Tangled Web

One word: Jetpacks!

Seeing as how this is the first of our bargain bin reviews, I will explain a little bit about the concept first. The main idea is to purchase a game found in the bargain bin from a local game shop. Some times these games are chosen at random, other titles may just happen to catch our eye. These bins are usually filled with four year old Madden games or Barbie Unicorn Express, but occasionally there may be a hidden gem in there. Our goal is to play through the shovelware and find that gem and present it to you.

The rating system is also a bit skewed. Considering we set the price limit of these games to be at $10 we will be grading them appropriately. If I paid the full $60 for a game I would have certain expectations and since I am only paying $10, I have lowered them significantly. Now, lets get on with it, shall we?

Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs Zeon is a mouthful. It is also a game based on the popular (in Japan) Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. In the series there are two forces, Earth Federation and Zeon, that are at war for some reason. These two forces fight each other with their giant robots called Mobile Suits or Gundams. That is pretty much all I know, but when giant robots wielding laser swords (lightsabers) fight to the death, what else do you need to know?

The ‘Campaign’ mode of this game takes place in a variety of missions. You have a map and there are locations on the map. Selecting one of these locations will allow you to attempt that mission. In the time I played there were a few different mission types ranging from kill stuff, to kill stuff while preventing said stuff from killing your stuff and to boss-type battles. I was actually surprised at some of the different missions as well as the different terrains. I fought in mountainous regions, city-scapes, islands (underwater too!), and deserts.

The controls were by far the most distressing part of this game. To give credit, this game is over 8 years old and it was probably more acceptable at the time, but the right analog stick was not utilized in this game at all. Being a fan of third person action games I have become used to spinning the camera around my character in order to turn around or to check out my environments. Unfortunately, you are stuck with the default behind the back view on this game, which can become frustrating if there are several enemies attacking you.

The targeting system in this game lives and dies by the auto lock-on feature. If an enemy appears in your view, great you’re locked on, but switching between enemies can be painful. The rest of the gameplay involves shooting the enemies you are targeting with a variety of weapons that includes machine guns, lasers, missile launchers etc. You also have melee weapons like lightsabers or lazer-axes, which are spotty at best. Finally, you can jump around the environments with the limited use boosters that are on your back or feet. Once your boosters run out it will recharge once you are back on the ground.

All in all, if you are living 8 years in the past, a mobile suit fan, and also a fan of all things Japan this game is probably the hotness. It is hard to recommend this game now, but if you got $5 and happen to enjoy robot explosions, you may want to give it a try. It is worth noting that I played this game for about an hour and a half and have not yet tried out the multiplayer aspects of it.

3/5 nades

Why not ask a Google Engineer?

There are many things that may affect the culture of an organization. The very nature of what an organization does may affect the culture within the organization. For example, if an organization is composed of younger IT professionals it is likely that this organization will be much different than that of a organization that produces steel. Every organization has its own culture and the culture of the organization is defined by several things. Here are my thoughts on a few aspects of organizational culture.

* People – First and foremost the culture of an organization is defined by the people of the organization. The variety of people, or lack of variety, help to define how an organization will get things done. A diverse organization may include input from a wide variety of people and organizations with less diversity may tend to agree on how business should be handled. People, more than anything, influece the culture of an organization.

* Leadership – The leadership of a company can affect the culture of the organization from the top down. A great example to look at for leadership in an organization is Southwest Airlines (SWA). From its’ inception SWA was conceived as a more entertaining way to fly. This has carried through to today and is still conveyed through all of the employees and in the commercials. Leadership drives the employees in the right direction to create the culture.

* Industry – It is safe to say that a small IT firm will have an entirely different culture than that of a steelmill. The type of business that an organization does will greatly affect the culture of that organization. Many organizations that are focused on productivity such as UPS or FedEx may have a “Get it done” type attitude, where a small independent developer may desire to get it done, get it done right, and make the customer happy attitude. The type of industry will always have an impact on the culture within the organization.

There are probably many large organizations that even have different cultures for each of their different sectors. This could be a rather large challenge for such a large organization to make sure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal. The culture of an organization is defined by the leadership, people and the type of industry.

My wallet is crying.  It is unusually empty as it always seems to be at this time of year, but this year it seems to be worse than usual.  There are a lot of great games coming out in the next few months.  We have already seen a couple of great releases like Halo: ODST and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.  Here is a list of games coming out before the end of the year that I am interested in:

Demon Souls

Modern Warfare 2

Ratchet & Clank Future:  Tools of Destruction

Left 4 Dead 2

Dragon Age: Origins

Tekken 6

Borderlands

FIFA 10

Assassins Creed 2
Phew!  Thats $540 and those are the games that I just thought of off the top of my head!

