When I was watching Twilight for the first time, something really caught my eye: Yeah, Rob did, of course^^ But that’s actually not what I’m aiming at right now. No, what I want to talk about today is something else (also because we really talked loads about Rob lately, and we can’t risk the possibility of all this attention getting to his head, you know!!). I wanted to slaughter Cathy’s work some more go on about the really awful so-called “special-effects” in Twilight! Because they just pop up in regular intervals all the time and kind of make the whole thing more funny than it’s actually supposed to be. I mean, it’s such a good story, and then – well, along comes Cathy, and it just gets…. ridiculous!! But at least that means we can hope for some better effects in New Moon, put our trust in Chris Weitz. So, in honor to the premiere of New Moon, and Soul and me being stuck here having to wait 5 more days to see it, here a selection of our favourite “Awful Special Effects in Twilight” – and therefore, what we hope not to see again in New Moon!! Here we go:

1. First to be mentioned, the all time favourite: The “Glittering-in-the-Sun”-Effect!! It goes like this: Dramatic music, Edward in the woods, looking hot like ever, the atmosphere tense and spooky…and then Edward steps into the sunlight, we all know something meaningful is going to happen now, and then….

Edward sparkling in the sun!! Very attractive, and especially manly.

Well – he turns around, and you hear bells in the background!!Yap, bells. I mean, I can’t blame any guy who watches this and says “Gosh, that’s kind of gay!!”. Because it is. And what’s even worse – I noticed that most people who haven’t read the book before don’t even get the point of this scene! So I had to explain a couple of times that Edward is actually supposed to glitter in the sun, and not to “ring in the woods” or whatever^^

2. Edward’s “Take-Off-Scene”: The one in which Edward is running in the woods, carrying Bella on his back, and then suddenly – takes off!! Well, I know he’s strong and fast and stuff, but can he also fly now? Or I mean, what else is that supposed to be? He’s running, and running, and running…. and then he just leaves the ground, and even keeps moving his legs!! Aaaah, it’s so ridiculous!! Even Edward can’t look good (or at least not as good as usual^^) when he’s hanging around in the air paddling with his legs^^

3. In this context, the famous “Hold-on-tight-Spider-Monkey”-Scene: Honestly, “Spider-Monkey”!! Purlease!! That moment kind of destroyed my perfect picture of Edward (well at least for like 3 seconds), he just can’t say something that stupid!! Well no one should, actually, but especially not Edward^^ Or imagine, what else is he going to call Bella if they should (finally) ever end up in bed? His little Butterfly-Koala? Or his dear Bumblebee-Pony? Better not think about it^^ But what you should do: Look up “Spidermonkey” on urbandictionary, article no. 3….

4. The “Bella-as-Amateur-Model”-Scene. Where Bella steps into biology-class, and sees Edward for the first time!

Bella trying to look like a model...

So is it just me, or isn’t it just a bit to much: Bella walking in slow-motion, turning around graciously to face Edward (come on I thought she was supposed to be clumsy!!) and on top of it all, it just happens that there’s a ventilator in the background, blowing her hair enticingly around her face….!! I know, the scene’s supposed to show how Bella’s scent is being blown to Edward’s direction, and it’s very important for the plot, and blablabla, but actually it looks a lot more like some 12-year-old’s try to look like the woman on her mum’s latest issue of the Cosmopolitan.

5. And of course, the “My-Friend-the-Cactus”-Scene: Bella stepping out of Charlie’s car in Forks for the very first time, carrying her little cactus!! It’s actually not a special effect, yeah, but it’s a ridiculous scene that couldn’t be left out here^^

"Bella's Cactus", the new It-Accessory - Get one, NOW!!

And again, of course it’s got a deep meaning for the plot and is supposed to be symbolic for Bella’s former life in Arizona, but aaah….It’s a cactus!! And she carries it!! Like it was her new DKNY It-Bag, or the totally hip accessory everyone needs to have now…. And then, Soul even told me lately that there were apparently rumours about another cactus-scene being planned to appear in New Moon, in which Bella is actually talking to the cactus!! Well, sure. I mean, after Edward left… why not take the cactus instead?^^

So,  we’re excited about what we’re going to see in New Moon, and let’s hope for the best!!

a

Off to send a little prayer in hope to safe me from another Spidermonkey-experience

ZeldaTheTwilightPrincess

a

So did anyone else notice the multiple awful special-effects in Twilight? What else did you notice? Which one was your favourite? Or did you possibly like the Spidemonkey scene, and imagine yourself with Edward calling you this ever since…? Hmm well if you do, I think I don’t really want to know…. but maybe Soul wants to, she’ll laugh her head off, so tell me, anyway!! Go for it and leave a comment!!

(images: google)

Free a lancé les jeux sur la FreeBox HD. Il y avait déjà des possibilités de jeux à travers les télésites, mais cette fois un environnement dédié à cette activité est disponible, avec les facilités que cela sous-entend.

Dans ce billet, je vais vous présenter mon parcours du combattant pour l’installation d’Elixir et d’EFL sous Ubuntu 9.04.

Le SDK : JavaScript, Elixir et EFL

Avant d’aller plus loin, il est important de bien comprendre l’environnement dans lequel on arrive.

Tout d’abord, le langage de développement retenu par Free est le JavaScript. Et comme le JavaScript est un langage interprété, il faut un interpréteur ! Et c’est SpiderMonkey qui s’y colle, l’interpréteur JavaScript de Firefox.

Le JavaScript seul ne peut pas faire grand chose, à l’instar de n’importe quel autre langage. Dans un navigateur il a habituellement accès au DOM, ce qui lui permet d’interagir avec le contenu des pages web.

Dans la FreeBox, le code JavaScript que vous pourrez écrire ne s’exécute pas dans un navigateur. Pour pouvoir interagir avec l’affichage et la télécommande, les EFL viennent à la rescousse.

EFL ? En plus long, les Enlightenment Foundation Libraries. Il s’agit d’un ensemble de bibliothèques conçues à l’origine pour le gestionnaire de fenêtres Enlightenment. Dans la FreeBox, exit Enlightement, ne restent que les EFL.

Ces bibliothèques ne connaissant pas nativement SpiderMonkey, et réciproquement, il fallait une couche supplémentaire pour les faire communiquer : Elixir.

Le schéma suivant résument l’ensemble :

De façon non exhaustive, les EFL comptent :

• eet : une bibliothèque qui permet, entre autres, la création et la gestion de fichiers ressource (avec les fichiers .edj),
• evas : un gestionnaire de canevas (un équivalent Cairo),
• edje : un gestionnaire d’interface (un équivalent Glade).

Comment développer des jeux pour la FreeBox ?

Tout ce qui a été présenté à la section précédente est déjà installé sur votre FreeBox HD si vous avez un Firmware 1.6.1 ou supérieur.

Le développement de jeux et d’applications nécessitant des outils différents de la plateforme cible, il vous faut maintenant un environnement de développement sur votre machine.

Je suis sous Ubuntu 9.04 64 bits (pas encore fait le saut pour la 9.10).

Il me faut donc installer :

• SpiderMonkey,
• EFL,
• Elixir,
• edje_viewer.

Et c’est là que ça commence à devenir marrant

Ma procédure d’installation diffère quelque peu de la procédure officielle.

Installation de tout le schmurtz

Pré-requis

Installer gperf, libnspr4-dev, automake, svn et wget :

sudo apt-get install gperf automake svn wget libnspr4-dev

Notes :

• Les utilitaires svn et wget sont uniquement utilisés pour récupérer les fichiers nécessaires à l’installation du SDK. Ils pourront être désinstallés après l’installation d’Elixir.
• Libnspr4-dev est nécessaire pour la compilation de SpiderMonkey.
• Automake permet le lancement des scripts autogen.sh, nécessaires dans le cas de sources récupérés par svn (suite au commentaire de Strofe).

Récupération des sources

Créez-vous un répertoire elixir dans lequel vous exécuterez tout ce qui suit.

Récupérez les sources avec les lignes de commande suivantes :

mkdir elixir
cd elixir
wget http://elixir.freebox.fr/elixir/elixir-0.1.24.tar.bz2
tar xjvf elixir-0.1.24.tar.bz2
wget http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/js/js-1.8.0-rc1.tar.gz
tar xzvf js-1.8.0-rc1.tar.gz
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/eina eina-svn
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/eet eet-svn
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/evas evas-svn
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/ecore ecore-svn
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/efreet efreet-svn
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/embryo embryo-svn
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/edje edje-svn
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/e_dbus e_dbus-svn
wget http://download.enlightenment.org/snapshots/2009-07-29/elementary-0.5.1.0.tar.bz2
tar xjvf elementary-0.5.1.0.tar.bz2
svn co http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/edje_viewer/ edje_viewer
wget http://freebox-elixir.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/exemples/ecore_evas/Simple.js

Notes :

• Suite à la judicieuse remarque de Superna en commentaire, vous pouvez remplacer les “svn co” par des “svn export” pour gagner en espace disque et en vitesse de téléchargement.
• Au moment où j’écris ces lignes, il existe apparemment une version 0.1.25 d’Elixir mais ce n’est pas celle qui est indiquée sur le site http://elixir.freebox.fr/
• On compile SpiderMonkey plutôt que d’installer les paquetages libmozjs-dev et libmozjs0d disponibles sous Ubuntu 9.04 car ces derniers ne définissent pas la constante JSVERSION_1_8 nécessaire à Elixir (ils s’arrêtent à JSVERSION_1_7).
• Le fait de récupérer les sources des EFL par svn plutôt qu’en allant sur http://download.enlightenment.org/snapshots/LATEST/ comme recommandé sur http://elixir.freebox.fr/ permet d’avoir une version à jour de evas. En suivant la procédure officielle, j’obtenais les messages suivants lors de la compilation d’Elixir :
  

  evas-const-binding.c:113: erreur: ‘EVAS_HINT_EXPAND’ undeclared here (not in a function)
  evas-const-binding.c:114: erreur: ‘EVAS_HINT_FILL’ undeclared here (not in a function)

• Les deux dernières lignes permettent de télécharger elementary et edje_viewer afin de compiler ce dernier. Il n’est pas indispensable mais est bien pratique pour voir graphiquement ce que contient un fichier .edj.
• Simple.js est un script qui permettra de vérifier le bon déroulement de la compilation et de l’installation d’Elixir.
• À la fin de l’exécution de ces lignes, tous les fichiers nécessaires ont été récupérés et décompressés dans le répertoire elixir.

