Credits Warner

Une mystérieuse boîte déposée devant la porte d’une brave famille, un homme mystérieux qui leur en explique l’impitoyable fonctionnement, et voilà un excellent scenario qui nous donne un film empreint de mystère, un thriller démoniaque où l’étrange côtoie la normalité banale de la vie de famille et c’est bien cela le plus angoissant , cet entrelacs de deux dimensions psychologiques, voire de deux dimensions physiques pourquoi pas? Vous le saurez en regardant le film. En tout cas voici le trailer en français et le superbe site interactif(en flash); oserez-vous appuyer sur le bouton et en assumer les conséquences? Tentez l’expérience…avec The Box et découvrez ce site qui vient d’être récemment primé.

Voici déjà les avis émis sur le site Allocine

et le trailer en français

Et le meilleur pour la fin, le site qui est superbe et interactif, je vous le rappelle, laissez-vous porter par vos actions…

THE BOX

Un bon début de semaine à toutes et tous, une semaine riche en découvertes à venir, je garde le secret pour vous en faire la surprise, oui j’aime décidément beaucoup d’univers, une nouvelle rubrique devrait arriver sous peu mais chuuuuuut.

Treinando desenhar direto no flash com a tablet, geralmente eu faço um rascunho no papel e só finalizo no computador, mas esse resolvi fazer todo direto. Depois acrescentei texturas no Photoshop.

Après demain, commence le mois de l’Avent!

Si vous voulez vous imaginer un joli calendrier avec plein de petites fenêtres à ouvrir, vous trouverez de quoi vous régaler derrière les suivantes:

samedi 5: milonga Mozaïk à 21h

samedi 12: milonga Hot Tango Night à 21h30
dimanche 13: práctica de Noël d’Architango, de 18 heures à minuit, sur le thème du kitsch… lâchez-vous!

vendredi 18: tango-flash organisé par Architango, rendez-vous à 18 heures devant l’Eglise St-François…
samedi 19: milonga Mozaïk à 21h

vendredi 25: Joyeux Noël!

vendredi 1er janvier 2010: Bonne Année!
samedi 2: première milonga de l’année, organisée par EL Tango.

Je vous adresse mes meilleurs voeux en cette période de fêtes…

For every web developer, there comes a time when they need something flashy and hard to code. These two GPL’ed libraries make things a little easier by adding tabs, expose, and an online video player.

jQuery TOOLS is a single javascript library, weighing only 5.72 Kb, that gives the coder access to tabs, tooltips, overlays, exposes, and scrollable menus. Though I never used it, the demos show that it is especially performant. The code is dual-licensed under the GPL and the MIT license, thus giving the coder the ultimate freedom to use it. There are also a lot of demo’s, the source of which is very handy to take a look at.

Flowplayer on the other hand is an open source (GPLv3) video player for the web. It uses flash, which means it can be used on every big platform. It supports flv, mp4 and another codec I’m not familiar with. It’s highly customizable and it’s supposedly easy to create plugins for it. One of those plugins is a playlist plugin, which shows the video’s on the playlist instead of playing them one-by-one.

We have added a new item to our Flash t-shirts section featuring DC Comics the Flash.

Montage Flash T-Shirt

This Flash T-Shirt features several action stills for the Flash superhero. If you love the Flash, then be sure to checkout all of our superhero tees.

Global Climate Change es una pàgina web de la Nasa a on es descriu el símptomes, les causes, les evidencies i les possibles solucions al canvi climàtic provocat per la humanitat.

Ofereix també algunes aplicacions per a explicar els comportaments naturals de la natura, les variacions en la línia de temps de l’Àrtic, el cicle de l’aigua, i d’altres aplicacions de contingut educatiu.

