Have yourself a merry IT Christmas…

The largest IT exhibit is back. Computer Manufacturers, Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines (COMDDAP) Expo is here once again to showcase 42 exhibitors and their latest whatchamacallits. So expect the best bargains and awesome promo discounts on the coolest techy stuff from Canon, Astone, Seagate, MSI, ECS and other IT brands.

Admission is free, register here.

As for a new project i have in mind, a text adventure with graphics like the magnetic scrolls series, I’m thinking about the image and color/palette formats the various amiga models use and handle.

The Amiga “Denise” chip is responsible for the graphical capabilities of the OCS/ECS amigas. That is the MOS 8362 “Denise” for OCS or MOS 8370 “Hires/ECS Denise” for ECS.

Amiga “Agnus” chip is responible for controlling the ChipRAM, DMA, resource management, video signals, copper and blitter.
See an “Agnus” table of various versions here.

For the 1992 upcoming AGA chipset both chips got renamed:

OCS (Original Chip Set)

• MOS 8362 “Denise”, MOS 8370/8371 “Agnus”
• Earliest Amiga models 1985-1990
  A500, A1000, A1500 (an UK specific A2000 derivate), A2000
• Kickstart 1.0+
• Palette of 4096 colors (12bit)
• Adressing up to 512kB ChipRAM

ECS (Enhanced Chip Set)

• MOS 8373 “Hires/ECS Denise”, MOS 8372-A/B or MOS 8375 “Agnus”
• Later Amiga models 1990+
  A3000, A500+, A600 and upgrade kits for older models.
• Kickstart 2.0+
• Palette of 4096 colors (12bit)

Additional features over OCS:

• Adressing 1MB/2MB ChipRAM with appropriate “Agnus”
• Display resolutions like OCS plus:
  • Productivity Mode (640×480x4 non-interlaced)
  • SuperHires Mode (1280×256x4 non-interlaced / 1280×512x4 interlaced)
• Blitter copies regions larger than 1024×1024
• Display sprites in border regions

AGA (Advanced Graphics Architecture)

• MOS 8364 “Lisa” chip, formerly “Denise”
  MOS 8374 “Alice” chip, formerly “Agnus”
• Introduced 1992, first use in A4000, later A1200 (1992) and CD32 (1993)
• Kickstart 3.0+

Additional features over ECS:

• Adressing up to 2MB ChipRAM
• Palette of 16777216 colors (24bit)
• Display resolutions like ECS plus:
  • 256 colors in every indexed display mode
  • 262144 colors in HAM-8 modes
• Super Hires smooth scrolling
• 32bit fast page memory for 8bitplanes graphics modes
• Wider sprites

…to be continued…

ToDo:

• EHB modes
• Table
• Example Pictures

Confiram abaixo um apanhado geral das GeForces GT 240 até agora anunciadas na imprensa mundial.

XFX
2 opções (no mínimo): todas com GPU em 550Mhz, shaders a 1.34Ghz e memórias com as seguintes configurações: 512MB a 1.60Ghz (SDDR3) e  1GB a 3.40Ghz (GDDR5).

Galaxy
3 opções: todas com GPU em 550Mhz, shaders a 1.34Ghz e memórias com as seguintes configurações: 512MB a 1.80Ghz (GDDR3); 1GB a 1.80Ghz (GDDR3) e 1GB a 3.60Ghz (GDDR5).

MSI
4 opções: todas com GPU em 550Mhz, shaders a 1.34Ghz e memórias com as seguintes configurações: 2 com 512MB a 3.60Ghz (GDDR5) e  2 com 512MB a 3.40Ghz (GDDR5).

Inno3D
Ao menos 3 opções: todas com GPU em 550Mhz, shaders a 1.34Ghz e memórias com 512MB/1GB com as seguintes configurações: 1.40Ghz (GDDR3); 1.58Ghz (SDDR3) e 3.40Ghz (GDDR5).

Point of View
3 modelos: todas com GPU em 550Mhz, shaders a 1.34Ghz e memórias com as seguintes configurações: 512MB a 1.80Ghz (SDDR3); 1GB a 1.60Ghz (SDDR3) e 512MB a 3.40Ghz (GDDR5).

