Starcraft 2 Free To Play Weekend

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The Battle.net SEA and ANZ servers will be having a Free Play Starcraft 2 Weekend.

Starcraft 2 Free Play Date: November 19-21, 2010



Everyone can play Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty for FREE!

This is one of Blizzard Entertainment's attempts to boost the Starcraft 2 playerbase in the region.

To create a Battle.net account, you can go to:
https://sea.battle.net/account/creation/tos.html

Additional information about Starcraft II game cards:
To stimulate the relatively low number of Starcraft 2 players in the SEA region, Blizzard Entertainment has introduced the Starcraft 2 game cards.

Starcraft 2 Region Prices
Hong Kong and Macau
8 HKD 3-day pass
16 HKD 7-day pass
55 HKD 30-day pass
30 HKD DVD Starter Kit With 7-day Pass

Indonesia
10,000 IDR 3-day pass
20,000 IDR 7-day pass
70,000 IDR 30-day pass
35,000 IDR DVD Starter Kit With 7-day Pass

Malaysia
3.50 MYR 3-day pass
7 MYR 7-day pass
25 MYR 30-day pass
12 MYR DVD Starter Kit With 7-day Pass

Philippines
50 PHP 3-day pass
100 PHP 7-day pass
350 PHP 30-day pass
170 PHP DVD Starter Kit With 7-day Pass

Singapore
1.50 SGD 3-day pass
3 SGD 7-day pass
10.50 SGD 30-day pass
5 SGD DVD Starter Kit With 7-day Pass

Thailand
35 THB 3-day pass
70 THB 7-day pass
250 THB 30-day pass
120 THB DVD Starter Kit With 7-day Pass
You can also check out this great alternative to Starcraft II called Heroes of Newerth.
Garena HoN is a FREE to PLAY Action-RTS / Dota genre game from S2 Games.
FREE to PLAY HoN is limited to the SouthEast Asian region.

If you're looking for Garena HoN beta keys, you can try the HoN Philippines page on Facebook.

Google Halloween Scooby Doo Logo

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The Google logo for Halloween 2010 features no other than our favorite mystery munching dog, Scooby Doo.

October 31, 2010 Google Logo (Halloween theme)

Trick or Treat!
There are 5 Scooby Doo Google logos which can be switched by clicking on the paws below.

5 Scooby Doo Google logos

Google logo features the Mystery Machine (Scooby Doo) in the rightmost corner.


Shaggy: Hey Scoobs! Want some Scooby snacks?


Looking for clues in the Halloween Google Logo.


Run Scooby run! Scary forming Google logo.


Another mystery solved by the gang! Thanks to the meddling Google kids.

Fun facts about Scooby Doo:
Scooby-Doo is a Great Dane.
He loves Scooby Snacks!

What can I say about Google's Scooby Doo Logos?
Jinkies!

Blizzard Entertainment and Blizzard DOTA

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I would like to personally thank NeutralCreeps again on this one.
Source: Blizzard DOTA joins Dota genre wars

blizzard dotaActivision Blizzard, one of the world's most popular video game companies has announced via Blizzcon, their entry to the Dota genre.

For those who have no idea what the Dota genre is, Wikipedia answers:

The Dota genre is a sub-genre of Real-time strategy video games, characterized by role-playing elements.
Blizzard DOTA will be a Starcraft 2 mod officially endorsed by the developers behind Starcraft 2. It was announced that this will be FREE to those who already purchased Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. As an official Blizzard map, this wouldn't be just another one of those run-of-the-mill Starcraft 2 DotA clones like Storm of the Imperial Sanctum.

Watch Matt Gotcher (SC2 developer) as he talks about Starcraft 2 DotA.
I really think we are seeing a huge influx of Dota genre games lately.

Other games in the Dota genre:
Dota 2 (Valve)
Heroes of Newerth (S2 Games)

Dota 2 in the Philippines

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Dota, one of the biggest hits in Philippine gaming history will be remade.