Enllaços:

Pàgina principal http://climate.nasa.gov/

Sea Level Viewer (alguns dels fenòmens més coneguts lligats als oceans):  http://climate.nasa.gov/SeaLevelViewer/seaLevelViewer.cfm

El cicle de l’aigua: http://climate.nasa.gov/h2oWaterCycle/index.cfm

Conseqüències del canvi climàtic en una línia de temps: http://climate.nasa.gov/ClimateTimeMachine/climateTimeMachine.cfm

Web creada per la Nasa per visualitzar els satèl·lits en la seva òrbita, el tipus de control que realitza (atmosfera, oceans o terra). Es pot reproduir la velocitat d’aquests aparells en temps real (es visualitza el seu desplaçament) i la seva posició respecte la Terra.

Ofereix informació sobre la missió assignada a cada satèl·lit  i la posició en el moment en que et connectes.

Enllaç: http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov/Eyes/eyes.html

Zwei Mädels im Bikini auf einer Plattform – es kann nur eine Siegerin geben!

>> Beach Catfight jetzt for free online spielen

Quality adjustment:

In already-finished proyects, the largest(and easiest) performance gains in Flash are to be made by adjusting the overall quality of the renderer, because this practice doesnt require to change anything inside the proyect.

In the ideal case, Quality settings should be left in the highest possible setting so the app would take advantage of flash´s clear and well-defined graphics, Therefore lowering the overall quality must be a last resort after all other possible optimizations have been done.

Flash quality adjustments affect primarily image Anti-Aliasing(covered next), which is a time consuming but rewarding visual effect applied to everything that Flash renders.

NOTE: Flash´s default display quality is “HIGH”;

Flash Anti-aliasing:

Anti-aliasing(AA) works in the same way for flash as it does for other applications. It consists in a complex process of adding mid tone pixels to the jagged edges of images or text so the human eye will perceive a smoother image instead of jagged lines that look like a ladder.

In this process, the platform calculates the pixels that are on the edges of lines and “smooths” them by adding more pixels of different colors (usually an average between line color and background).

Highest levels of AA in more complicated applications even tune alpha values in these pixels to further increase the (apparent) quality of the lines. Complicated as it is, this process is costly for the CPU, and adds lots of work to the rendering cycles. This applies to both image and text rendering.

Anti-Aliasing (quality) levels:

•StageQuality.LOW—Low rendering quality. Graphics are not anti-aliased, and bitmaps are not smoothed.

•StageQuality.MEDIUM—Medium rendering quality. Graphics are anti-aliased using a 2 x 2 pixel grid, but bitmaps are not smoothed.

•StageQuality.HIGH—High rendering quality. Graphics are anti-aliased using a 4 x 4 pixel grid, and bitmaps are smoothed if the movie is static.

•StageQuality.BEST—Very high rendering quality. Graphics are anti-aliased using a 4 x 4 pixel grid and bitmaps are always smoothed.

Sorry about the language, this is not my video, just ignore it.

The “CacheAsBitmap” flag:

When you ask Flash to use cacheAsBitmap on an image, it stores a copy of the vector image´s point array in memory (for swapping), but uses a converted version (converted to bitmap) for rendering, so the vector image doesnt need to be calculated and redrawn every frame. Thanks to the saved point array, display objects can be swapped to and from bitmap format as much as one needs.

USAGE: Use on complex vector images that don’t transform, for example complex background images (moving or not), non-animated sprites and most user interface elements.

ADVANTAGES: Bitmaps, unlike vectorial images, are not recalculated on every frame by the flash player unless they suffer a transformation. Thanks to this, cacheAsBitmap allows for some performance gains when handling static and complex vectorials.

WARNING: Animated (transforming) objects are going to be redrawn regardless if they are bitmaps or vectors, so using CacheAsBitmap on animated Sprites or MovieClips would actually make it slower than a vector, forcing flash to recalculate the vectorial image, redraw it, save it and get the bitmap copy done once every frame for as long as the object is being changed internally.

Animation:

Vectors are mathematical representations of images and they store only numerical values needed to draw the image from scratch, and therefore have the advantage of being very small in size, which is very useful for saving bandwidth.

