to step into that virtual world and actually walk and jump around it like in Star Trek, you are – or were – out of luck. That’s where Omni comes in.

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The Omni Logo

Omni is basically a treadmill. But better. Much better. Omni lets you roam free in video games that come for the Oculus Rift. No more hitting keys and looking at a screen. Paired up with the Oculus, Omni lets you walk through games such as Skyrim, Minecraft and Call Of Duty, while also looking around. Gaming will be transformed from sitting on a computer to actually sweating and running.

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The Omni Itself

How does Omni take your movement and transport it into the game world? Well, the minute you step into Omni invisible magical leeches – erm, just kidding. Rather, you first don special motion-tracking shoes that give Oculus the information about how to move. It is not really a treadmill in the sense that the floor doesn’t move. But, the curve makes it easy to move around, jump, and run away from angry ogres. Secondly, there is a belt that keeps you from tripping and falling, which will be very important since this is such a new technology. And finally, the software.

You would think that the software for Omni would be really really complicated, due to the fact that you have to translate it into code that the Oculus understands. But it isn’t. The programmers were tricky. They coded it so that your foot movements get translated into key strokes, making it easy on the Oculus. Plus, the Omni software for Kinect for Windows understands many more movements including crouching, jumping and some arm gestures. With Omni and Oculus Rift combined, virtual reality is even closer than ever.

AOTW: Clash Of Clans

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11 years
by in AOTWs

Way back in ye old history, like WAY back, parts of Europe was ruled by small clans, such as in Scotland, Wales and nowadays Germany. The chiefs relied on their skills in war to keep the throne. The rule was, the king had to lead them to victory, and the warriors get a share of the spoils. Also, the chiefs collected golden armbands. The more they had, the better their reputation. But, this was along time ago. Clash of Clans, the iOS app, brings back that time in a cartoony real time strategy game.

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Clash Of Clans

Here is the basis of Clash Of Clans: you run a “clan”, or town. The Town Hall is basically where you store the majority of your resources, mainly Elixir and Gold. Gold is used to buy most everything, except gold mines and gold storage. Elixir is the opposite (Elixir collectors and Elixir storages), except you use Elixir to take away obstacles like stones or trees and make troops. As you could probably guess, you make troops by spending your Elixir in the barracks. The higher level barracks, the better troops you can make. So, basically, you build buildings, upgrade them, and make your clan as impenetrable and resourceful as possible.

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The App Icon

At the very start of the game, your “guide” introduces you to battling. There is a whole storyline of battles integrated in the game. You are fighting goblins. They have outposts, which you set out to destroy. The actual battle game play is fairly good. You deposit your warriors on the outside of the walls in strategic places (if they have any), and different kinds of troops go for different parts of the town (i.e. giants go for defences, goblins go for resources) . But, from there, you can’t do anything. You just wait and watch. Which isn’t too bad, because it is entertaining and short, but still. If you win the battle, you take the gold and elixir you pillaged. Plus, you get a certain amount of trophies, which matter later in the game.

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An Average Town

Goblins aren’t the only ones you can fight. You can fight other players. This gives it an extra level of addiction. You get more and more trophies by battling people, and gain rankings by how many trophies you have. These rankings are called leagues. The higher league you are, the more bonus resources you get per successful battle. Also, you can compare yourself to other people, which is fun.

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The Most Basic Warrior

And of course, there are clans. Once you build the Clan Castle ($$$), you can join a clan, or make a clan. Some clans are invite only, but there are many good open clans. Once in a clan, you can talk to your clanmates and ask for reinforcements. Plus, it give you a big boost of trophies. Then, at the end of the Clan tournament, the top three clans get lots of resources to spread throughout their clan. Overall, Clash Of Clans is a great game. It really gives you an idea of what graphic designers think it was like back then, which really isn’t that useful information, but whatever.