Compilation et installation des EFL

Pour compiler les EFL, c’est un peu rébarbatif, il faut aller dans chacun des répertoires suivants :

• eina-svn,
• eet-svn,
• evas-svn,
• ecore-svn,
• efreet-svn,
• embryo-svn,
• edje-svn,
• e_dbus-svn.

Dans chacun de ces répertoire, il faut répéter les commandes suivantes :

sh autogen.sh
make -j4
sudo make install

Notes :

• On utilise “sh autogen.sh” plutôt que “sh configure” car il s’agit de versions svn qui ont besoin de générer le fichier configure. Autogen.sh fait les deux : création et exécution du fichier configure.
• L’option -j4 permet d’utiliser quatre cœurs pour accélérer la compilation. Si vous avez un processeur dual core, utilisez -j2.

Une fois les EFL compilées et installées, exécutez la commande suivante :

sudo ldconfig

Compilation et installation de SpiderMonkey

De retour dans le répertoire elixir, placez-vous maintenant dans le répertoire js/src.

make JS_THREADSAFE=1 JS_DIST=/usr -f Makefile.ref
sudo su
mkdir /usr/include/smjs
cp *.h /usr/include/smjs
cp *.tbl /usr/include/smjs
cp Linux_All_DBG.OBJ/libjs.so /usr/lib/libsmjs.so
cp Linux_All_DBG.OBJ/jsautocfg.h /usr/include/smjs/jsautocfg.h
exit

Note :

• Il s’agit de la procédure d’installation de SpiderMonkey telle que présentée dans la procédure officielle.

Une fois SpiderMonkey compilé et installé, exécutez la commande suivante :

sudo ldconfig

Compilation et installation d’Elixir

C’est au tour d’Elixir !

Avant de lancer la compilation, il va falloir modifier une ligne dans les sources d’Elixir. La version des EFL doit être un brin trop récente pour la version 0.1.24 d’Elixir. Si vous ne faîtes pas la modification, vous aurez droit aux lignes suivantes :

ecore_module.c: In function ‘elixir_ecore_thread_run’:
ecore_module.c:908: erreur: too few arguments to function ‘ecore_thread_run’

Placez-vous dans le sous-répertoire elixir-0.1.24 du répertoire elixir.

Éditez la ligne 908 du fichier src/modules/bindings/ecore/ecore_module.c. Elle ressembler à ceci :

result = ecore_thread_run(_elixir_func_heavy, _elixir_func_end, new);

Il faut la transformer en ceci :

result = ecore_thread_run(_elixir_func_heavy, _elixir_func_end, new,NULL);

Une fois la modification faite, compilez comme suit :

sh configure
make -j4
sudo make install

Une fois Elixir compilé  et installé, exécutez la commande suivante :

sudo ldconfig

Premier test

De retour dans le répertoire elixir, tapez la ligne suivante :

elixir Simple.js

Si tout s’est bien passé, vous devriez voir un rectangle se balader dans une fenêtre.

À partir de là, vous disposez d’un environnement complet pour créer vos jeux pour la FreeBox.

Compilation et installation de edje_viewer

On va tout d’abord installer la bibliothèque elementary. Placez-vous dans le sous-répertoire elementary-0.5.1.0 et lancez la compilation :

sh autogen.sh
make -j4
sudo make install

De retour dans le répertoire elixir, placez-vous dans le sous-répertoire edje_viewer et lancez la compilation :

sh autogen.sh
make -j4
sudo make install

Une fois elementary et edje_viewer compilés  et installés, exécutez la commande suivante :

sudo ldconfig

Et après tout ça ?

Récupérez les exemples, tutoriels et jeux

Pour vous faire la main, vous pouvez rapatrier les exemples, les tutoriels ainsi que les jeux livrés en standard. Pour cela, replacez-vous dans le répertoire elixir et tapez la ligne :

svn checkout http://freebox-elixir.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ freebox-elixir

Résumé des commandes

Pour résumer, vous disposez désormais des commandes suivantes :

• elixir : permet d’exécuter votre code JavaScript (ex. : elixir Simple.js),
• edje_cc : pour compiler des fichiers .edc en fichiers .edj (edje_decc fait le contraire),
• eet : pour ajouter, supprimer des ressources des fichiers .edj (en partenariat avec elixir-compile),
• edje_viewer : pour voir graphiquement les ressources des fichiers .edj.

Tester ses programmes sur la FreeBox

Pour tester vos réalisations directement sur la FreeBox, il suffit de les placer dans le répertoire “Jeux” sur le disque dur de la FreeBox (par ftp sur hd1.freebox.fr, utilisateur freebox).

Si vous copiez Simple.js de cette façon, vous pourrez l’exécuter directement.

Pour les jeux livrés en standard, c’est plus sioux. Tous les fichiers ne sont pas nécessaires puisque le fichier .edj en intègre déjà une bonne partie.

Par exemple, pour le démineur, copiez les fichiers suivants dans un sous-répertoire demineur du répertoire Jeux sur le disque dur de la FreeBox :

• demineur_bomb.wav,
• Demineur.edj,
• Demineur.ogg,
• edje-helper.edj,
• freebox-mouse.png,
• high_score.wav,
• Scores.db.

Références

http://wiki.enlightenment.org/index.php/E17_User_Guide/Installing_from_Source_Repository

Installation d’Enlightenment 17 à partir des sources svn.

http://elixir.freebox.fr/?section=documentation

Procédure officielle d’installation d’Elixir

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Building_only_SpiderMonkey

Procédure d’installation officielle de SpiderMonkey

http://code.google.com/p/freebox-elixir/wiki/InstallerElixir

Discussion à propos de l’installation d’Elixir sur Google Code

http://svn.enlightenment.org/svn/e/trunk/

Versions svn des bibliothèques nécessaires à la compilation d’Enlightenment

http://download.enlightenment.org/snapshots/LATEST/

Les dernières versions officielles des EFL.

When doing some heavy exploration in Javascript, I was doing most of my trials in Firebug. This is tedious for because the cycle of making code changes in a text editor, then reloading Firefox, then finally stepping through to my new code is too long if you’re doing small changes repeatedly and rapidly.

Ruby comes with an interactive command line console that lets you play with code interactively without any of the overhead of writing code. There’s no text editor, no saving files, no loading programs. You can execute and inspect each line of code as soon as you can type it. It’s a wonderful way to explore.

Other prominent interpreted languages Python and PHP both also have interactive modes, so I checked to see if there is one for Javascript. And indeed there is! It turns out that you can just install Spidermonkey, which is the Javascript engine of the Mozilla project, ie Firefox. That’s pretty much the canonical version of Javascript, as far as I’m concerned. I mean, Netscape invented Javascript, and this code is presumably a descendant of Netscape’s. The Ubuntu repositories include the Spidermonkey engine as a standalone command line tool, without the web browser as a dependency. It’s exactly what I was looking for. Nice.

I wonder whether I can find a binary to install on my Mac too. Or whether webkit has something similar.

To start off the exploration of external strings for the project I am working on, outlined here, I will be doing a static analysis build of Mozilla. Smedberg has given me some instructions to get to the point of some doc generation:

1. Do a static-analysis build of Mozilla
2. Generate the docs with “make -C <objdir>/xpcom/analysis classapi”
3. For the external API compile type-printer-external.cpp without MOZILLA_INTERNAL_API defined

Note: I am performing this work on a machine in CDOT, which is a 64-bit Linux machine (Fedora 10)

Note 2: I am doing all of this without root access.

Note 3: I already had Mozilla source and compiled (FireFox/MineField)

Step 1:

The static-analysis is done with Dehydra.

Build GCC with plugin support

To use it first off I have to build GCC with plugin support. The method to do so is detailed here.

My first run concluded early with this result:

/usr/include/gnu/stubs.h:7:27: error: gnu/stubs-32.h: No such file or directory
make[5]: *** [_muldi3.o] Error 1
make[5]: Leaving directory `/home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/32/libgcc’
make[4]: *** [multi-do] Error 1
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/libgcc’
make[3]: *** [all-multi] Error 2
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/libgcc’
make[2]: *** [all-stage1-target-libgcc] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build’
make[1]: *** [stage1-bubble] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build’
make: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build’
/bin/sh ../gcc-4.3.4/mkinstalldirs /home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build/../installed /home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build/../installed
mkdir -p — /home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build/../installed /home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build/../installed
/bin/sh: line 3: cd: ./fixincludes: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** [install-fixincludes] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/gcc-build’
make: *** [install] Error 2

After a bit of searching it appears that this is a “building on a 64-bit machine” issue. The solution seems to be to tell it to not built for 32-bit library with the parameter below.

./configure --disable-multilib

What (I believe) this does it keep the build from doing 32-bit stuff, keeping it from looking for files that aren’t there while also keeping one from being able to build 32-bit executable. I probably could have installed the 32-bit libraries but this was quicker and as far as I can tell (famous last words) shouldn’t effect me.

SpiderMonkey

Now I have to build a “standalone SpiderMonkey library” as detailed here.

After this the SpiderMonkey build ends with this: Bug 520623 – Building dehdyra against SpiderMonkey trunk fails

I applied the first, gcc mq, patch by actually running the first included patch which adds in a patch that is run in the commands included in the GCC patch part of the Dehydra build documentation. I went to the point where other patches are downloaded, then from the gcc-dehydra/gcc-4.3.4 directory:

cd ./.hg/patches

patch -p1 < $HOME/dehydra/nopoison.diff

Where nopoison.diff is the first patch listed in the bug. Then continued the steps and the patch is applied along with the rest.

Note: When I tried to apply the second patch to Dehydra it was already applied.

Build Dehydra

At first I tried using my stand alone SpiderMonkey with the configure for Dehydra.

./configure \
–js-libs=$HOME/sm/js/src/Linux_All_OPT.OBJ/ \
–js-headers=$HOME/sm/js/src/

Than I tried the ones built with FireFox/MineField, which was mentioned as inadequate.


./configure \
--js-libs=$MOZILLA_CENTRAL_OBJ/js/src/ \
--js-headers=$MOZILLA_CENTRAL/js/src/

Where I set $MOZILLA_CENTRAL to

(where your Mozilla source directory is)/src/

and $MOZILLA_CENTRAL_OBJ to

(where your Mozilla source directory is)/src/objdir-ff-release/

And this seemed to work??

Build static-analysis Mozilla

I added the lines below to my .mozconfig


CXX=$HOME/gcc-dehydra/installed/bin/g++
ac_add_options --with-static-checking=$HOME/gcc-dehydra/dehydra/gcc_treehydra.so

And it is broken… But I am pretty sure it is because I didn’t use my stand alone SpiderMonkey.