EVGA
4 modelos: todas com GPU em 550Mhz, shaders a 1.34Ghz e memórias com as seguintes configurações: 1GB a 1.58Ghz (SDDR3), 2 de 512MB a 3.40Ghz (GDDR5) e 512MB a 3.60Ghz (GDDR5).

ECS
2 opções: todas com GPU em 550Mhz, shaders a 1.34Ghz e memórias com as seguintes configurações: 512MB a 3.40Ghz (GDDR5) e  1GB a 3.40Ghz (GDDR5).

Fonte: Adrenaline

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday proposed an action plan on payment systems which have been targeted to be achieved in the next one-to-three years, including putting in place alternate settlement arrangements in the event of non-availability of RBI as a settlement bank.

Further, a road map for National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will be finalised. NPCI has been set up as an umbrella organisation by the banking community to take over the retail payment system activities. The operations of NPCI will be permitted after due authorisation and the activities will be closely monitored.

NPCI would also undertake initiatives in India Card, a domestic card initiative; redesigning ECS to function as a true automated clearing house (ACH) for bulk transactions; and mobile payments settlement network by building a national infrastructure for facilitating real time mobile payments.

All large-value and time-critical payments will be processed only through the electronic mode. All bank branches will be enabled with Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) and MICR codes. The intention is to leave the user with the choice of product for retail and small-value transactions namely use of MICR for National Electronic Clearing Service (NECS) and IFSC for NEFT.

Operationalising MICR-Cheque Processing Centres (MICR-CPCs) will be considered at all locations that are viable and have a daily volume of 10,000 instruments or more. Speed clearing to clear outstation cheques at the centre of presentment will be extended to cover 100 major centres. Cheque truncation system (CTS) will be rolled out in Chennai.

The RBI has placed on the website the draft of ‘Payment systems in India — Vision 2009-12’ for public comments. Comments may be addressed either by post to the Chief General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, Central Office, Fort, Mumbai-400001 or sent by fax at no. 022-2265 9566 or sent by e-mail on or before November 30.

Me es grato compartir dos eventos que se realizarán hoy en que intervienen docentes y estudiantes de la Escuela de Comunicación Social, el primero es la presentación de obras del grupo de teatro que dirige Alain Chavianno, docente integrante del área de video; y el otro es la reunión con los novatos que realiza la dirección de estudiantes de la Escuela.

Obras Grupo de Teatro - UTPL.

Reunión novatos ECS.

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FELAFACS

• De Martín-Barbero, recojo la capacitación de adultos en NTIC´s y la agenda país desde la comunicación (entre saberes desechables y saberes indispensables).
• Lila Luchessi; el 81% de la población se informa por TV, es fundamental incidir en la toma de decisiones ayudados por herramientas de comunicación.
• Silvia Álvarez; desastre y escándalo no son territorios recientes, podemos empatar viejos y nuevos territorios, panóptico relevado por sinóptico, tecnologías de uno mismo.
• Eduardo Villanueva; necesidad de sistematización, sistematizar experiencia, comunicación “sistematización de haceres”.
• Francisco Sierra; consumo aspecto central del capitalismo cognitivo, dispositivos cognitivos permiten acceder al conocimiento, acceso en contradicción inclusión – exclusión, cultura mediática de baja calidad, dialéctica del capitalismo cognitivo: desnacionalización, desilustración, deslocalización, transformación del concepto de democracia en bien económico, volver a recuperar el papel del estado, principios de cambio: trabajo creativo, nueva cooperación productiva, formas de organización institucional.
• Marcial Murciano; universidad museo reemplazada por universidad en red, sistema de créditos en la formación –ECTS-, formar en competencias.
• Octavio Islas; fuentes de información: Internet World Stats, eMarketer, ReporteIndigo.

Luego de la presentación de resultados del proyecto "Formación de comunicadores sociales para la integración Andina: el rol de las facultades de comunicación" - FELAFACS - SOCICAN.

Algunos hechos importantes para el equipo de comunicación de la UTPL.