The problem with vectors is that all advantages in size then become disadvantages in processing requirements. The format of vector images means that flash will draw the image from scratch in each rendering cycle (frame). This is an increased load if you compare it with bitmaps:

Flash has to calculate the vector´s nodes and resolve pixel positions in addition to drawing pixels in their places. With Bitmap Images, only the latter is done, and therefore less processor time is consumed in the rendering cycle. You can improve this through AS3 by using the CacheAsBitmap flag in DisplayObjects. This will require flash to calculate the pixels only once, and then (as long as the vector doesnt change) draw it as if it were a common bitmap image. More on this on the next section.

Scaling:

We know that scaling bitmaps is avoided at all cost by Flash developers because of the serious loss of image quality it brings.

On the other hand, we know that scaling a Vector image is very easy to do and there is no loss of quality. In fact, because Vectors are rendered at runtime, you can scale a vector to be many times larger than its original size and still have defined lines and good looking color fills.

All this definition has its price in terms of CPU consumption, and the larger the amount of scaled vectors on-screen is, the bigger the burden on the Processor will be. Keep this in mind when scaling vectors: some is O.K., but f you need to scale the whole stage, consider redrawing the vectors or scaling its individual internal parts.

Resolution & redraw regions:

Generally, the performance bog-downs in Flash are reduced to how much is being rendered at a specific moment, namely, what percentage of the screen is being redrawn. The larger the size of the screen, the larger the quantity of pixels that flash has to redraw each frame, so in all aspects, a 800×600 flash app will be slower than a smaller one.

Apart from this, the size of independant redraw regions will also influence the performance rates. This means that in some cases a complicated but small image(a small star or a drawing of a person) may be easier for flash to render than a much simpler but much larger shape ( maybe a square or rectangle). Also, rendering small things in the edges of the screen could potentially enlarge the general redraw region, giving flash more work to redraw a whole frame.

Because of these two things, it is always a good practice to keep both overall app. Resolution and redraw region sizes as small as possible, as well as trying to avoid animations & effects on the edges of the screen.

In my job as an ActionScript Developer, particularly when working with games, performance is a very important Issue. Because of this, Ive made quite a lot of research in the subject, and have been applying the results of this research in my applications for some time now.

These tips and tricks Ive collected from many flash blogs, forums and even the Adobe documantation have been quite useful, this is why I feel its time to share them to anyone that may want to use them. This is the ultimate Purpose of this guide.

The guide itself is a compillation of AS3 tidbits and well known flash performance tips that I grabbed from around the web. In addition to this, there are many code examples and tests/banchmarks that I made to confirm the theory and to help me understand how big was the performnce gain in certain cases.

I have material for a rather long series of small, specific articles, so Im getting started right away. My intention is to divide the series in two groups: AS3 code and Flash Graphics.

Flash Performance Series:

Graphic performance:

1. Alpha Values & filters.
2. Resolution and Redraw regions.
3. Vectors & Bitmaps.
4. Using cacheAsBitmap.
5. Quality Adjustments.

Code performance:

Due to hitting the busy season at work, I basically took a week off from reviewing. With the Thanksgiving holiday, I’ve had a chance to catch up a bit. As usual, these are mini/”capsule” reviews of books I picked up but am not writing out a full review for. This post is double-sized due to covering TWO weeks’ worth of books.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Special #1
This issue’s a real treat. For the same price as a black-and-white issue of Tales of the TMNT, the issue is full-color. Best of all, it’s the classic #1 issue, now in color for the first time as a comic. (It’s been colorized at least once before, in the First graphic novel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Book I). The coloring looks quite natural, and it would have been awesome to see the original series re-issued in color…or at least, the first ten issues, the one-shots for each turtle, and Return to New York. For that matter, City at War as well. As-is, at the very least, this is a nice version of #1 to add to one’s collection without breaking the bank. Highly recommended for any TMNT fan, or anyone curious as to how the turtles’ story got started.