So you’ve got a bunch of people who you would like to provide with content on your website.  You also do not want everyone that visits your site to view this information.  How do you allow access to some members, but not to others?  The simple solution is to create a members area in your site by creating .htaccess and .htpasswd files!

The .htaccess file is a simple text file that allows you to change some of the configuration directives of the web server.  The .htaccess file is much more powerful than just that and I hope to explain more about it in this article.  It is worth noting that .htaccess files are not compatible with Windows Servers.

The .htaccess file has many uses including:  Blocking Users by IP Address, Preventing or Allowing Directory Listings, and Changing Error Documents.  In this post I will focus on using the .htaccess file to password protect your folders.  This can be useful if you wish to set up something like a “Members” area on your web page that will allow only users that have a username and password access to these areas.  You can create a .htaccess and a .htpasswd file in order to set up simple user/pass protection.

Password protection relies on two files.  The .htaccess file tells the webserver that viewing content in such folders requires authorization.  The second is the .htpasswd file and it contains the information about the users and their passwords.  The information in your .htpasswd file will be very simple and will look like this:

webuser:qkbPmuht5Gzgc

Read the rest of this entry »

If you would like to set up a simple e-mail list or sign-up form for customers visiting your website to fill out, one of the simpler programs to use is a FormMail script. FormMail allows you to embed a form composed of several fields on your website. When a user fills in the fields and submits the form, the information is emailed to an address of your choice. FormMail is not a part of the HTML, it runs as its own program. However, FormMail can be customized with things like number of recipients, syntax check, and thank you pages from within the <form> </form> line of the HTML code.

While FormMail scripts are useful, they do have some drawbacks. One major drawback is that the form and the email address associated with it are open to spammers. However, Tectite (http://www.tectite.com/formmailpage.php), a brand of free FormMail script, will run submitted information through several filters and tests which can determine whether the information qualifies as spam. Tectite’s FormMail can be customized by editing the HTML code or by purchasing Tectite’s FormMail Configuration Wizard.

In this example we will simply edit the script and the HTML code. Editing these files should be done using a simple text editor. Web-based editors may alter the code and cause it not to work. An easy way to get started is to download Tectite FormMail (http://www.tectite.com/formmail.zip). In the formmail.php file included, add in your email at line 239 or 240 (depending on which version you receive): Read the rest of this entry »

The first ski resorts in Colorado have begun opening after a couple days of fresh snowfall.

Loveland ski area was the first ski resort to open in 2009 to a line of excited skiers and snowboarders.  Loveland is one of the world’s highest in elevation ski areas.  Its opening on Wednesday is the earliest opening in 40 years!

Loveland’s neighbor, Arapahoe Basin is planning to open late this week or early next week.  Arapahoe Basin is famous for it’s late season skiing, sometime the season extends into May and June!  I personally got to ski Arapahoe Basin a few years ago and it is definitely one of the most unique skiing experiences I have ever had and will never forget.

The resorts have been primarily making snow and their efforts have been extremely successful due to consistently low temperatures.  There is also plenty of natural snowfall as well.  Of the major resorts, Copper Mountain is likely to be the first one to open.

Here is to a great season of snow!!

Many people do not fully understand the benefits that a social media campaign can bring to a business. I thought I would write down my top five objectives of social media

1. Awareness A primary goal of any social media campaign should be to increase the awareness in the community of your organization. Social media can give you an opportunity to reinforce your brand and mission to your audience. It should also be used to encourage collaboration with your partners, the media, experts, and bloggers.

2. Engage There are people out there who already use your product or service. What do they have to say? Social media is a great way to reach out to your current evangelists. You can help them to find their voice through social media and help them spread their ideas to others. You can provide your customers with a personal experience with the organization, directly respond to questions, facilitate discussion and build a lasting relationship.

3. Create With social media you can create a consistent message across all platforms. It is important to send a consistent message across print media, web and social media. Help ensure that every customer or partner has a positive experience that represents the entire organization, no matter what the involvement.

4. Monitor Consider different social media tools such as Google Analytics, Radian6, whostalkin.com and Social Media Metrics from PR News Wire. Search for opportunities for outreach and collaboration with bloggers by monitoring other channels.

5. Represent! You can be the representative for your organization. Engage the community to build partnerships and learn new things that may benefit your business. Attend events and build a list of contacts in the field.

Can you think of any other business uses for social media?