Say Goodbye Starcraft 2! Hello Dota 2!


Morphling (DotA) saying bye bye to the Warcraft 3 engine.

The Dota based game genre is currently one of the most explosive genres to emerge in recent memory.

Quality games like Heroes of Newerth were made and fail games like Demi-god and League of Legends were done but DotA 2 is the impending king of the genre named after itself.

According to NeutralCreeps, DotA 2 will be developed by Icefrog (yes, that Icefrog)
And everything will be more or less the same with the original Defense of the Ancients.

Game Comparison: DotA 2 will be like Heroes of Newerth without the S2 originals.

Once this game is out, I'm sure it will attract millions of players to get Steam.
Successful mods converted to successful full-fledged games only come once in a while.
The last game to enjoy such super success was another Valve title... Counter-Strike.

Join the DotA 2 community on Facebook: DotA 2 Project Facebook

Ubuntu Linux - Safer Operating System

Are you tired of using Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7?
Have you always wanted an OS that wouldn't slow down as time went by?
Had enough of malware, spyware and virus programs lurking on your PC?

If you answered yes to any of those questions above, then Ubuntu is something I'd recommend.

Ubuntu 10.10 logo
What's Ubuntu?
Ubuntu is an operating system (think Windows XP/ MAC OSX).

What makes Ubuntu special is... it's an open-source alternative (think Mozilla Firefox) to those OS mentioned above.

And the best thing about it is, you don't need to spend thousands of pesos just to install this software.

Why? It's FREE!

About Ubuntu 10.10

October 10, 2010: Ubuntu 10.10 is released.
Codename: Maverick Meerkat

Fun facts about the 10-10-10 release:
Canonical released Ubuntu 10.10 to coincide with the date: 10-10-10
ubuntu screenshotUbuntu 10.10 User Interface

What desktop features does Ubuntu have?
For a list of Ubuntu features, you can read the Ubuntu Linux 10.10 Features.

Will I be able to play games on Ubuntu Linux?
More and more game companies are beginning to see how important Linux gaming is and have started developing Linux versions of their games. In fact, you can start playing awesome games like Heroes of Newerth (S2 Games) on Ubuntu Linux out of the box!

*Minecraft is supported too by the way.


Cool stuff man. Where can I download Ubuntu?
You can now download the release version of Ubuntu 10.10 below:
Download Ubuntu Desktop Operating System.

For those people who have been asking how to have a more secure computer, Ubuntu is the answer. The question is, are you ready to make the switch?

Got additional questions? @skiverz will now answer them.

How to Download Heroes of Newerth Garena

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We reported a few months ago that Heroes of Newerth is Free to Play on Garena.
If you are from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore or Vietnam, you can play HoN for free.

What must you do to be able to play HoN on Garena?
1) First you need a Garena Heroes of Newerth beta key so you can play Garena HoN.
To get a free GarenaHoN beta key, you need to become a Gold Member.
*You can also buy a Garena Prepaid card.

2) Register and activate your account.

Source: Read the Garena HoN Gold Member Beta Key Guide
3) Download Garena Messenger (Garena messenger includes the HoN installer file)

4) Double Click the file entitled Garena-HoN_setup.exe to install the Garena Messenger and Garena Heroes of Newerth.

Garena HoN setup

5) After Garena Messenger has been installed (with GarenaHoN), double click on the mean-looking Garena Messenger icon.

Garena Messenger

6) Enter your Garena username and password.
*Please remember never to share your accounts with anyone to avoid stolen accounts.

HoN installation

7) You are now inside the Garena Messenger. Click on the HoN icon to start playing.

Garena Heroes of Newerth

Have you encountered any problems while following these steps?
If yes, please add a comment so I can help you sort it out.

Facebook Chat Gone

Facebook users have been reporting that the Facebook Chat has disappeared.


This is where Facebook Chat Option used to be after the Homepage remake.
Yes, it was found below the More option but now it's gone.