• El centro de investigación de la UTPL (VIA) participa en la Red Internacional de Centros de Investigación en Comunicación de America Latina. Ahora somos parte el comité consultivo.  La Red vive la etapa fundacional.  La dirección está en la Universidad de Anahuac – México.
• En la elección del Concejo Directivo de FELAFACS para el periodo 2010-2012, fui elegido representante alterno de la Región Andina y a su vez parte el Consejo Directivo, la representación principal la lleva Martha Paz de Bolivia.
• La UTPL participó en el estudio de “Formación de comunicadores sociales para la integración Andina: el rol de las facultades de comunicación” – FELAFACS – SOCICAN.  A través de Pablo Escandón, Director de la Revista Chasqui y profesor de la Escuela de Comunicación. En la publicación del Libro “La Integración regional en las facultades de comunicación andina” se menciona nuestro trabajo y la co-autoria del estudio del representante de la UTPL.
• Se considera la labor de la Escuela de Comunicación de la UTPL en la publicación del libro “Mapa de los centros y programas de formación de comunicadores y periodistas en América Latina y el Caribe”.
• Entre los puntos claves que FELAFACS trabajará el próximo bienio, destaco los siguientes: acreditación (conformar comité de expertos, establecer parámetros), movilidad académica intrarregional, investigación en NTIC´s, indexación de la revista “Diálogos”  y consecución de fondos para proyectos en las regiones.

Today, In the mail, I received my Canon EC-S focusing screen. What you ask? Is an Ec-S focusing screen? Well the marketing geniuses at Canon label’s its features as:

• Focusing screen features super precision matte
• Essential for manual focusing shots
• Makes it easy to determine the precise point of the sharpest focus

In laymens terms, it is essentially a 40 dollar piece of plastic, no larger than the size of a quarter, that allows geeky photographers to take pictures using old ass lenses that can’t auto-focus( or super crazy macro lenses ).

Which begs the question. “What idiot would go and waste $40 dollars on a tiny piece of plastic?” ….As the room goes silent, only one idiot raises his hand. Yes, that idiot, would be none other than yours truly.

Installation was pretty straight forward. You open up your camera and poke at the top to release the focusing screen housing.

Just be very careful to try to perform this action in a relatively dust free environment, and be sure to clean your hands. Otherwise, bad things will happen to your sensor. You use the handy dandy tool that comes with the Ec-S screen to take the original focusing screen out, and replace it with the shiny new focusing screen.

Snap the housing back in place, and plop a lens back onto your camera. Note: The EC-S is can technically only be used on a 1DIIN, 1DIII, 1DsIII and a few higher end film bodies from Canon. The reason is you need to go into the custom functions of the camera and inform it that you are using the Ec-S screen so that the light meter can recalibrate itself to the darker screen. Darker screen you say? Yes…once installed you will lose 1-stop of light, therefore you will need fast glass to even use this. lenses of 2.8 aperture or wider is ideal. (But I’ll get to my conclusions later).

So after I installed this wondrous new focusing screen (note the sarcasm), I immediately put on in my macro lens and attempted to take a picture (Yes I shot that using manual focus).

And Wow…I must admit. There is a world of difference (Again, note the sarcasm). It is then that I finally realized the futility of my new expensive piece of plastic. Manual focusing, and thus, manual focus lenses are really supposed to be used by people who could actually SEE! Yes, people with don’t wear ginormous bottle cap glasses such as myself. People with better vision who could…for lack of a better term….Actually manually focus! Blind people, such as myself rely on newfangled computers to determine focus. Though I wonder if it means that video camera operators must have good or near perfect vision, because most higher end cameras are all fully manual focus only?

So, to conclude my review, all kidding aside. I think there is about a 15% to 20% increase in the clarity of the image for manual focusing. The Ec-S screen as neat as it is, may not be the most practical purchase because newer camera bodies these days offer live view. That is, it allow you to visually see what you are focusing on via the LCD with super precision. You can Optically zoom 10x and focus precisely. Even blind people like me can use live view to focus accurately. New technology has made this EC-S screen obsolete, in my opinion. I’ll keep the new ec-s on my camera for a bit to see how it performs during daylight conditions. My 1DII does not have live view, so I may decide to keep it. However, I have a sneaking suspicion it will go back into the box eventually, and perhaps I’ll put it up for sale for someone else to try =)