AOTW: Bloons TD Battles Tower Defence

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11 years
by in AOTWs

There are many types of games. Most of which have been around for as long as Nintendo has been making them. But, in the recent decade or so, many new types of games have sprouted up and flourished like runners (Temple Run) and slingshotters (Angry Birds). Tower defense games is another category that sprang up from the vast internet. This one is a little less known, but is still thriving in the form of a couple popular games. On of those is Bloons TD Battles.

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A Screenshot

As you can probably guess, Bloons TD Battles bases their tower defence game off of balloons. Your defence: well, monkeys. But of course, not regular monkeys. Monkeys with weapons to pop the balloons. Dart Monkeys. Shuriken-throwing ninja monkeys. The balloons come on a single path at varying health and speed and you have to use the monkeys to stop them from going through. To do that, you place the monkeys in a spot that will give it maximum potential. The more you play, the cooler and better monkeys you get.

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The Title Screen

Bloons TD Battles basically defines the new generation of mobile gaming. It’s simple, you have an objective, it’s fun, and most importantly, it’s addicting. There is a computer version of it. It can be played multiplayer. All these virtues make the game good. There are later versions, but like many movies, I personally like the original most. Plus, who doesn’t like popping virtual balloons with armed virtual monkeys?

TOTW: Motorola’s Moto X

11 years
by in TOTWs

Motorola have finally come to their senses. Recently, they announced the making of their new phone, the Moto X. After previously selling their very, ah, unique Droid Razr, something new will certainly be a money jackpot for Motorola. And from what we know, it would probably be a money maker anyway.

On the outside, the Moto X looks a lot like a HTC One, except a little bit more dull, rather than silver and shiny. Also, Motorola gave it a more rounded look, with rounded corners, curved glass on the edges and a slightly curved back. That gives is a smooth and easy-to-hold feeling while using it. A classic Android looking phone.

And guess what? It is Android!!!!! Well, more specifically, it will come out with Google’s Jelly Bean 4.2.2. For all you Android people out there looking for a new phone, this might be for you. Having goods specs and a good design, it might be one of the top Android phones out there.

TechGot: Leap Moition Review

0
11 years
by in Uncategorized

After months of waiting, Leap Motion finally came! Originally, It was supposed to come in July, but you know how crowd-funders are. Anyway, now that it is here, I can say some things about how Leap actually works.

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The Leap How It Came

First of all, the Leap hardware is really nice. It is about as long as you finger and half as light. On the top is the scan area, which takes up the whole top. That gives it a very wide viewing area to work with and gives you a lot of freedom. All you have to do is plug it into a computer using 1 usb cable, and download the Airspace software on your computer and you are all set. Simple.

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Evolution Of Leap

Once you have downloaded the software, Leap goes through the “orientation”, which tells you how to work Leap (can view at any time). Then, it take you to Airspace. It literally is just the list of apps, a space-like background, a link to the online store, and a option to view the orientation. Again, Simple. At the very beginning, you have the option of downloading any of the free apps: Lotus, Shimsham, Cut The Rope and Molecules. Lotus is great; it basically harnesses the power of Leap and combines it in a very cool way with music. Shimsham is a 2 player gravity game that I also recommend. Cut The Rope is a Leap version of the classic iPhone app. It is fun, but very very short. And last of all, Molecules is what it sounds like: a 3D adjustable model of various chemicals.

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The Airspace Welcome Screen

Here come the disappointing part. Not disappointing by much, but still a little disappointing. Some of the apps, I said SOME, are a bit jumbled when it comes to the pin-point accuracy. Who knows why, but on some apps, such as  the drum app AirBeats, the controls are a bit hard to use. For instance, most apps use the system where you keep your finger on a menu option for a certain amount of time to select. In some apps, the mouse may flicker around making it hard to do that. It can be very frustrating. Still, this is an amazing device for such a cheap price. Despite what I said, it would still be worth buying to for someone who wants to stay ahead of the game in tech. To learn more about the Leap, check out my original post on the Leap!