Who are affected:
Everyone. This is not a browser-specific problem. All Facebook users are affected.

Reason:
Facebook is working on new features for Facebook Chat and had to bring it down temporarily.
Daniel Chai (engineer) and the members of the Facebook Groups team are also fixing the security problems hounding the new Facebook Groups.

*Additional note: The Facebook chat feature is now available to Facebook groups.

Alternatives to Facebook Chat:
You can use these alternatives if ever Facebook Chat goes down again in the future.
1) Yahoo Messenger
2) Skype
3) Google Talk
4) Twitter


Update: FB Chat is now back.

Still having problems with Facebook Chat not showing up? Let us know.

How To Cheat Starcraft 2

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Before you can cheat Starcraft 2, you need to have your own Starcraft 2 game.

Check if your computer meets the system requirements of Starcraft 2.

Starcraft 2 System requirements

2.6 GHz processor or equivalent
1GB RAM for XP, 1.5GB for Vista and 7;
2GB RAM for Mac OS
128 MB video card Minimum
512 MB video card Recommended
DirectX version 9.0c or better
12 GB hard disk space
Internet connection (This is a DRM feature)
If your PC meets all of that, then it's time to buy your very own Starcraft 2 copy.

Starcraft 2 Collector's Edition Box
(You can buy these online and have it shipped to you by Amazon.)

*Starcraft 2 LAN function has been currently disabled for the retail version.

Now it's time to list the most commonly used Single Player Cheats for Starcraft 2.

whysoserious
Gives 5 Billion Credits.
No Original Starcraft Equivalent.

stroaksmolts
Gives 5000 minerals.
Starcraft 1 Equivalent: "Whats Mine is Mine"

realmendrilldeep
Gives you 5000 Gas.
SC Equivalent: "Breathe Deep"

smoldersbolds
Gives 5000 minerals & 5000 Gas.
Broodwar Equivalent: "Show Me The Money"

terribleterribledamage
Makes you invincible!
Starcraft Equivalent: "Power Overwhelming"

sawnoutofmemory
Starcraft 2 vision hack
Original Equivalent: "Black Sheep Wall"
Can't find the SC2 cheat you are looking for?
You can view the source for the Complete List of Starcraft 2 Cheats.

Credits to Starcraft 2 Portal for the Starcraft 2 Cheats.

Dancing Flight Attendants of Cebu Pacific

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Imagine that you are in a plane.
Then all of a sudden...
Music is piped in.

And the flight attendants start walking in to... Dance?


Watch the Cebu Pacific FAs Dance while demonstrating "safety precautions."



What were the emergency instructions again?

Songs played:
Just Dance - Lady Gaga
California Girls - Katy Perry

*Credits to wingco1129 for uploading the video on YouTube. Mad props to you.
This in-flight video will be viral in no time.

5 Things You Should Know About The Social Network

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5 Fun Facts You Would Probably Want to know about Zuckerberg and The Social Network

Oh I'm sure you would like to zoom in. Click to do so.
1.
The girl on the left side is Rooney Mara who plays Mark Zuckerberg's ex-girlfriend.
As of this writing (Oct 2010), the girlfriend of Zuckerberg is: Priscilla Chan

2.
David Fincher, the director, made almost a hundred takes for the movie's first scene. This is the scene in which that chick on top tries to beaks up with soon-to-be billionaire Zuckerberg.

3.
Mark Zuckerberg has a Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/markzuckerberg
He does not befriend you like Tom of Myspace does.

4.
Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg.
Both their surnames end with "berg"
Both were born in the state of New York, US.

5.
Justin Timberlake (yes, that Timberlake) plays Napster founder, Sean Parker.
He (JT) has a Twitter account but it's not @timberlake but @jtimberlake.

6.
Disregard everything above and look at this: Zuckerberg did not enjoy the movie (brilliant)!
*credits to Jesse "Not Eisenberg" Eisemann.