Here is a taste of the output errors I got:

cc1plus: error: unrecognized command line option "-fplugin=/home/rdicke/gcc-dehydra/dehydra/gcc_treehydra.so"
cc1plus: error: unrecognized command line option "-fplugin-arg=/home/rdicke/mozilla/src/js/src/config/static-checking.js --topsrcdir=/home/rdicke/mozilla/src/js/src --objdir=. --dehydra-modules= --treehydra-modules=/home/rdicke/mozilla/src/js/src/jsstack.js "


I will be on IRC looking for a bit of clarification on this process soon I am sure.

The event’s opening concert ” Ballantine’s Impression Tour by Groove Rider Electric Eel ” was the first time that I took responsibilities to the whole work of visual graphic in this concert. Even though it was just event’s opening concert, it made me a bit tired. It still have a whole concert. By the way, you can looking for the ticket now. In this album, Groove Rider cooperate with famous DJs such as SpiderMonkey, J monton, Tul Apartmentkunpa, DJ Nor and so on. Concert is going to play at 21 NOV 09.

ผ่านไปกับงานเปิดตัวคอนเสิต ” Ballantine’s Impression Tour by Groove Rider Electric Eel ” เป็นงานแรกที่ได้รับผิดชอบงานวิชวลอย่างเต็มรูปแบบ ถึงจะเป็นแค่งานเปิดตัวแต่ก็เล่นเอาซะเหนือยเลย นี้ยังเหลือคอนเสิตใหญ่อีกนะเนี้ย ยังไงก็ลองหาบัตรไปดูกันได้นะคับ ในอัลบัมนี้ Groove Rider ได้ร่วมมือกับดีเจชื่อดัง อาทิเช่น SpiderMonkey, J monton, พี่ตุล อาพาทเม้นคุณป้า, DJ Nor, และอีกมากมาย คอนเสิตจะมีขึ้นในวันที่ 21 พฤจิกายน 2009 นะคับ

Setelah melakukan kalibrasi pada Omnitrix (secara kebetulan), seluruh alien lamanya hilang dan diganti 10 alien baru. Sebenarnya mungkin bukan hilang; karena kalibrasi pada Omnitrix, seluruh DNA alien yang didapatkan Ben sebelumnya dirombak ulang dan menghasilkan 10 alien yang sama sekali berbeda (walau ada sedikit kemiripan…).  Berbagai alien yang tampak aneh-anetapi keren ini punya banyak kemampuan hebat! Apa saja wujud dan kemampuannya? Penasaran, kan? Baca sama-sama, yuk…

1. Swampfire (Pertama muncul di Episode 1: “Ben 10 Returns Part 1”)

Elemen: Api/Tanah

Kebal  : Serangan fisik

Lemah : ?

Tipe     : Tanaman (?)

“That tickles. Cut it out!” / “Itu geli. Hentikan!”

Alien ras Metahosian dari planet Methanos, yang pertama kali digunakan Ben untuk melawan DNAliens dan Forever Knights. Swampfire adalah alien tipe tanaman, tapi uniknya dia mampu menyerang dengan api! Selain menembakkan bola api kecil dan besar dari kedua telapak tangannya, dia juga mampu merambat di dalam tanah seperti akar tanaman dan mengendalikan berbagai tumbuhan di sekitar dengan aroma khusus (mirip  bau rawa, makanya dipanggil Swampfire=Api Rawa).

Selain kekuatan pukulan serta kelincahannya yang lumayan, kebanggaan lain dari alien yang seperti gabungan Wildvine + Heatblast ini adalah pertahanannya. Tubuh Swampfire tidak akan terluka dari serangan fisik seperti hantaman pukulan-tendangan atau tebasan pedang (hanya terasa geli! ^_^), bagian tubuh yang terpotong pun bisa segera menyambung kembali seperti tananan rambat. Kemampuan regenarasi yang hebat!

Str B / Vit B / Tec B / Ag B

2. Big Chill

Elemen : Es

Kebal  : Es

Lemah : Api

Tipe     : Kupu-kupu

“Freeze! …I always wanted to say that!” / “Freeze (Berhenti atau beku)! …Aku selalu ingin bilang begitu!”

Alien kupu-kupu ras Necrofriggian yang sanggup menghembuskan atau menembakkan sinar es dengan suhu mendekati 0° C. Bisa terbang seperti kupu-kupu pada umumnya, juga sanggup menghilangkan tubuhnya seperti hantu agar tidak terkena serangan.

Str C / Vit C / Tec B+ / Ag B

3. Humungosaur (Pertama muncul di Episode 2: “Ben 10 Returns Part 2”)

Elemen           : Tanah

Tahan : Serangan fisik, tanah

Tipe     : Dinosaurus

“You’re in BIIIIIIIGG trouble!” / “Kau dalam masalah BEEEESAARR!”

Alien dinosaurus ras Vaxasaurian dengan ukuran dan kekuatan fisik yang mengagumkan. Ukuran tubuhnya bisa berganti antar 4-20 meter, membuatnya bisa bertarung di tanah seperti beruang atau mengamuk bagai Godzila di antara gedung-gedung tinggi. Pukulan tangannya dapat menghancurkan batu, tembok, bahkan baja (bila dipukul berkali-kali), selain itu mengangkat objek berat seperti batu besar maupun truk dan kapal bukan masalah bagi dinosaurus ini! Forever Knights atau DNAliens bisa disibak habis dengan mudah oleh kibasan ekornya.

Str A+ / Vit A+ / Tec C / Ag D

4. ECHO-ECHO (Pertama muncul di Episode 4: “Kevin’s Big Score”)

Elemen : Netral

Tipe     : Cyborg

Alien ras Sonorosian dari planet Sonosrosia yang kecil, imut-imut agak mirip robot. Mulutnya bisa memancarkan gelombang suara perusak ber-frekuensi tinggi (ultrasonik), menghancurkan kaca, batu, dan benda keras lainnya di depan mata. Walau kecil, dia mampu memperbanyak diri sampai sekitar 20 orang. Gerakannya yang lincah serta jumlahnya yang banyak sanggup menyudutkan lawan berukuran jumbo sekalipun. Kalau dipikir baik-baik, ECHO-ECHO ini adalah gabungan Ditto + Megawatt (memperbanyak diri + gelombang listrik) kan? Ya atau nggak, tanya Man of Action aja deh!

Str D / Vit C / Tec A / Ag A

5. Jet Ray (Muncul pertama di Episode 3: “Everybody Talks About the Weather…”)

Elemen           : Cahaya

Tahan : Sinar

Tipe     : Kelelawar

Alien Aerophibian dari planet Aeropela yang bisa terbang sangat cepat, lebih cepat dari Big Chill. Bisa mengeluarkan laser hijau tipis yang cepat dari kedua mata serta ekornya. Manuver udaranya sangat fleksibel, lincah, dan pandai bergulir dibanding alien terbang lainnya. Wajahnya memang agak seram, tapi kemampuannya hebat dan sangat membantu Ben menyebrangi daerah berbahaya!

Str C / Vit D+ / Tec A / Ag A+

6. Goop (Pertama muncul di Episode 9: “The Gauntlet”)

Elemen: Netral

Tahan : Fisik, Air

Tipe     : Jelly

Goop adalah alien ras Polymorph dari planet Viscosia; berbentuk seperti jelly/lendir hijau, mampu berubah bentuk dengan bebas seperti air. Alien ini dikendalikan oleh sebuah UFO mini di atas kepalanya, yang juga menjadi pita suara mahluk seberat 200 pon ini (karena Goop tidak punya mulut!). Seperti lendir pada umumnya; walau Goop mudah hancur dan tercerai berai oleh pukulan musuh, dapat segera menyatu kembali tanpa luka sedikitpun. Karena sifat tubuhnya ini, Goop bisa menyusup ke berbagai tempat sempit seperti celah sempit pintu, kaca jendela, bahkan baju pelindung musuh! Meski kekuatan serangannya jauh di bawah alien lain, Goop mampu bertahan walau tercerai berai dari serangan gencar musuh dan menyatu kembali berapa kalipun asalkan UFO di atas kepalanya tidak rusak (karena UFO mini inilah yang mengumpulkan dan menyusun kembali bagian tubuh Goop).

Str D / Vit D / Tec A+ / Ag B+

7. Chromastone (Pertama muncul di Episode 5: “All That Glitters”)

Kebal     : Listrik, Fisik, dll

Menyerap: Cahaya

Elemen: Cahaya

Tipe: Kristal (?)

Alien ras Crystalsapien dari planet Morotesi yang mirip Diamondhead, hanya saja dari silikon dan jauh lebih kuat. Alien ini kebal hampir pada semua jenis serangan dan memiliki kekuatan fisik yang hebat, lebih dari Swampfire. Tidak seperti Diamondhead, kristal di tubuhnya berwarna ungu. Walau tampak abadi, sebenarnya tidak begitu. Dengan dihantam kekuatan besar yang cukup, Chromastone bisa dihancurkan. Pecahan-pecahannya akan menjadi Diamondhead!

Str A / Vit S / Tec B / Ag B

8. Brainstorm (Pertama muncul di Episode 7: “Pier Pressure”)

Elemen: Listrik

Tahan : Listrik

Tipe     : Kepiting

Brainstorm adalah alien ras Cerebrocrustacean dari planet Encephalonus IV, alien berbentuk kepiting yang sangat jenius! Sesuai namanya Brain (otak), alien ini mempunyai tingkat kepintaran yang luar biasa karena ukuran otaknya yang sangat besar. Dengan membuka cangkang pelindung kepala dan memperlihatkan otaknya, dia mampu menembakkan energi listrik seperti badai (Storm). Bukan hanya gelombang listrik; Brainstorm juga bisa mengangkat benda-benda dengan telekinesis, atau menciptakan medan energi pelindung di sekitar dirinya sendiri atau orang lain hanya dengan memikirkannya! Selama dalam wujud ini Ben berbicara dengan logat British (?), juga mengungkapkan berbagai hal dengan logika dan teori ilmiah seperti seorang profesor ilmu Sains. Padahal orang aslinya tidak sepintar itu… ^_^

Str C+ / Vit B+ / Tec A+ / Ag C

9. Spidermonkey (Pertama muncul di Episode 8: “What Are Little Girls Made of?”)

Elemen: Angin

Tahan : Angin

Lemah: Api

Tipe     : Monyet-Laba-laba

Spidermonkey adalah alien ras Arachnichimp dari planet Aranhascimmia; sesuai namanya Spider (laba-laba) dan Monkey (monyet), dia adalah alien monyet yang punya 6 mata, 6 kaki dan ekor laba-laba! Selain cepat, lincah, dan jago memanjat pohon seperti monyet, alien ini mampu menembakkan jaring laba-laba dari ekornya! Dengan jaring laba-laba yang bisa ditembakkan secara bebas, Spidermonkey bisa berayun dan melilit musuh dalam jaring bak Spider-Man, sekaligus menampar dan menghajar musuh bak simpanse dari kebun binatang. Dalam wujud ini Ben sangat humoris dan nakal; suka bercanda, menggaruk-garuk mencari kutu, dan berteriak “Kiikiiik!” seperti monyet…

Str C+ / Vit C+ / Tec B+ / Ag A+

10. Alien X (Pertama muncul di Episode 13: “X=Ben+2″)

Tahan: ?