 

TOTW: World’s Largest Building Open In China

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11 years
by in TOTWs

You thought your local mall is big? Pah! Having took 3 years to build, the New Century Global Center in China recently opened up to the public and already dubbed it “world’s largest building”. And when China say largest, they mean LARGEST. The NCGC is 19 million square feet, which is big enough to hold 3 Pentagons.

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The Beautiful Entranceway and Building

So what in the world do they do with all that space?  Well, to be exact, they use it to make the best, most awesome building ever. First of all, they have a 4,305,564.17 square feet shopping mall with various shops and boutiques. A shoppers dream. And they do it in style, to. The building was inspired by waves of the ocean and flying sea-gulls, so the shopping mall and lobby take on a Mediterranean theme.

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The Mall

Going along with the “waves of the sea” inspiration, the middle section of the building is a incredible water park. The park is surrounded by a glass dome, but even in that, the managed to fit a 100 ft long artificial coastline, water slides and a fake Mediterranean Village/hotel. This certainly adds “amusement” to NCGC’s giant resumè.

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The Fake Beach

I could go on forever naming things the NCGC has in it, like a ice rink or a theater (which it does have), I would like to move on to the second and only other building in the NCGC complex (does not count in biggest building ranking), the Chengdu Contemporary Arts Centre. The CCAC is, really, a giant modern art museum, complete with a theatre that holds 2,000 people, another stage that holds 1,000 people, and a multipurpose auditorium which holds 1,000 people. World-renowned shows and performances will take place there all year, so that the CCAC can really complete your visit for anyone who likes that arts.

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The Finished Product

Overall, the New Century Global Center really shows that if we want to build big and grand we can. I mean, seriously, this thing even has it’s own artificial sun! But, money and tourism aren’t the only reasons they built paradise so big. Part of it is pollution. They need a way to distract tourists and get out of the heavily polluted air. It’s a step, and in this case and really BIG step.

TOTW: WigWag Home Customizable Sensors

0
11 years
by in TOTWs

There are many great products out there to help make life easier and do certain chores for you, such as the thermostat Nest. But, none really cover all the small things, like turning off the sprinklers when you walk by. Not surprisingly, Kickstarter holds one candidate to fix that, WigWag. WigWag goes even farther than that, though.

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The Logo

Physically, WigWag is a combination of sensors built in a way to be able to use any of them. It is built in a square casing, slightly smaller than your hand. That is the perfect size (it could always be smaller) to fit under beds or any other place for the main set. Smaller sensors or decor can be added on or connected to, like lights, so that WigWag can regulate more of your house.

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The Body Of WigWag

The software (i.e. the iPhone app) for WigWag works a lot like IFTTT (If This Then That). Except WigWag, it is When/Then. There are many (more if you add your own sensors) option for both When and Then. An example is When motion detected, Then brighten lights. This includes things like Tweet and Text, because we could always use a little bit more time on Twitter.

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Different Sensors It Can Connect To

Overall, WigWag is a great tool to make our lives simpler. If you want your own WigWag, you have to get it before August 18th when it goes off Kickstarter successfully (it has already passed it’s goal by 100,000). Hopefully it can follow through on it’s purpose, because people don’t want to have to do things, they want to Wag it.

AOTW: Civilization V Brave New World Review

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11 years
by in AOTWs

Finally! After waiting a year since the last update, Civilization V has been updated in the form of a expansion pack, Brave New World. After coming out on July 9th in the US and July 12th everywhere else, I got to play it and I have to say it is worth the money. If you want a more fully-detailed description of the game, go to the preview. The information was correct. Here, I will go over gameplay strategies and other specifics.