Deadpool: Merc With a Mouth #5
This issue continues the story of Deadpool, Zombie-head Deadpool and Dr. Betty facing Hydra agents trying to kill them to get the head themselves. A bit of cheesecake art to the issue, but that can be overlooked for an excellent scene in which Deadpool and Bill (not Bob–he insists he’s Bill, though Deadpool can’t seem to really tell the difference from his old buddy) have an exchange over the Star Wars series of movies. Suffice to say that reading this, one knows exactly where Deadpool stands regarding the trilogies. Overall another fun issue. I’m pretty sure the story wraps with issue 6, so at this point if you aren’t already following the book or able to get the first few issues, you’re probably just as well to wait for a collected edition. The story so far definitely seems well worthwhile for Deadpool fans, whichever way the story’s read.

Supergirl #47
This issue provides a good deal of backstory to Alura, and her courtship by Zor-El. We also see the character FINALLY acting out of real motivation that can be understood, instead of just coming off as a near-villainous witch of a character. Reactron is put on trial, and Alura is determined that he will be tried justly and not simply killed out of vengeance-seeking. Unfortunately, her fellow New Kryptonians don’t all share the sentiment, leading to some interesting character development. Though Supergirl is present in these pages, this is very much Alura’s story, with her daughter playing a minor role. The end of the issue has an interesting (in a way) revelation that does seem par for the course. Not a bad issue, but not wonderful. If you’re already following the title and/or the over-arching story in the Super-books, this’ll be just fine. It’s not really an issue to entice new readers, I don’t think. Not sure if it’s significant or just an oversight on someone’s part, but the cover lacks the “World Against Superman” banner the titles have been carrying lately, though this retains the red-shield numbering begun with August’s Codename: Patriot arc.

Flash: Rebirth #5
I’m pretty sure this started out as a 5-issue mini-series…I recall it seeming slightly “off” as I recalled Green Lantern: Rebirth being 6, and thinking the two ought to be pretty much the same length. This issue sees all the various speedsters team up, as well as a development that presumably “solves” whatever issue it was Wally’s kids were having with their powers…and we seem to have a new Impulse (given Bart gave up the identity to become Kid Flash back in 2003). This continues the “legacy” aspect of the Flash line. There’s a revelation that affects Barry’s past…as well as a very specific threat to his past. This is a sorta interesting issue, but on the whole, continues to be more “miss” than “hit” for me. GL: Rebirth dispelled my unease toward returning a long-dead character to an old status quo and really set up a great new status quo that worked everyone into the mix. This Flash: Rebirth has not at all sold me on any “WHY” Barry needs to be back, and simply puts things logically into place to ALLOW for the character being back, and incorporating pretty much everything else involving the Flash family of characters. Recommended if you’ve already invested in the first 4 issues of the series.

Uncle Scrooge #385
It’s great to be able to pick up this series now. I’d bought maybe 3 issues several years ago while it was being put out by Gemstone, but simply could not justify the $8 per issue, even if it was squarebound and double-ish-sized. This issue is fairly low-key, picking up from the previous issue. Scrooge, Donald, and the nephews continue to deal with Magica as she tries for Scrooge’s Number One Dime. Once things are wrapped up at the mine, Scrooge & Co. wind up looking for sunken treasure, and dealing with Magica AND the Beagle Boys. While not the greatest of comics, this is still a good, fun issue, and well worth getting if you’ve any interest in these characters.

Archie #603
The “Wedding Story” has taken a twist I didn’t expect: rather than being a 6-part exploration of Archie marrying Veronica, after 3 issues of that the story has switched to give us the story of what would happen if Archie married Betty instead. I’m really enjoying this “longform” story that not only takes more than a page to tell, but multiple issues. I’ve picked up the occasional Archie book through the years…but with stories like this, I might just stick around on a monthly basis.