Elemen: ?

Jenis: ?

Alien ras Celestialsapien dari planet Zvezda; mahkluk misterius ini merupakan alien terkuat Ben, mampu mengubah waktu dan realita (memajukan waktu, memundurkan waktu, dll)  semaunya dalam sekejap mata. SAYANGNYA, alien ini sulit dikendalikan karena punya 3 kepribadian dalam pikirannya: Serena sang suara cinta dan belas kasihan, Bellicus sang suara kemarahan dan agresi, dan Ben sendiri sebagai suara pertimbangan. Agar Alien X bisa bertindak (bergerak, bertarung, bahkan menggerakkan seujung jari), 2 dari 3 kepribadian harus sepakat melakukan hal yang sama. Namun Serena dan Bellicus selalu berbeda pendapat, tak pernah mencapai keputusan. Ben netral, sehingga mereka akhirnya bisa bertindak setelah berabad-abad terdiam. Serena dan Bellicus selalu bersitegang untuk selamanya, sehingga hampir mustahil bagi Ben untuk meyakinkan mereka. Jangankan untuk bekerjasama, membujuk 1 saja sulitnya minta ampun! Selama mereka bertiga berunding dalam pikiran dan belum mencapai kesepakatan, tubuh Alien X akan diaaammm saja. Diam seperti patung, walau di depan mata ada musuh! Kekuatan yang sangat besar dari Alien ini percuma, karena tidak adanya dukungan pendapat dari 2 kepribadian lain tersebut. Setelah banyak pertengkaran pendapat sia-sia, Ben memutuskan untuk tidak akan berubah lagi menjadi Alien X. Selamanya. SELAMANYA!

Str ? / Vit ? / Tec ? / Ag ?

Ketahanan Materi Kevin

Kevin bisa menyerap berbagai zat materi di sekitar untuk memperkuat pukulannya atau mengeraskan tubuhnya. Tapi tahukah kamu bahwa setiap materi yang diserap Kevin punya kelemahan sendiri? Inilah dia:

Baja/Besi: Kuat, paling baik pertahanannya, tapi lemah terhadap listrik.

Batu       : Tenaga pukulannya paling kuat, tapi daya tahannya agak kurang, lambat.

Kayu      : Paling ringan dan cepat, tapi lebih rapuh dari baja dan batu. Lemah pada api.

Trivia

1. Sejak Ben 10 Alien Force, Omnitrix tidak pernah lagi melakukan kesalahan perubahan, waktu habis di saat yang salah, atau tidak aktif.
2. Di Ben 10 Alien Force, Omnitrix tidak lagi berkedip merah saat waktu perubahan hampir habis.
3. Proses perubahan Ben ke alien di Ben 10 Alien Force lebih sederhana dibanding dulu; hanya diselimuti sinar hijau, lalu perubahan molekul dasar tubuh.
4. Tanda Omnitrix (di tubuh alien) dulu adalah putih-abu-abu, tapi di Alien Force hitam dan hijau (mengikuti lambang Omnitrix sekarang).
5. Lencana Tukang Ledeng (Plumber) mengikuti lambang Omnitrix Ben! Apakah di-desain selama 5 tahun masa peralihan ke Alien force?
6. Warna kekuatan sihir Gwen yang dulunya biru sekarang jadi pink. Kenapa, ya?
7. Gwen yang sekarang bisa memakai sihir tanpa menyebut mantra-nya satu persatu.
8. Sejak Ben 10 Alien Force, Kevin tidak pernah lagi menyerap energi alien (hanya benda padat seperti baja, batu, dan kayu saja).

TraceMonkey is an updated version of Mozilla Firefox’s JavaScript engine. So what’s so great about it? It’s a looooot faster! Mozilla executives has been stated saying that this new engine is 20 to 40 times more faster than the previous JavaScript engines.

Though we all know that Mozilla has a reputation to give their products some really slick names, TraceMonkey has actually been derived from an earlier JavaScript engine then known as the SpiderMonkey (sounds really weird to someone from the animal kingdom). SpiderMonkey was the first ever JavaScript engine created for the Netscape browser. Here’s what Mozilla has to say:

TraceMonkey adds native‐code compilation to Mozilla’s JavaScript engine (known as “SpiderMonkey”). It is based on a technique developed at UC Irvine called “trace trees”, and building on code and ideas shared with the Tamarin Tracing project. The net result is a massive speed increase both in the browser chrome and Web‐page content.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5082997/why-tracemonkey-is-going-to-blow-your-web-browsing-mind

Some other good resources to learn about TraceMonkey:

• JavaScript:TraceMonkey
• Andreas Gal’s TraceMonkey FAQ post
• TraceMonkey benchmarks
• John Resig – TraceMonkey
• How To Activate TraceMonkey in Firefox 3.1
• TraceVis: Getting some eyes into TraceMonkey
• Brendan discusses how TraceMonkey is climbing faster; Ruby on the Web with V8

I decided to check out the newest version of Firefox. I didn’t do it because of my Flash issues, but because I had heard of the new JavaScript. Ok, I should say the “old” original SpiderMonkey engine from Netscape which has now been updated to become TraceMonkey.

Firefox has traditionally been a pig of a program, and so it doesn’t surprise me to see them drop entire chunks of code in preference to a rewritten component. This is the smart thing to do.

I backed up my ~/.mozilla directory and I downloaded 3.5 beta4.

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.1b4) Gecko/20090423 Firefox/3.5b4

I simultaneously installed the Tree Style Tab add-on (add-on, home page).  It gives me a left sidebar.  I have a wide screen, so I have lots of width to work with.  I don’t particularly like the big grey column I get, since I don’t have many tabs loaded.  I’m also still getting used to my eye going to the left instead of the top to see where I currently am.  Still, I’m enjoying it quite a lot.

So far I don’t have much to say about this new version of Firefox.  It doesn’t seem much faster to me, but it does seem to be avoiding its 100% CPU usage with Flash.  My power supply fan doesn’t go nuts anymore, but I see the usage does frequently spike just under 100% when there’s flash being interacted with.  I guess I’ll take what I can get on this one.

I still have to disable version checking to get some essential add-ons to work, like ReloadEvery. It ticks me off that I can’t do this on an individual add-on basis. Oh well.

So I found out what’s on the Twilight Special Edition Bonus Disc…

chinchilla bebe!!

…

…

…Absolutely nothing.

Except chinchilla droppings.

Don’t ask. It’s really awkward, but, for Bella, it’s incredibly embarrassing. So yeah. Go ahead and ask. *evil laugh*

I like this shot because it cuts out Kristin Stewart. Nothing against her really, except she isn't that great of an actress playing a not-so-great character. Bad deal.

Synopsis of the Bonus Disc: Deleted scenes, which are pretty standard. This is where those chinchilla droppings come in. Awkward. I’m pretty sure Edward’s glad he can’t read her mind after this little jewel has been uncovered.

ComicCon film footage (which consisted of everyone telling R Pattz [sorry, Em. I love that name. It's so easy to make fun of this way.] how bloody gorgeous he is and Catherine Hardwicke really showing how much air is between her ears.

Oh, and don’t forget the never ending vampumentary on How To Make A Terrible Vampire Movie, complete with a million (hyperbole, shameless and true, because it completely works here) chapters on how the movie was made and the process our fearless leader and director underwent to make 14-year-olds globally squeal in unison.

At least there was  some serious eye candy, otherwise I would’ve abandoned the entire adventure.

And I swear to God, if I hear “spidermonkey” or “monkey man” one more effing time, I’ll make you eat those chinchilla droppings Bella and her mom turned into a musical instrument via a cardboard paper towel holder.

Now I almost wish they didn’t omit that from the movie. Sure, it’s nowhere in the book, but it’s a gloriously humiliating moment for Bella and, therefore, perfect for those like me who can’t stand the air she breathes. Man, I wish I could find a YouTube video of this scene for you guys. Alas, no one has been on the ball. For shame, freaky sweaty-toothed Twilighters. For shame.

There you have it. My fears have been realized–and I had to sit through over and hour’s worth of nothing with Emily so that I could bring a complete report. Thanks, Emily. I couldn’t have done it without you.

In other news, I start my last grad school class in two weeks! I have spring break off (huzzah!), so I’ll have a week of rest. I’ll probably play too many video games and catch up on my movie watching. My Netflix has been pretty stagnant lately, so much so that I had to downgrade to the 1-disc-at-a-time plan (still unlimited, though! Never fear). Only a few more months (really, the end of June) and I’ll be finished. I can’t believe it!

I’m thinking about getting another Master’s in Creative Writing. Maybe after another year, and maybe by then Florida Southern will have stopped being such a douche bag and reinstalled the Creative Writing concentration in the English Department. We’ll see. Fat chance, though. Apparently, the education and business departments have remained untouchable, but our prized English department is okay as far as cuts are concerned.

< / rant >

I have to go make children read now. Yay for literature and all things spelled out with words instead of ri-ding-

*huge english major twitch*

dong-diculous text language. C u l8r. Kthnxbye!

p/s The grad school professor I’m currently leaving to start my new class is a tool, one of the reasons being that despite his PhD, he uses TEXT LANGUAGE in emails to our class: u guys r doing great. hope to c some great essays from u all soon. ur grades will be posted tues. best, dr. hamod. … … … SHOOT ME IN THE FACE, DR. HAMOD, BECAUSE YOU’VE JUST VIOLATED MY INTELLIGENCE WITH YOUR APPARENT LACK OF RESPECT FOR MY ENGLISH MAJOR BRAIN!

Sigh.

p/p/s I hope that when my book becomes a bestseller and they make a movie on it I get to go to ComicCon and meet the gorgeous actors set to play my characters. Jensen, Jaren, and Lee, here I come!