I started out wanting to discuss the discipline policies of my school in general but recently an interesting incident came up at the school which makes me want to focus in on a particular problem; the problem is the danger of cell phones in the school and classroom. This has become an issue that is coming to the forefront in so many places and I don’t agree with what has been happening with the allowance of cell phones in school.
Initially I wanted to discuss discipline in general because our school started a brand new middle school section last year with a very relaxed discipline policy. We had taken the high school policy , modified it a bit to be more middle school friendly and put it into the handbook/planner. Our principal’s thoughts were that if we just trained the students (which she assumed were all very well mannered to begin with) well enough from the beginning, we wouldn’t have any issues. It turns out that wasn’t the case. Things progressed to such a stage that we created an interim Dean of Students position which added onto someone’s already full time teaching duties. This only helped a little. Finally, at the end of the year we had to all become the faculty police to regain some sort of order in the spring fever chaos that happens in many schools.
This year things have changed and we have a full time Dean of Students. The Dean works well for us but that doesn’t mean those occasional altercations and misbehaviors won’t happen. I generally don’t have a problem with how those situations get dealt with either because as long as there is a prescribed code of conduct or discipline procedure that is being followed and everyone has agreed to it, the policy works well. In most schools since people come from so many diverse backgrounds, it is important to have a system pre-designed with the school mission in mind because it would be impossible to honor each and every family’s /faculty member’s wishes in any given discipline plan. The issue this time was two boys got into a fight and a crowd surrounded them and was chanting and cheering them on. One would think this is probably a common but unwanted thing that happens in schools across the world. They got suspended as is the protocol in many schools and ours but two more students also got suspended for taping the event on their cell phones and then posting it to youtube.com. This is where is gets extreme and enters some new territory on discipline and cell phone use.
Cell phones in the classroom only became a big issue since the age of the different terror attacks: local, national and international. One side of the argument, for having cell phones in the classroom, states that it is for the students’ safety in these situations. Parents and students alike want to be able to get a hold of each other in case of emergencies. The other side of the argument, for no cell phones in classrooms, states that the cell phones are disruptive to the school/classroom environment. Schools do a great job of disseminating information when the actual emergencies arise and many schools allow children to use the school phones to contact parents if needed. I don’t think that students should carry cell phones in school but since they do have them, I have found educational uses for them on occasion.
I think that it was good decision for the students to get suspended for taping the fight and posting the fight to youtube.com. It is one that may have been outside of the scope of what may be outlined in our school handbook but it certainly seems to fit for an unprecedented issue. By taping the fight, it would be a violation of one’s right to privacy and by sharing it, I am sure that act is breaking even more laws for which an adult could easily get into lots of legal trouble. There is so much gray area in how a 12-14 year old would get treated as opposed to an adult’s treatment. I can just imagine arguments being made for and against the teenager’s level of responsibility as a person and to their society. It does however bring up several good questions about students’ rights and responsibilities which I look forward to researching for my full length paper.

Sources
Dean of Students- Middle School
Middle School Handbook- Discipline Section
http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/cell_phones.html

Grata, muy grata ha sido la visita al Centro Internacional de Madrid de la UTPL.  He saludado a Margarita Chavarria, Directora del Centro, al personal de colaboradores y de manera particular a los estudiantes de la carrera de comunicación social.  Más allá de resolver problemas coyunturales me han ayudado a ver oportunidades para el trabajo en equipo de cara a consolidar las competencias que ya poseen como realizadores, periodistas, relacionadores públicos, gestores… personas que sueñan con “ser más”.

Ahora debemos ajustar un plan de trabajo que, de a poco, puede ser el germen del equipo internacional del CITTES VIA Comunicaciones.  Hay mucho por hacer en pro de establecer mejores condiciones para la comunidad académica en Madrid.  Habrán que tocar muchas puertas pero estoy seguro que cada día iremos sumando en crear espacios de prácticas e inserción laboral.

Cet article permet de mieux comprendre l’évolution des styles de vies britanniques au travers des changements d’intérieurs de leurs habitations ; il permet aussi de prendre connaissance de certains termes très usités par nos amis anglais qui sont passionnés de décoration intérieure.
Cliquez ici : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/interiors/article6867325.ece

Que quede claro de entrada, yo, Miguel Ángel Rangel AKA Chancho, mayor de edad, de este domicilio, declaro que NUNCA he dudado del gusto enorme que le tengo a mi adorada profesión que, aunque tarde, adopté desde Septiembre de 2005. Mas allá de que una u otra vez yo haya dicho algo sobre la escuela es precisamente sobre eso, sobre la escuela, no de la carrera. Habiendo aclarado, sigo…

Tengo un problema enorme, el cual se separa en mas de 4 partes y le llaman Departamento de Ciencias de la Comunicación. En el segundo semestre, por allá Marzo de 2006, cursé algo llamado Teoría de la Comunicación y de acuerdo al curso normal de las cosas, para Septiempre de ese mismo año debería estar cursando otra llamada Psicología de la Comunicación.