Superman #694
This issue sees Mon-El’s “official” return to action as he re-reveals himself to the people who’ve thought him dead for awhile. This also debuts the “new” costume…which honestly seems a non-issue to me, despite the big deal being made of it. On the whole, it looks to me like the only difference is that Mon-El is now sporting a small “S-shield,” as he’s holding Superman’s place…and Blue shorts to contrast with the red costume (sort of a reverse-Superman color scheme). Probably the best part of the issue is the interaction with Connor and Ma, showing that Mon has a place within the Superman family of characters.

Image United #1
I have mixed feelings on this book. For one thing, something of this scale ought to have a huge multi-panel fold-out cover, such that all the primary characters are spotlighted…instead of one having to choose one of six segments of the picture as the cover to purchase. I chose the Savage Dragon segment, that character long being one of my favorite characters that I rarely read, though the Spawn cover was cool, too. The “jam session” of having each character’s creator doing that character’s visuals is a very cool thing, and a different take on doing a crossover project. The story itself seems to be a slow build and full of little but action (presumably to show off the blending of the different art styles). Being familiar with these characters for the past 16-17 years, the blended style worked well, and nothing really seemed all that jarring. Since this will surely be collected into a single volume eventually and my proclivity toward this type of variant/alternate covers…I’ll probably pass on the subsequent issues and snag the collected volume when that comes out, if I still have enough interest.

Son of Marvel Reading Chronology
This is one of those freebies that Marvel puts out on occasion, to try to hook one on buying more product. While I prefer the “Saga” issues (they’re free, and take far, far longer to read than any other single comics, and fill me in on stuff so I know what’s up overall without having to keep up on Marvel’s output in general), this guide is rather informative, showing what volumes are out there, in-print…and what they collect. As well as, of course, the order to read them for a chronological reading experience in-continuity. If nothing else, this has informed me that there are currently 10 hardcovers collecting Ultimate Spider-Man, so I know there are only 5 left that I want to try to track down. This is definitely a worthwhile guide if you can find it and not have to pay for it…or at least, please don’t pay much for it, as It is SUPPOSED to be FREE.

Heute zum 1. Advent gibts nen kleine Vor-Weihnachtsflashspiel namens Winterbells. Ziel ist es, so hoch wie möglich mit dem Hasen zu kommen, indem man auf die Glocken springt. Sehr spaßig ;P

Auf das Bild klicken um Winterbells zu spielen

En medio de la larga pelea de muchos años entre Adobe y Apple surge el siempre y archi conocido Microsoft.

Aprovechando que entre las mismas no encuentran un punto de equilibrio para implementar el tan solicitado Adobe Flash por los usuarios de iPhone, Brian Goldfarb, Microsoft User Experience Platform Manager, en el reciente PDC 2009 hizo una demostración de streaming de video H.264 mediante Silverlight en un iPhone.

La gente de Betanews lo entrevisto y le preguntaron sobre la forma en que consiguieron que esto funcione, la respuesta fue simple “Estamos trabajando con Apple”.

Microsoft se ha encargado de realizar todo, siguiendo las reglas puestas con Apple y lograron hacer que Silverlight ejecute en los dispositivos Apple. Todo el trabajo se hace al lado del servidor, IIS Media Services; los usuarios solo tienen que activar la compatibilidad con el iPhone.

Según Goldfarb, esto ha sido realizado a solicitud de los clientes de Microsoft “El iPhone es un escenario único. Hablamos con nuestros clientes y han solicitado disponer de sus contenidos en el dispositivo”

“So we’ve worked with Apple to create a server-side based solution with IIS Media Services,” Goldfarb continued, “and what we’re doing is taking content that’s encoded for smooth streaming and enabling the content owner to say, ‘I want to enable the iPhone.’ The server will dynamically make the content work — same content, same point of origin — on the iPhone. We do this with the HTML 5 tag, in many ways.”

Once you read this issue, it makes a bit more sense as to why those heroes are on the cover.  Sure, this comic basically confirms the rumors of a White Lantern, but it makes sure that you’ll have fun getting to there.

This is the issue right after mid way through the crossover event which typically eases everything into the climax and then resolution nice and softly.  Well, this issue is anything but soft… and that’s a good thing (for once).