Ben 10 Alien Force (Custom)

Ben 10 Alien Force

Pengembang: Vicious Engine Software

Penerbit         : D3 Publisher

Genre               : Aksi

Sistem              : Playstation 2

Pemain             : 1-2 orang

Memory Card : 84 kb

Rating : Semua Umur

Tahun : 2008

(Juga untuk Nintendo Wii dan Nintendo DS)

Petualangan Penuh Alien Berlanjut!

Ben 10 Alien Force adalah sekuel dari serial kartun Ben 10 di Cartoon Network yang tamat pada bulan April lalu. Lima tahun setelah Ben 10 berakhir, Ben Tennyson yang sekarang sudah berusia 15 tahun menjalani kehidupan normal setelah berhasil melepaskan Omnitrix dari tangannya secara paksa. Ketika akan mengunjungi kakeknya Max Tennyson di Rust Bucket (mobil van canggih sekaligus rumah kakek Max), dia tak ada di sana. Malah ben bertemu dengan alien aneh yang menyerangnya tanpa basa-basi. Tanpa Omnitrix, ben mengusir alien itu dengan akal cerdiknya sendiri. Ben menyadari alien itu mencari sesuatu di sana, dan Ben menemukan sebuah alat berisi pesan kakek Max yang hanya menyampaikan bahwa dia terlibat dalam penyelidikan aktivitas alien misterius serta Omnitrix yang aman bersamanya. Ben segera pulang ke rumah dan mendapati Omnitrix masih ada di kamarnya; lalu apa maksud kakek Max? Ben yang kebingungan mendatangi Gwen Tennyson sepupunya; menceritakan semuanya, dan meminta saran: demi mencari kakek Max, apakah Ben harus memakai Omnitrix sekali lagi? Berbagai kejadian aneh yang melibatkan kawanan alien baru HighBreed dan grup musuh lama Forever Knights, membuat Ben mengambil keputusan… Dengan bantuan sepupunya Gwen dan musuh lama yang bertobat Kevin ‘’11’’ Levin, Ben akan kembali memakai Omnitrix di lengan kirinya dan bertempur!

Maju Dengan Kekuatan Penuh!

Permainan dalam Ben 10 Alien Force hampir sama dengan game Ben 10 Protector of Earth sebelumnya: maju ke kanan dan melawan setiap musuh yang menghalangi. Sebagai Ben, kamu bisa memukul dan menendang, juga berguling menghindari serangan musuh. Tentunya Ben yang tidak bisa bela diri perlu lebih dari itu untuk menghadapi para alien HighBreed dan prajurit Forever Knights. Secara tidak sengaja, Ben membuat Omnitrix di lengannya ber-kalibrasi: penyesuaian bentuk jam dan perombakan DNA alien di dalamnya. Selain bentuknya yang berbeda, semua alien Ben yang dulu hilang dan tergantikan 10 bentuk alien baru yang ditampilkan bukan lagi dengan siluet hitam; melainkan dalam bentuk hologram 3 dimensi. Kamu bisa mengaktifkan Omnitrix untuk berubah ke berbagai bentuk alien baru seperti: Swampfire; alien tanaman tapi bisa menembakkan api dan kebal, Big Chill; alien es yang bisa melayang, tak tersentuh seperti hantu, dan membekukan musuh, Humongosaur; alien dinosaurus raksasa yang sangat kuat, dan lain-lain. Beberapa daerah hanya bisa dilewati bentuk alien tertentu: seperti melewati jurang yang jauh dengan Jet Ray; alien kelelawar yang bisa terbang cepat, atau memanjat sulur tanaman seperti jaring dengan alien monyet-laba-laba Spidermonkey. Setiap alien punya serangan kombo yang berbeda; yang bisa dibuka satu-persatu dengan mengumpulkan poin Omnitrix (bola energi kuning) yang dijatuhkan musuh yang kalah, sama seperti dulu.

Alien tidak bisa selalu memecahkan masalah dan rintangan; di situlah Gwen dan Kevin masuk! Untuk pertama kalinya kamu bisa memainkan Gwen dan Kevin dengan kemampuan mereka masing-masing. Berbeda dengan Ben, Gwen bisa bela diri dan ahli membanting (Judo). Gwen bisa membanting musuh yang badannya lebih kecil, atau menendang mereka. Selain bela diri, Gwen memiliki kekuatan sihir; kamu bisa mengeluarkan gelombang energi sihir untuk menyerang musuh, membuat perisai sihir yang kebal serangan, bahkan lompat ganda dan melayang dengan pijakan dari sihir! Walau tidak bisa berubah menjadi alien, kemampuan Gwen melebihi Ben dalam wujud manusia. Sementara Gwen bisa sihir, Kevin bisa menyerap energi materi objek padat apa saja yang disentuhnya. Misalnya saat menyerap energi baja, tubuh Kevin akan dilapisi baja keras yang bisa menahan serangan musuh dan meningkatkan tenaga pukulan Kevin. Detektor logam yang tidak bisa dilewati Ben bisa dilewati Kevin dengan cara ini. Selain baja, ada pula kayu dan batu yang bisa Kevin serap. Memang terbatas dan punya kelemahan masing-masing, tapi sangat membantu!

Walau masih tetap menarik, banyak sekali hal yang patut disayangkan dari game ini. Pertama, bentuk alien yang ada hanya 5; padahal sudah banyak fans yang memprotes hal ini. Kedua, grafis full 3 Dimensi mengaburkan kesan kartun yang ada; walau terlihat cukup bagus, masih banyak pecah-pecah di sudut pandang tertentu selama permainan. Ketiga, kombo serangan setiap alien jumlahnya sangat sedikit dan kurang inovasi. Keempat, bonus yang bisa dibuka hanya gambar sketsa; itupun ukurannya kecil dan hanya ada sedikit. Kelima dan yang paling fatal: walau bisa memainkan Gwen dan Kevin, level yang tersedia hanya 8; tidak sampai setengah jumlah level Ben 10 Protector of Earth, ceritanya pun kurang dalam! Sebenarnya game ini bisa berkembang lebih jauh, dramatis, dan bagus dari sekarang apabila diberi lebih banyak waktu. Terbukti Ben 10 Protector of Earth yang dikembangkan High Voltage Software tahun 2007 lalu (saat episode Ben 10 sudah sangat jauh) lebih baik dan benar-benar mencerminkan sebuah game Ben 10 seharusnya. Meski banyak nilai kurangnya, ada hal yang patut diberi nilai khusus seperti pengisian suara para tokoh oleh pengisi suara terkenal seperti Yuri Lowenthal (pengisi suara Haseo di .hack G.U. dan Tokoh Utama di Persona 3) untuk Ben, Dee Dudley Baker untuk para alien Ben, dan masih banyak. Pengisian suaranya begitu pas dan nyaris sempurna; sayang tidak diimbangi musik latar (BGM) yang menarik. Perlu lebih banyak usaha untuk mengangkat nilai game ini.

Nilai:

Grafis : 65 B₊

Suara : 70 B+

Permainan : 75 B+₊

Fitur : 50 C+

Cerita : 70 B+

Keseluruhan : 64 B

E (0-20) : Parah

D (21-40) : Buruk

C (41-60) : Kurang

B (61-80) : Lumayan

A (81-99) : Bagus

S (100) : SEMPURNA!

]]> http://diablohorn.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/javascript-deobfuscation-a-little-start/ Sat, 06 Dec 2008 01:59:09 +0000 diablohorn http://diablohorn.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/javascript-deobfuscation-a-little-start/

So I’ve been trying to get more information about the funky world of JavaScript deobfuscation. It’s really fascinating what kind of protective measures and obfuscation JavaScript can reach. So whith what kind of stuff have i been playing around?

SpiderMonkey FTW!

No really, it’s easy, it’s proven and it works.  Installing is really easy…lotsa documentation also. The best part of it was that…spidermonkey does not have default support for things like document.write(); After googling I found out about 2 ways to achieve it. The first method involved changing the C files and recompiling and such…the other method was so much easier. Have a look:

part1 for a nice introduction

part2 with the solution to add document.write(); support.

For the ones interested here is the method where you need to recompile spidermonkey and such.

There are a lot more of interesting deobfuscation tools out there to play with though.

Ultimate deobfuscator

malzilla

So this has been my little introduction to javascript deobfuscation I will certainly keep playing it’s fun, I never thought javascript could be used for so much evil but fun things.

WARNING: Spoilers below! These little Twilight script spoilers are extremely minor and not 100% verified (as the movie hasn’t been screened by the public yet), however they are true in my vampire-educated opinion based on what I have read, as well as the movie stills, promotional clips, and media coverage I have seen.

Oh, and one more thing- please don’t read the information below and then get all upset with me for ‘ruining’ the movie for you. I didn’t ruin anything for you- you’re the one choosing to read this blog. Also, if you’ve read the book, you already know what happens and therefore, you’ve ruined the movie yourself. Wait…did that even make sense??? Ugh, never mind.

So check it out the vamp-tastic goods:

1. The Cullens cook a meal for Bella (word on the street is that it’s Italian food) when she visits their home and meets them for the first time. Weird, right? After hundreds of years of not consuming any type of human food, how would they even recall how to cook? Do they know how difficult it is to cook for one person without having gargantuan amounts of leftovers that eventually go bad?! Can you tell that I lived alone for five years?! (this tidbit verified in the Twilight Movie Companion- the meal stuff, not the part about me living alone).

2. Kristen Stewart selected the final prom song that is played at the end: Iron & Wine’s ‘Flightless Bird, American Mouth.’ Original filming did NOT include a scene showing Jacob’s surprise appearance at Bella’s prom (to warn her about Edward). After initial test screenings, audiences responded that they felt the scene needed to be included…so it was, during the re-shoots.

3. In Biology class, the eccentric and enthusiastic teacher holds a contest with the prize being a ‘golden onion.’ It is believed that Bella and Edward, as lab partners, win the golden onion. If you watch the movie trailers, you can see Bella set the gold onion on top of her truck right before the blue van starts careening across the parking lot toward her.

4. Director Catherine Hardwicke has mentioned that one of the opening scenes of the film shows Bella tripping over some steps, to give the immediate impression of her clumsiness.

5. In the Twilight Movie Companion, a photo shows Bella and Edward having dinner at Bella Italia that fateful night in Port Angeles. The only thing missing? The infamous mushroom ravioli. A small cup of soup sits in front of Bella instead.