Hoy, Octubre de 2009, estoy aún (o apenas) cursando Psicología de la Comunicación y, voy a confesarlo, ¡ESA VAINA NO ME ENTRA, COÑO! Tantas teorías densas, tantos autores locos, tantos textos extensos y pesados, ¡yo no quiero ser comunicólogo!. Yo se y estoy claro que “para comunicar hay que saber comunicar” o algo así, pero, damn! Considero yo que no hay necesidad de acariciar la comunicación, besar la comunicación, copular con la comunicación y procrear con la comunicación. Estoy mas que seguro que el hecho de saber al pelo que estudiaron Shannon, Weaver, Schramm, Berlo, etc NO me van a ayudar cuando esté encochinado, ni me van a salvar de escribir o cubrir un caliche, ni me van a ayudar a tubear a El Nacional. Es más, nisiquiera he oído EN NINGÚN MOMENTO a luminarias de la profesion (Insertar nombre de su preferencia aquí, ejemplo Eleazar Díaz Rangel o que se yo) nombrar a alguno de esos panas-

Bueh, así es el pensum, love or leave it. No voy a negar que eso me ha llevado a pensar varias veces “¿será que no sirvo para esto?”. Gracias a Dios tengo compañeros y amigos que en los banquitos de la ECS me han dado batacazos contra el piso que me recuerdan que por algo estoy y sigo ahí, pero aún la vaina me deja la empanizada en el piso.

No me queda otra, paso o paso. Ya serán 2 años mas los que me tardaré para graduarme, no quiero que sean más

ECS langues et communication réalise une étude pour mesurer l’importance que vous accordez à l’anglais au sein des entreprises.

Nous avons à cet effet élaboré un questionnaire très simple, qui ne prend pas plus de 5 mn et qui nous permettra de mesurer l’avis de la communuaté socio-économique sur l’importance de l’anglais et ce qu’il faut faire pour développer sa pratique.
Clickez sur ce lienhttp://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEJvSTlUcGhvY0xKd012ZnRacjNvZEE6MA

Vous serez peut-être tiré au sort et gagnerez une formation d’anglais gratuite !

Merci

ECS langues et communication est un organisme de langues spécialisé à Nantes dans la formation professionnelle, créé il y a plus de 25 ans et qui dispense des cours de langues individuels ou collectifs toutes formules (DIF, CIF, Plan de formation). Les formateurs sont tous natifs, expérimentés et savent créer les conditions de progrès rapides et d’un dialogue efficace et agréable.

Pour plus d’informations, vous pouvez consulter notre site www.ecs-langues.com , nous contacter à l’adresse contact@ecs-langues.com ou nous appeler au 02 40 30 37 40.

Rendez-vous sur www.veryfunnyads.com où vous trouverez de très nombreuses publicités toutes plus drôles les unes que les autres, en langues anglaises et bien souvent caractéristiques de l’humour anglosaxon.

I was just thinking how ironic my situation is right now to be going on maternity leave soon after when most of my cohort colleagues are going to be starting school. I’ve been in meetings for the past few days just like most of the rest of them and that hasn’t been too bad. For those of us doing our internship in our own classroom, it is supposed to feel a certain way, perhaps less demanding, but all of a sudden I don’t feel that same calmness I used to feel. I am all of sudden being followed by my shadow, my substitute, and although I am doing an internship, I am the one preparing the other person. I have been spending countless hours going over my classroom rules and procedures, my lesson planning style, my everything, with the expectation that someone else is going to carry it out with the specificity I require. It is definitely hard to do. I wonder how people with student teachers can do it so easily. At least the student teacher isn’t to be left alone all the time and as the main teacher you can be in the building but now I have done the same kind of preparation a master teacher would do for a student teacher but I have to let this stranger fly solo for a few months and hope everything is still ok when I get back. Crazy!