All of the heralds of the different lanterns have finally joined forces to fight Nekron which would seemingly destroy him like assumed last issue… well, it really only gives him more power.

Nekron explains that he’s the one that controls who lives, dies, and who gets to come back and when.  He then threatens to expose the Guardian’s lie (assumingly that they’re not the ones that hold balance over the universe) and within the space of a few pages, Nekron proves that he’s one badass mothafucka by re-killing all of the heroes who have ever died (Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, etc.) and turning them into Black Lanterns.  The last page ends with Nekron about to kill off Hal Jordan and Barry Allen since they’ve died before, too.

Now, that may sound surprising enough with the giant power shift… but it’s the way Nekron does it: through Bruce Wayne.  Now, the first couple issues we all thought that Bruce was going to get resurrected right away or by not getting resurrected it proves he’s not dead.  Well, Nekron pulls him over as a Black Lantern for just long enough to create emotional tethers between him and all of the heroes so he can spew Black Lantern rings at him.  The Batman reveal is completely surprising partly because of how shortly he’s used, and also because he looks completely badass in a sort of Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns posing way.

One question, how did Bruce get so many emotional tethers when he was such a hardass in life?

Now here’s some time for speculation: Bruce is technically dead in the present but lives in the past so that’s how Nekron can resurrect him… or… Nekron also controls death through time.

Also, with all of the heroes turning into Black Lanterns, it shows that being a Black Lantern can be reversible.  So, my guess is that all of the heroes/people who had their hearts ripped out and turned into Black Lanterns will probably remain dead, but all of the ones who were just resurrected may come back to life and have to deal with what their bodies and memories did while they were dead… possibly… I’m not sure.  Just speculation.

Anyway, the writing’s tight on this issue, and the artwork’s fantastic even if I’m pretty sure Ganthet and Sayd’s robes were colored differently in Green Lantern than in Blackest Night.

It’s a great comic that’s keeping up a fast pace with wonderful artwork and well worth all of your dollar.

I do wish that The Atom and Mera’s appearances weren’t so brief in this issue, though.  My guess is that they’ll play a very large roll next one, though.

When your outline is complete and you are ready to write your first draft, many writers make a common mistake at this point. They try to “get it right” the first time. They may work on a paragraph for hours, fine-tuning the words until they are perfect. Writers thus shut off their creativity by insisting on profession.

Remember, the first draft is a working draft. It should be written quickly without too much thought to elegant expressions or final order and paragraphing. Your object is to get the material on paper to flash out the structure of your outline. Let the words flow. Start wherever you can—in the middle, even near the end. The opening or introduction can be completed later. Any weaknesses in logic or gaps in information, any points that are out of place can be corrected in the final version.

As you write the first draft, keep your audience in mind. Doing so will help you stay focused on the purpose of your work. Keep writing until you have completed the first draft.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Full review posted to comixtreme.com.

Story: 4/5
Art: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5

I have had the idea of doing a picture like this for a little while now. I knew that the lighting was going to be a challenge, so I waited for a day where I would have some time to devote to it. Today turned out to be that day, but things didn’t quite turn out as I expected.

Today’s photo was taken with the Nikon D700, with a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8mm VR lens. I used a large softbox to the left of the camera, and a large reflector to the right for some fill light. I didn’t worry about a background light, as I knew the background wasn’t going to be visible in the final image. The picture was finished in Adobe Photoshop CS4, where I applied the vignette effect which emphasized Seamus’ face.

I had intended to get this vignette effect using lighting rather than digital means. I attempted to use both studio lights and then a Nikon SB-900 flash, with various types of covers, snoots and grids, to light only the face of Seamus. In the end I wasn’t able to get the effect I wanted though. Usually the light on Seamus’ face was so harsh that the shadows were very severe. I’ll need to do more experimenting and research to see how this type of effect can be obtained by lighting control. For now though, I am content with the final result, even if I didn’t get there in the way I intended.