6. In the movie trailers, you see Edward climbing up massive trees with Bella clinging to his back. Because this is not in the story and the production crew didn’t want to steer too far off the page, they got author Stephenie Meyer’s blessing and she deemed the concept cool enough to include, despite never having appeared in any of the books (the book places more emphasis on the lightening fast running abilities of vampires). The line of dialogue where Edward says “You better hold on tight, Spidermonkey” was improvised by Robert Pattinson.

That’s all! Get excited…Nov. 21st will be here soon! Last night I saw a Twilight commercial air on NBC. Naturally, I went ballistic.

Sempre più linguaggio a tutti gli effetti.
JSLIBS “a standalone JavaScript development runtime environment for using JavaScript as a general-purpose scripting language…..Some of these modules are simple wrappers for familiar libraries such as: zlib, SQLite, FastCGI, NSPR (Netscape Portable Runtime) , ODE (Open Dynamics Engine) , libpng, libjpeg, librsvg, SDL, libiconv, OpenGL, OpenAL, ogg vorbis, libTomCrypt, libffi (Foreign function interface) , …”, basato su SpiderMonkey

Un web application server, Helma, ecco le sue caratteristiche principali

Il mio primo esperimento di integrazione di Java e Javascript sotto Helma:
La classe Java che lancia un semplice “ls”:
import java.io.*;
public class ExecTest
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{
try {
String params[] = { "ls"};
Process pinger = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(params);
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(pinger.getInputStream()));
String lineRead = null;
while((lineRead = reader.readLine()) != null)
{
System.out.println(lineRead); //You can send output from here to a GUI display if needed
}
}catch(Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

Ed una pagina per Helma che fa la stessa cosa:
var command = new java.lang.String("ls -l");
var proc = java.lang.Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
var reader = new java.io.BufferedReader( new java.io.InputStreamReader(proc.getInputStream()));
var str = reader.readLine();
res.data.title = str;
renderSkin("html");


GO JAVASCRIPT!! GOOOOOOO

TraceMonkey چیست؟
TraceMonkey یک نسخه از موتور جستجوی SpiderMonkey است که به آن بهینه سازی TraceTree توسط بنیاد موزیلا اضافه شده است. قرار است تا در نسخه فایرفاکس 3.1 که به زودی منتشر خواهد شد، این تکنیک بهینه سازی اضافه شود. تکنیک TraceTree در برخی موارد بین 20 تا 40 برابر سرعت و کارایی این موتور جاوا را بهبود خواهد داد.

SpiderMonkey چیست؟
SpiderMonkey یک اسم کد برای اولین موتور شناخته شده است. این موتور توسط برندان ایچ در Communication NetScape نوشته شده است و بعداً به صورت متن باز منتشر شد و در حال حاضر توسط بنیاد موزیلا پشتیبانی می شود.

منبع: ویکی پدیا

Test machine:

Celeron D 331 2,66Ghz
512MB DDR 400Mhz
Windows XP SP3

Chrome ( Chrome/0.2.149.29 )
http://dromaeo.com/?id=41149

Firefox Nightly Build with JIT ( Gecko/20080910043000 )
http://dromaeo.com/?id=41155

Opera 9.60 Beta 1 ( Presto/2.1.1 )
http://dromaeo.com/?id=41166

Summary:

http://dromaeo.com/?id=41149,41155,41166

Web developers and website owners all over the world are up making sure that their applications are compatible with Google Chrome. In my Hands On Test Drive, I reported that some of the websites and features were not fully functional due to the fact that Chrome caught the world by surprise. Well in their latest update today, Facebook has resolved most of the issues on Chrome, thanks to the people who work through the night just to make the web a better place.

In their comic book, Google claimed that the web is their home, and they “live on the web”. So its no surprise that Google is up working with various engineers making their applications compatible with Chrome. The latest Java Runtime release candidate fixed various Java related issues in Chrome, while Flash Player 10 preview, codenamed Astro, now also fully supports the Google browser.

A Video Object Manipulated in Realtime 3D

Chrome’s main competitor would be the recently previewed Shiretoko (aka Firefox 3.1) which is based on Gecko 1.9.1. It will be featuring TraceMonkey, which is a native code compiler for Mozilla’s JavaScript engine SpiderMonkey. This new engine is expected to go head to head with Chrome’s V8, meaning that if standards aren’t in place, our favorite site are going to fall to pieces.

While most sites (including Facebook) still have issues on Shiretoko, Chrome has all the advantage it needs to take over the #1 spot in Web Browsing technologies. For now you can feel safe and assured that your favorite sites will not break on Chrome anymore.

F… stands for the web future for which everyone expects to be the desktop of today’s computer. The Operation System (like Windows) we takes for granted will only be part of the equation. The Web Browser is another part. Who produces better browsers take the high ground for the future battles. That’s the reason Google’s own browser makes such a noise. That’s reason why the new JavaScript engine matters.

Who is on the table at this moment. Internet Explorer (IE) is the fat happy guy, take 70-80% of the market sure. Firefox comes next (8-19%, depending on which stat you look). Safari (3.5%) and Opera come next. Safari and Opera are very aggressive to be standard compliant, in their attempt to pass Acid3 is fun to watch. Both Opera and Safari suffers from the Javascript hiccup. Safari has the solution in place – a new Javascript interpreter — SquirrelFish.

Firefox are working on new JavaScript engine — SpiderMonkey. They all said the new engine is much faster. SquirrelFish claims the 4-5 folds increase in rendering speed. The new Google Chrome’s new Javascript engine V8 (make me think of a health drink) has more impressive speed, supposedly 10 times faster than IE’s Javascript engine.

The speed of Javascript really matters, it is the engine for “making the desktop into the cloud” and “running all the application on the web”; to make the “thin-client” a reality in a largest scale; to remove the pirated software; for software company to have unprecedent control over their app; to enjoy for practice-shift of PC ever. The bottom line is, people staying with their desktop application is simply the desktop application is snappy and responsive. It is the same reason noone like to do the Flash based web app. A speedy Javascript engine hence is the key.

At the end, it is because the Microsoft’s non-standard approach hold us back for a decade. The monopoly really speed thing up at the beginning. However, when IE became the de facto standard, innovation stops. It is because Microsoft only care about making money, not cashing on the innovation.

Let’s cross the finger for Google Chrome.

Extended reading: WIRED MAGAZINE – Inside Chrome: The Secret Project to Crush IE and Remake the Web.

Salvador, Brasil
Basement Jaxx – Where’s your head at ?

Vi hadde egentlig planlagt aa reise innom Colombia foer Brasil, men naar vi kom tilbake fra Galapagosoeyene fikk Lillepus oeyeinfeksjon for 3. gang, og Ymse hadde aua i magen. Saa fra 15. til 19. juni hang vi bare rundt paa hostellet og forsoekte aa bli friske, samt at vi besoekte den cubanske ambassaden og ordnet oss pvisum. Og bestilte flybilletter til Cuba, trodde vi.
Siden den gang har vi bestilt flybilletter til Cuba to ganger til, og alle gangene (inklusive den foerste) har transaksjonen gaatt til et sted hvor det er varmt og masse flammer. De som mener at man faar kjoept alt man vil med plastikk kan dra til Soer-Amerika og finne ut at slik er ikke verden bygget opp. Sist gang vi saa at transaksjonen ikke gikk gjennom, reserverte vi to billetter som maa kjoepes to dager foer avreise. Saa naa er vi sikret, haaper vi paa.

19. juni floey vi fra Quito til Manaus. Ser ikke saa langt ut paa kartet, men i Soer-Amerika er direkteruter noe som er mer eller mindre ikke-eksisterende. Derfor brukte vi hele dagen paa aa fly fra Quito i Ecuador til Lima i Peru, saa til Sao Paulo soer i Brasil foer vi endelig landet i Manaus i Brasil. Midt i Amazonas, midt paa natten, og heldigvis var det ledig plass paa hostellet vi hadde sett oss ut, og verten snakket engelsk. Portugisisk er nesten uforstaaelig selv naar man kan spansk.Dagen etter kjoepte vi oss billett til elvebaat: 2 dager i en hengekoeye paa Amazonas fra Manaus til Santarém. Vi reiste dagen etter, og fant akkurat plass til hengekoeyene vaare blant de innfoedte. Vi og David fra Colombia var de eneste utlendingene paa baaten, det var veldig saert og ble veldig eksotisk naar vi ikke lenger forsto et fnugg av hva de sa. Vi hadde et par stopp langs veien, men ellers toeffet vi paa floden i en bedagelig fart med vinden i haaret, og klokken 3 om morgenen 23.juni var vi framme i Santarém.

Aa reise med elvebaat er den mest idylliske maaten vi har reist paa. Dagen gaar til aa ta bilder, og slenge rundt i hengekoeyen, og lese bok. Man blir ikke daarlig, for det er ingen boelger. Og siden det er midt ute paa elven er det omtrent ikke mygg, og en frisk bris blaaser vekk det verste av varmen.
Men de sanitaere forholdene kan faa Indiana Jones til aa rynke paa nesen. Det lukter verre enn Roskilde, og du har innestengt varme og fuktighet i tillegg. Og kakkerlakker. Bring your own toiletpaper og vaatservietter. Maten som selges om bord er lunsj og middag, og det er: kylling, ris, pasta, boenner og en kjip salat. Og er ikke aa anbefale aa spise om du lett blir daarlig av litt luguber mat. Vil du ikke ha, maa du ta med din egen mat – det gjorde vi. 2 dager med hvitt broed, musli, epler og bananer som var veldig beske i smaken. David saa veldig rart paa oss naar vi spiste sistnevnte. ‘Don’t you cook them ?’, spurte han. ‘No, why should we do that ?’, spurte vi. Og da fikk vi vite at ikke alle bananer skal spises raa, og at de heter ulike ting. Platanó, som vi spiste, var store og harde og ble spist kokt eller stekt. Bare dyr (og vi) spiste de raa. Bananer var mindre og de spiste man raa. Jassaa ja.

I Santarém fant vi et billig hostell uten aircondition. Klarte etterhvert aa finne noe som liknet frokost ogsaa, og bestilte oss flybilletter til Belém – byen som ligger ved munningen til Amazonas. 3 dager til med elvebaat fristet ikke, mest fordi det ikke var noen maate aa sikre sekkene vaare paa ombord. Kjoepte ogsaa flybillett fra Salvador til Rio de Janeiro – det er like dyrt aa ta buss i dette landet som aa fly. Saa da flyr man.