Culture

First of all, the Social Policy Tree has been updated to add 2 new trees: Exploration and Aesthetics. Aesthetics provides support to culture-seeking player, with policies such as reducing the culture cost of policies by 15%. But the real way to win a culture victory is Tourism. To get tourism, you have to produce Great Artists, Writers and Musicians. They can be expended to leave Great Works behind. Each of these Great Works are worth 2 Tourism points. But, you have to house these in building such as Museums, Palaces and Wonders. Without a housing, you will be forced to either wait, produce one, or use the Plan B bonus. Trust me, that is frustrating. I had a Golden Age that lasted practically half the game since I didn’t have a house for the Great Artists. Anyway, put your Great People into cities that are already producing culture, producing Great People, producing more culture. It is a vicious cycle. To win a Culture Victory, you just have to have “Influential” (it rates your tourism influence over other civs in levels) Tourism for every other civ. Also, one civ that can help you achieve this is the new Pedro II of Brazil. who gets extra Tourism and culture in Golden Ages, or “Carnivals”.

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The Policies

Diplomacy

The real only change to Diplomacy is the World Congress, but it is a great one. Once one civ has met everyone in the world, the World Congress begins. Whoever triggered is hosts the first sessions. The hosts get reassigned each new age, but with a reward. First, you and the person with the 2nd most delegates get to propose resolution, which are bonuses that get voted on. Delegates are your votes. If you are the host, you automatically get a couple extra delegates. Other ways to get more Delegates are by wonders and other special features, but one way is very important  city-state allies. In the 2nd age of the Congress, city-state allies give you an extra vote. So, before the congress, use you money and do all you can to win over city-states. Also, when the time comes to get a new host, use all your delegates. It is crucial. Because later on when it automatically proposes World Leader, which triggers the Diplomatic victory.

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The World Congress Screen

War

Not much has been changed in war, for that was what Gods and Kings waas about. But, a civ that strives on war and dominancy was added: Zulu. If war is your goal, Zulu would be a good choice of a civ.

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His Jungle-ness, The Mighty Shaka Zulu

Science

Like war, science was not altered in Brave New World. Only, like G&K, a new civ that is a mix between war and science was introduced: Ashurbanipal. Every time you capture a city as him, you can steal one of their already-researched techs. Very handy.

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And Ashur

Overall, Brave New World defiantly did not disappoint. It’s new features, such as Tourism and Trade Routes, which I did not mention but can be read about in the preview, are so adverse and realistic. Every year, Civ gets closer and closer to felling like real life. And if you haven’t bought Civilization V Brave New World, something is really wrong with you and you should buy it and change that.

AOTW: Civilization V Brave New World Preview

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11 years
by in AOTWs

Whatever kind of gamer you are, wether it is RPG or puzzle, you have got to have heard of Sid Meier’s Civilization V. Civ V is a game where you start as a pre-made civilization, such as Napoleon, Gandhi, Ramesses II and Elizabeth I. Each of these civs have special units and abilities. Basically, you try to beat AI civs, and control the world on way or another. I could go on forever, but, for this I am going to assume you know how to play. Anyway, after about a year to play around with Civ V’s 1st expansion pack Gods And Kings, Sid Meier announced announced a second expansion pack, Brave New World. And from information we have now, it’s going to be a big change.

Civs

First of all, 9 new civs will be added to the game. Here are the most exiting of the bunch:

Ashurbanipal Of Assyria: Being the 3rd Mesopotamian civ, after Darius and Nebuchadnezzar, Ashurbanipal of Assyria has the amazing ability Treasures of Nineveh. It allows you to steal a enemy technology every time you capture a city! This is great for any war-going players that want to have superior weapons and techs.

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Assyria’s Unique Unit, The Siege Tower

Gajah Mada Of Indonesia: Gajah Mada is personally my favorite of the new civs. His ingenious animation is incredibly amazing (OK fine. That my be overdoing it). Spice Islanders, Gajah’s ability, gives each of their fist 3 cities on continents other than the founding continent a free luxury resource of your choice.

