The Fox Blog

Ever heard of Chinese Tangram? Not tantra… T.A.N.G.R.A.M.
Well until last week, I had never heard of it either. But after I was assigned, as part of my graphics course, to write an OpenGL application about it, I had to discover what it was all about. Tangram is a Chinese game where you can constitute out of different small pieces a certain shape, several shapes actually. It may look easy at first glance but it turns out to be tricky -> head-scratching is recommended. In order to complete the shape, you can move, rotate or mirror the pieces.

Using the application I wrote (which I called “Chinese T-Puzzle”), you can try to form the shape. Features:
- 8 shapes to choose from
- 4 pieces to use
- 5 levels difficulty (time-dependent)
- Doesn’t recognize the shape… - well yes you can’t know until time is up. I’ll try to set up that option A.S.A.P.

Notes:
- It has a nice interface, you can check out the screenshots below.
- You’ll need the GLU and GLUT library for it to run: two files called glut32.dll and glut32.dll that needs to be placed in C:\Windows\System32
- I’m waiting for your comments; I’d really like to improve it!

Download game and dlls from Files Dump

Yahoo! Publisher is to become the advertising wing of Yahoo! and it will probably become the #1 direct competitor of Google AdSense once it gets fully working and available worldwide – maybe in one or two months. Webmasters will be able to generate revenue by displaying content targeted ads - an advertising concept that has been running for a couple of years now every since Google AdSense was launched. The site mentions “You’ll earn revenue from qualified clicks”, so they probably have an extensive anti-cheat system.

Currently, Yahoo! Publisher is in public BETA mode. The only restriction to try it is being a resident of the U.S. Too bad for me, I can’t try it for the moment… However, I was able to spot some Yahoo! Publisher ads on a couple of web sites, they are similar to Google ads: text-based with a blue border, an ad format that is becoming standardized.

When searching, I also found Google vs. Yahoo! Interface Design, a nice article comparing all the features of Yahoo! and Google!

I’ve heard about it a couple of weeks ago. Some guy, a hotmail addict probably, received an invitation to try the BETA version of Windows Live. Today it’s still a BETA version but accessible to anyone. How it describes itself:

Windows Live is a new set of Internet software and services designed to put you in control of the information, relationships and interests you care about. Windows Live will make it easier for you to connect with people, and to quickly find the information you need, more safely and securely, whether you’re on your PC or on the go.

In other words, it’s a new concept for surfing the net, having the information you want when you want it and wherever you are. It might become the homepage of millions of users worldwide in some time (unless it already is).

Features of Windows Live:
- Live.com - The equivalent of MyYahoo or Google personalized: you can have your own homepage so that each time you log in, you’ll check the news feed you want to read, the weather in the cities you may visit, the sport news which interest you and so on. Nothing new at his point… This feature is already available on several portals.
- Favorites: have a list of web sites Favorites on your homepage. That way you can access them anywhere, not only from your home computer. This feature is something like having your browser preferences on each computer you’re on. Note that Internet Explorer might come in handy at this point: when you log in your browser preferences could be directly set to your preferences. You’ll have a real interaction between the platform you’re on and your cached preferences.
- Windows Live Mail: a mail platform where you’ll be able to check your MSN email. The new thing is that it’s Outlook-like, it has a lot of useful features. It’s becoming a totally independent web application not just a page where you click links (that’s how email systems where at their very early stage).
- Windows Live Messenger: a new MSN messenger style application. A nice thing I’d like to see is that Messenger is directly set online the minute I log in, that way I don’t need to use a stand alone application to chat with people, I just use the Online Messenger - I want something fast, not a slow system like the current Web Messenger.
- Windows Live Safety Center and Windows OneCare Live: some security applications that’ll help you keep your PC clean of viruses and maintain your PC up-to-date against any failure that might be discovered on your system. It runs in the background.
- Missile launching system and F16 administrator terminal access… Just kidding

Some positive issues I noticed:
- All the tools you usually need when accessing the internet are on this portal including a Search Engine, a Mail box, a news feed reader and now this browser preferences issue.
- It does take care of operations you usually spend time doing such as updating your anti-virus or keeping your computer drivers up-to-date.
- I can’t affirm it at this point, but it seems fast. The loading speed is reduced and it really looks like an application not a web page although you still access it from a browser.

Windows Live BETA can be accessed at Live.com
Damn, just some time ago I wondered… who the hell owns one word top level domains (worth probably hundred of thousands of dollars today). Today I know that Live.com is Microsoft’s.