Dagen etter var Lillepus absolutt ikke i form. Og tivoliet, varmen og fuktigheten nevnt i forrige post gjorde ikke akkurat ting bedre. Vi brukte dagene i Santarém til aa gjoere saa lite som mulig – det var jo saa varmt. Dessuten var det helt aerlig ikke noe mye aa finne paa heller, og Lillepus trengte noen dager paa aa komme seg i form. 27. juni reiste vi med forsinket nattfly til Belém.

Belém var en stoerre by enn Santarém, men ellers var de ubehagelig like. Ingen restauranter som er aapne, ingen steder aa spise frokost enn paa gatekiosker (som man ikke gjoer med mindre man vil faa matforgiftning), det samme tivoliet bare enda stoerre. Glem aa finne supermarked. Hvis du spoer blir du pekt i retning av elkjoep-liknende forretninger. Vi forstaar ikke hvorfor, for naar vi finner en matvarebutikk staar det klart og tydelig ’supermercado’ paa skiltet. Veldig rart.
Etter en frokost bestaaende av bananer og epler og 3 timer med komasoevn, reiste vi til busstasjonen for aa kjoepe billetter til Salvador. Aa fly dit innebaer 2-3 flybytter, og det var vi virkelig ikke interessert i. Men selvfoelgelig, med all flaksen vi hadde hatt i det siste (sykdom, forsinkelser, flybillett til Cuba mas) saa var det ikke ledig plass paa en buss til Salvador foer om 3 dager. Og reisen i seg selv tar 2 dager. Vi hadde ikke planlagt aa bo 3 dager i Belém, vi skulle bare til Belém for aa komme oss til Salvador. Og aa ankomme Salvador 5 dager senere var uaktuelt. Dermed reiste vi til flyplassen og fant billetter til Salvador dagen etter, som egentlig var altfor dyre. Men hadde vi noe valg hvis vi ville fylle de dagene vi hadde igjen av reisen vaar med det vi hadde planlagt ? Eh.nei.

Saa dagen etter at vi hadde kommet til Belém, reiste vi videre. Flyet gikk paa ettermiddagen, saa vi tok en tur innom en zoologisk hage for aa se paa dyrene i Amazonasjungelen – vi fikk ikke tid til jungeltur. Pantere, masse skilpadder, kameleoner, krokodiller, dovendyr (!), spidermonkeys og masse tropiske fugler (arapapegoeyen blant annet) og et veldig fint og avkjoelende museum Saa dro vi til flyplassen, hvor flyet selvfoelgelig var forsinket. Men vi rakk vaar connection til Salvador, vi rakk bare ikke aa spise. Rundt midnatt landet vi i Salvador; ‘Known as the African soul of Brazil’, ‘hottest in terms of culture’, byen som ikke engang gidder finne unnskyldninger for aa feste.
Og det var kjempefest. Noe religiongreier som soerget for at gatene var like stappfulle som i Norge paa 17.mai, men der slutter ogsaa likheten. Det var scener med ulike konserter paa hvert hjoerne, og folk danset samba paa de ujevne brosteinene og unngikk saavidt dammene laget av vann, oel og urin. Det var oel og mennesker overalt, og vi foelte oss veldig utilpass med aa skulle gaa gjennom lurvelevenet alene med sekkene vaare, til et sted vi ikke helt visste hvor var. Taxien kunne nemlig ikke kjoere oss helt fram fordi gatene var stengt. Vi gikk ut av bilen, og to minutter senere hadde vi to unge, fulle menn som forsoekte aa snakke til oss, som vi gjorde vaart beste i aa ignorere. Taxisjaafoeren gjorde kort prosess og bestemte seg for aa foelge oss til hostellet vaart. Takk <3

29. juni var foerste dag i Salvador, og naa skulle vi fikse Cubabillettene. Frokost, dusj, reservarsjoner i vesken – og foerste turistkontor kunne fortelle oss at 1) alt slikt var stengt i dag siden det var soendag og 2) flyselskapet vaart hadde ikke kontorer i Salvador. Jassaa ja.  Saa vi dro og saa paa San Fransiscokirken istedet (den var saa overdaadig at det var kvalmt), og paa moderne kunstmuseum. Der hadde de kino, og vi saa ‘My blueberry nights’ av Kar Wai Wong. Vi dro ikke paa stranden fordi det begynte aa regne og skye over midt paa dagen. Neste dag, tenkte vi.
Men neste dag var helt lik. Saa vi brukte hele dagen paa det stoerste kjoepesenteret i Salvador. Lillepus fant seg endelig et par nye bukser – vi har lett siden Argentina. Ymse fant seg ny bikini – den som var med hjemmefra var utslitt etter 4 aars bruk. Kvelden ble avsluttet med altfor mye popcorn og ‘Sex&theCity – the movie’. Neste dag planla vi aa dra paa stranden.
Men neste dag var helt likt som den forrige. En rask vaermeldingsjekk fortalte oss at det skulle vaere slik under hele oppholdet vaart i Salvador, mens det i Rio de Janeiro var nydelig vaer. Saa vi reiste til flyplassen med buss (1 time) for aa faa byttet billettene vaare til en tidligere flight enn 5. juli. Men det var selvfoelgelig saa dyrt at det ikke kom paa tale. Typisk. Senere paa kvelden gikk vi ut for aa spise og see paa nattelivet, og det var fint helt til medaljongen Ymse fikk av Ole til reisen, som hun har brukt hele tiden, ble revet av henne mens Ymse&Lillepus sto og saa paa danseshow. Artig. Typisk. Det staar i Lonely Planet at om man skal bli fratatt noe i Brasil saa er Salvador det mest sannsynlige stedet. Saa Ymse kan krysse av for det, og haaper at hun faar lov aa ha tingene sine i fred fra naa av.

Det var fest i Salvador da vi kom, og 2. juli var det skikkelig fest igjen: uavhengighetsdagen til distriktet byen ligger i. Det var tog med korps, trommer, dansere, kommunistflagg, kors, glitter, hoeye heler, korte skjoert og de fantastiske folkedraktene de bruker her nede. De danset samba og capoeira i gatene som aldri foer, og alle saa ut til aa kose seg skikkelig. Det gjorde vi ogsaa, og det foeltes som vi fikk feiret litt 17.mai paa etterskudd naar vi hadde korps og slik rundt oss.

I dag er det 4. juli, i morgen flyr vi endelig til Rio de Janeiro. Salvador er en fin by, men aa vaere her en uke naar stranden er utelukket blir for lenge. Og byen er full av farger og liv og lyd, noe som blir litt slitsomt for to backpackere som har krasjet i veggen jevnlig de to siste ukene. Det er ikke bare morsomt, idyllisk, enkelt og spennende aa reise. Noen ganger er det et slit ogsaa. Vi er klare for stranden, vi er klare for aa slappe litt av fra alle inntrykkene foer vi begir oss ut paa det som er igjen: Rio de Janeiro og Cuba.

Lately I have experimented a bit with SpiderMonkey, the C implementation of the JavaScript engine used in Mozilla’s browsers, and it took me some time before I got it to work without changing the code. In the beginning I used the makefile, but found that it would be a lot easier if I could open the project as a solution in MS Visual Studio 2005.

Unfortunately I didn’t have any luck Googling for a solution file for MS Visual Studio 2005, I saw someone suggested using the js.mdp-file which is included when you checkout the SpiderMonkey project from Mozilla’s CVS server, but my version of MS VS 2005 wasn’t able to convert it, announcing that the project file was corrupt.

I thought there might be others out there having similar problems with their SpiderMonkey-build so I decided to write this post, hoping that I can help others getting started, and perhaps someone with more experience can help me make my solution file and project files better as it is the first time I have created handmade project files for C/C++ projects in MS VS 2005 so I might have made some mistakes along the way.

I have also modified the make file because some of the compiler options are deprecated and others should be used instead. But let’s get started, this post will let you know how to checkout SpiderMonkey and get started using my solution file and project files. I assume you already have an CVS client installed like Tortoise CVS which is the one I am using.

To check out SpiderMonkey the easiest thing is to follow the guidelines for check out which can be found here. I checked out the version tagged MOZILLA_1_8_BRANCH. Maybe you have more luck than I did following the included build documentation, but I was tossed around a bit before I found out that the makefile you really need is called js.mak if you want to build with VC8.

I checked out from Mozilla’s CVS server using the following commands:

cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs-mirror.mozilla.org:/cvsroot login
cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs-mirror.mozilla.org:/cvsroot co -l -r MOZILLA_1_8_BRANCH mozilla/js/src mozilla/js/src/fdlibm
cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs-mirror.mozilla.org:/cvsroot co -l mozilla/js/src/config mozilla/js/src/editline

Once you have checked out the version to your computer open a command prompt and execute the batch-file called vcvarsall.bat to get the MS VS 2005 environment variables registered.

Now the C++ compiler and linker will be available from this command prompt, you can also choose to set it up more permanently, this is just the way I did it. Change path to the location of the files you just checked out from Mozilla’s CVS server, you should now try to build the project using nmake.

I didn’t include all the build information for as you can see I ended up with a linker error. Googling a bit on the subject I found out that this can be solved by including jsiter.c in the jsinterp.c file, but I really didn’t like to change anything in the code unless I had to, so I saw yet another reason for trying to make a solution file which wouldn’t produce any linker error.

Using the makefile I got a lot of warnings about deprecated option settings so I decided to follow some of the advice the compiler gave me to produce a make file more suited for MS VS 2005, furthermore I change a little bit in some of the dependencies for building and I was able to remove the linker error without changing any files at all. What I did was to include the jsiter.obj file when building the js32.lib which gave the linker the necessary references.

Using my updated makefile I was able to build the project, and because some of the functions used are deprecated according to the VC8 compiler I added the two preprocessor commands /D “_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE” and /D “_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE” as well. You can download my makefile from here.

After running the make you should now be able to start the JavaScript shell which is included in the checkout using Debug\jsshell.exe from the current path in the command prompt.

Great so far so good, but what I really wanted to use MS VS 2005, so I still had some work to do. Based on the makefile I created four projects for the solution, the four projects are:

• fdlibm - This project is needed for mathematical operations as far as I have been able to figure out
• js32 - This project is the JavaScript engine itself, here the API for embedding the JavaScript engine into your own applications is defined.
• jskwgen - This project I created in order to make the header-file called jsautokw.h which is a prerequisite for building the js32 project, basically it contains a big switch-block with, what appears to be, all JavaScript keywords which can be found in the file jskeyword.tbl.
• jsshell - This project contains the files for creating the interactive JavaScript shell which can be used to execute JavaScript either inputted through the shell or loaded from an external file.