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Gajah Mada Himself

Pocatello Of The Shoshone Native Americans: After Hiawatha, Pocatello is the second native american leader. His ability Great Expanse gives his founded cities a free extra tile. Also, their soldiers get a combat bonus when fighting in their own territory. Comanche Riders, his special unit (along with Pathfinder), is a awesome horse rider that replaces Calvary.

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Comanche Rider

Shaka Of The Zulus: Ashurbanipal goes for science; Gajah Mada for trading/culture; Pocatello for expansion; Zulu for war. His best unit, the Impi, replace the Pikemen. They can attack twice, once in range, once in melee in one turn. Also, his ability makes war more efficient and less taxing.

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Shaka

Overall, it is amazing how the designers can come up with so many civs with so many unique abilities and units. They almost certainly have historians working for them. Plus, the tourism and trade route features are used in many of the new abilities. Interestingly, many of the new civs, including Brazil (Rio), Indonesia (Jakarta), Morocco (Marrakech), Portugal (Lisbon) and Venice (Venice) have had their capitals upgraded from city-states. Consequently, about 19 city-states have been added. I have to say, they did a good job (or at least I think).

Diplomacy

The main focus in BNW is making the game more interesting for culture/diplomatic playing in later stages of the game. A big update is the new World Congress. The World Congress is the new way to win a Diplomatic Victory. The World Congress gets initiated when one player meets all the civs, and has the tech Printing Press. Then, you automatically get introduced to all of them. Whoever initiated the Congress hosts it, meaning they get an extra delegate. Each delegate counts for 1 vote (allied city-states can get you more delegates). They are voting on what is called a resolution. The resolution are different bonuses, some projects (Manhattan Project), some rules. The host civ and the civ with the most delegates each pick a resolution, and they get voted on. This gets repeated every so-and-so turns, until the United Nation is built and they elect a World Leader for the Diplomatic Victory.

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Culture

Even more than diplomacy, culture in has been completely turned on it’s head. There are several different new features:

Social Policies/Ideologies

First of all, the Social Policy tree has been changed. Instead of Autocracy, Order and Freedom, which have been changed into the three main Ideologies, there are now Exploration and Aesthetics. Exploration gives more sight and movements, and Aesthetics boosts culture. Commerce has also been changed, giving it the power to upgrade your trade routes.

To make culture not as bland, Fraxis added Ideologies in BNW. Ideologies are basically trees of upgrades (like in religions). As I said, you can choose Autocracy, Order or Freedom. Each has it’s own upgrades, or Tenets, which also influence your relation with other civs.

Tourism 

Tourism is like your counter to other civs culture defense. To generate more tourism, you use things like having open boarder treaties or wonders. Your tourism is rated in 4 or maybe 5 levels: Exotic, Familiar, Popular, Influential and maybe Dominant. If your tourism is strong enough, the public might second guess their chosen Ideology, creating unhappiness (this can be monitored in the Public Opinion bar). If it gets really bad, their cities may switch over to you. If you become Influential in every other civ, you win a Culture Victory.

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Trade Routes

Trade Routes have also been upgraded in BNW. The regular trade routes made by roads still exist, but are just called “City Connections”. Regular Trade Routes are now physical (if you can say that for a video game) units. They can be made in the form of Caravans (for land) or Cargo Ships (for sea). For each unit, you can pick which city you want to have it go to. Each city has it’s own production. Unfortunately  at the start, you can only have 2 trade routes, but select civs and policies can change that. Usually you end up with 7 or 8. Trade routes also carry religious, scientific and tourism-related bonuses to the other city.

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As much as I would like all this to be real (and it probably is), there’s a small chance that it could be wrong. But for now, let’s assume it’s right for the fun of it. Assuming that, I could go on forever on all the new stuff there is. But I will save it for the review. This is a very exciting release for Civilization fans everywhere. And if you don’t have it, I suggest you get it now. It is probably the best stragety game out there, and Brave New World just made it more complete. Check back here for my review after the release on July 9th in America, and July 12th everywhere else!

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