The hardest work was to get all the compiler settings right using the makefile as my only reference, I did omit some settings, and some of them might be important, but none the less I ended up with a solution file which allows me to build SpiderMonkey directly from MS VS 2005 which was my intention. If I make any updates to the solution file I will announce it in another post.

If anyone out there reads this post and can help me improve on this solution file then you are more than welcome. Also if you have any questions or comments to my post I would like to hear from you, I might be able to answer.

If you wish to have a look at my solution files then you can find them here. I made it available on Google Code as an archive maintaining the path from Mozilla repository, so you should be able to copy the top directory directly from the archive to the location of your check out from CVS.

This entry is a brief presentation of an on-going work in progress by my second group of students in ENSI de Bourges, Benjamin Meslin and Jeremy Colombet.

The problem

As I detailed in a previous entry, Firefox Extensions — just like their counterparts in Internet Explorer, Safari or Air — are essentially unsafe: once an extension is installed, nothing prevents it from reading, writing or removing files on the user’s hard drive or running arbitrary programs or downloading further instructions from a malicious web site. More subtle problems may also arise, as a malicious extension may read or alter the data of Firefox or of another extension during its execution, so as to, say, steal passwords or reroute transparently from a legitimate website to an identical but forged website.

Now, most recent operating systems have a form of Mandatory Access Control layer (sometimes marketed as “sandboxes”), designed to permit refined security checks of what a program should be able to do when used by a given person and in a given role. Unfortunately, in the current state of things, these layers are completely unadapted to universal clients such as web browsers (or virtual machines, by the way), which act as smaller operating systems themselves, without a clear separation of roles or uses.

That doesn’t mean that MAC can’t be made to work for Firefox, of course. Just that it needs work.

JavaScript Security Extensions

The main objective of this project is to improve the security of Firefox, Thunderbird, Prism, XULRunner and possibly Songbird, Flocker and a few others as well, by introducing a MAC security layer to one of the common bases of these applications: SpiderMonkey. SpiderMonkey is the JavaScript engine used by Gecko, the core of all these applications, both to add interactivity to web pages, to connect the user interface to the actual features and to write extensions.

This MAC security layer will take the form of a SpiderMonkey Security Manager. This MAC security layer will let the user (or, more likely, the administrator) define security policies, i.e. decide, for each combination of extension A, identifier B and extension or SpiderMonkey itself or XPCom component C, whether

• an extension A may read fields named B of objects defined by C
• an extension A may write fields named B of objects defined by C
• an extension A may call methods or functions named B of objects defined by C.

The hope is that this security layer will prove both robust enough and flexible enough to be used for actual Firefox extensions and as the support for the sandboxing model required by Prism.

Tentative roadmap

1. By the end of November, have implemented a permissive Security Manager with the ability to log every JavaScript action and default to the standard Security Manager. This Security Manager should be able to determin, for every action, which extension is attempting to undertake that action.
2. By the end of November, have defined a precise notion of security policy, as well as a precise grammar for these policies.
3. By mid-January, have a first implementation of the Security Manager with the ability to cleanly reject interactions which are not compatible with the security policy. At that point, only extensions are taken into account, not SpiderMonkey itself or XPCom.
4. By mid-February, submit that Security Manager for review as a candidate patch to SpiderMonkey.
5. Starting in mid-February, work on support for XPCom.

Possible extensions

• A set of default security policies to help with administration.
• A nice user-interface to let the user decide at install-time with which policy to accept an extension.
• A nice user-interface to decide which JavaScript actions to log and to read that log.

I wanted give our son, Spidermonkey, something amazing for his 3^rd birthday. (Obviously, Spidermonkey is not his real name.)  He liked Thomas the Tank Engine Train from PBS Sprouts. I found a Thomas the Tank Engine Train event with real train in our area. It was on his birthday. Perfect! The drive up to Hood River was beautiful. We drove up 84, up the Columbia gorge, past forests and waterfalls, jagged rocks and always the amazing river to our left. We arrived at the small community of Hood River. It’s known for it’s windsurfing and what seemed to be half a hundred wind surfers were visible in the river by the park. The town had a turn of the century (1900s, not 2000s) feel to it, like back drop for a western. We followed the signs to the train station and the Thomas the Tank Engine Event.

Before I go any further, I need to explain my tone for the rest of this piece. I wanted this to be a wonderful experience, and the reality was so disappointing and it was hard to find the nuggets of nice within the truckloads of drek. I had built up in my head that this was going to be such a momentous event, so amazing that Spidermonkey would remember this for the rest of his life. His earliest fuzzy memory would be this magical ride on Thomas the Tank Engine. Any time Spidermonkey saw a train, he would sub consciously think of us. I, his Daddy and Conner, his Poppa, had…Caused…This…To…HAPPEN! (About now, there is a overdone chorus of angels in the background.) I realize now, it was no longer about Spidermonkey, it was about ME, the BRINGER OF THE TRAIN!

So when I saw the reality, I was crushed. I was not the BRINGER OF THE TRAIN, I was the fool who dragged his family to a hot dusty parking lot, full of other disappointed, hot, cranky, desperate parents who were trying to salvage a “Magical Event” from this, if killed them.

It was at the train depot in Hood River. The actual depot was a fine old 1900ish stone building with charm and character. The Thomas the Tank Engine Evenk was set up in the parking lot next to it. It was 90 degrees and windy. The same wind that makes the windsurfing so amazing at this point, turned the staging area into a funnel of blown dust.

There was a big banner at the entrance that everyone took pics in front of.. We did too.

The web site told of a storytelling area. The storytelling area was inside a semi truck trailer, a sweltering box of metal in the blazing sun. Inside were some cheap plastic lawn chairs and a TV playing Thomas videos. Not even a box fan. The TV was out of the sun, but many of the chairs had to be in the sun, if you wanted to see the TV. There was supposed to be a live storyteller but when I poked my head into the trailer it was 5 minutes into live person’s time slot and they were not there. They may have been running late, due to the heat.

There were several tents set up with train related toys for the kids to play with, while waiting for their turn on the train. The tents kept off the sun, but it was at the end of the paved parking lot, in the path of the wind and dust tunnel. Spidermonkey wasn’t interested in them at all, so I cannot tell you much about them. Spidermonkey did enjoy the slide and other portable plastic kids play equipment, haphazardly placed around the area. He had a great time fishing plastic fish from a tiny wading pool with a magnetic hook. When they got a fish, they got a small prize. Spidermonkey liked his prize but enjoyed catching the toy fish more. He only stopped when other kids came up and we made him give up his fishing pole. There was a set of flimsy Mylar tunnels which would have been fun for a kid to climb through except the wind had blown it all into the corner of the hay bales containing it. There was a bouncy room totally dominated by older kids.

The kids could have their picture taken with Sir Topem Hat. Sir Topem was a pretty faithful 6 foot duplicate of Sir Topem Hat toy doll from the show, but the poor damned soul wearing the 200 lbs of foam and costume deserved hazard pay for being inside that oven in the heat. Kid after kid came up to take his black foam hand and get their picture taken. Sir Topem Hat moved the barest amount possible to reach the child’s hand and nod ever so slightly as if the slightest extra motion would induce heat stroke to the victim inside.

The biggest indoor area was, of course, the gift shop, filled with any thing at all that one could slap a Thomas illustration onto. Besides the obvious plastic toys and books, there were puzzles and shirts and tic-tac-toe games and calendars and sippy cups. One child had Thomas shoes, Thomas shorts, a Thomas shirt, Thomas sunglass and a tunic of Thomas, front and back, while holding a Thomas Mylar balloon and lugging a carton of Thomas toys. Looks like other parents were just as disappointed as I was; however, they were coping by buying everything in sight to make themselves feel better.

There was a petting zoo with goats, sheep and a llama. They were not calm placid cuddly animals, they were aggressive and scruffy. For a buck, we got an ice cream cone filled with goat food pellets. The animals shoved their heads through the fence, to devour the food pellets in Spidermonkey’s palm. They acted like they had never been fed before. First we gave them all the pellets and then fed the cone to the llama. The llama at the cone with an intensity that was rather scary. We only risked feeding them, we didn’t even try to go inside the fence to pet them. They would have knocked Spidermonkey over or worse. The company provided a hand washing station, which we used when we were done feeding them. The animals were probably fine but the entire time I was helping feed them, all I could think of was the news article of the kids who got e-coli from petting zoo animals.

There were 3 scruffy teenage boys with a hand crank ice shaver, grinding out snow cones at a $4 a shot for a large snow cone with lot’s of syrup. What a scam.

No real toilets, just a line of port-a-potties, baking in the full sun. They did have a netted off changing tent for the little ones, in the shade. That was a relief and very pleasant. They even provided an assortment of wipes and hand sanitizers.

And finally there was Thomas the Tank Engine, in the front of a worn set of scruffy train cars from the 20s. Thomas the Tank Engine looked great, all blue and black, his face in a grin. I could see he was just a mockup but he looked good. The real engine was at the rear. But the capper, the insult to injury, was that Thomas didn’t steam. The videos, Spidermonkey and I had found on the internet, of various stream trains had massive clouds of steam. I would have let slide the other disappointments, I could have salvaged this orgy of lameness, if Thomas had steamed grandly. However, their lame mockup was barely able to have a couple of anemic puffs of vague mist dribble from Thomas’s smoke stack, before it stopped completely. I was crushed but luckily Spidermonkey didn’t even notice or care.

The Tomas train left every hour for a half hour, out and back. The actual ride was nice, not great, but nice. We went out for about 10-15 minutes and then came back, retracting our tracks. I didn’t know that the sunny side of the train has the best view. We chose the shaded side, which turned out to mostly have a view of the passing dirt hillside. Over this all, was piped in a Thomas the Train musical soundtrack, somehow even more annoying than Disney’s “It’s a small world”. All ambient train sounds, like the clicking of the tracks, were obliterated by the insanely cute singing kids and orchestrations. We kept an eye on Spidermonkey and let him stick his head and body out the window and watch the train cars twist around tracks and see the landscape slide by at 20 miles an hour.

After the ride was over, the kids lined up and each got their pictures taken in front of Thomas. A professional took pics and it was ok for the parents to take their own pics. The professional groups pics are available to view and purchase via the web.

Spidermonkey took this all in, in a sort of detached but cheerful way. He was not constantly grinning from ear to ear like I had hoped, but neither was he crying his eyes out, like I feared. Overall, he had a good time, and he did enjoy the train ride and playing with the stuff and eating ice cream. And I learned a important lesson about parental expectations.