Got any interesting additional trivia about the movie? Share your link with us.

Iron Man 2 Visual Effects

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It's no secret that IronMan is one of my favorite superhero movies of all time.
(I prefer the 1st IronMan movie.)

Iron Man as TIME's Person of the Year (Main Title Sequence)

And one thing that makes the movie so appealing is the visual effects in the film.
What better way to appreciate the VFX than watching the Iron Man 2 VFX Montage.



Credits to:
*Prologue Films - the people behind the Ironman VFX.

Additional notes by Skiverz:
*Look at 1:20 - a news stream about the Philippines is displayed.

*You can download this montage in .mp4 format by right clicking the link below:
IronMan 2 Prologue Montage Video
-Right click then select Save as...

*If you want to watch the whole film, you can have the IronMan 2 DVD shipped to your home.

How To Turn Off Google Instant Search

How do you turn off Google Instant Search?

It's quite easy.
To disable this feature, just follow these steps.


1. Go to http://www.google.com/preferences
2. Scroll down to the "Google Instant option"
3. Select Do not use Google Instant.

Click to zoom in.

There you have it! You can now search without Google trying to read your mind.

Additional information:

Google Instant is available for the following browsers:
Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8

*Side note: Avoid Internet Explorer as much as possible.

Noynoy Aquino responds to Facebook note

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Noynoy Aquino responds to an open letter via Facebook

The following text is excerpted verbatim from Reyn Barnido's Facebook note.

Mr. President, Something In You Has To Die
by Reyn Barnido
Retrieved: September 15, 2010 09:03 AM

This is not anymore about failing to handle the hostage-taking as much as this is about fulfilling the promises of your oath-taking. This is not just about nine people losing their lives, but ninety million citizens losing their national pride. This is not about a singular madman shooting bullets up and down; this is about an orgy of fools shooting lies left and right. This is not anymore about the negotiators’ inefficiency to convince a police officer to surrender, but the government’s incapacity to comfort a nation. This is not about the Police; this is about the Presidency.



I have visions of you staring at your breakfast table, unmindful for the first time of the tempting plate of sizzling chicharon and frozen bottle of Coke regular, and asking yourself, “Where did I go wrong?” as you blow heart-shaped smokes in the air. That is wishful thinking I know. Chances are you chomp on the chicharon with gusto as you invent new excuses in your mind.



Mr. President, we did not switch from cheerleaders to cynics because of a singular incident caused by a madman. Our process was a metamorphosis catalyzed by a series of excuses and inconsistencies over the past two months. They don’t paint you as a man in control; rather they portray a group of helpless officials in utter disarray like rats scrambling from the basement of a burning building. You are the hub of a bunch of incompetent fools whose idea of honesty is withholding the truth until someone slips and whose interpretation of transparency is to let the media and the public wrestle the facts from their mouths like fishes dangling from hooks.



This is not a flaw in the character of your administration; this inefficiency has become your defining trait.



We don’t deserve this, Sir. This is not the covenant we entered into during your oath-taking. Now, since you don’t have the time to reflect, I will help you articulate some of the lessons that you should learn about your administration. Understand that I am taking your word when you said that we are your bosses. So, pay attention:



Your Dream Team of a cabinet is really just that – they excel in dreaming. You craft your government strategy based on high-brow vision statements which your team built like castles in the sand. But there never was a concrete strategy to transform the nation. From visions you get inspiration, but only from well-crafted strategy will you get confidence and courage to govern. Inspiration melts in the face of a crisis situation. Rebuild you team, for there never was a team to begin with.



I grew up in the shadows of the Abads, Soliman, Deles – the patriarch and matriarchs of your administration. From them I learned everything alternative when I was a student leader: alternative education, alternative lifestyle, alternative politics, alternative Christmas, alternative governance. Do not take their analysis of society at face value for theirs is a construct designed to fuel a protest movement, not manage a large bureaucracy. Do your own analysis and dialogue this with those prescribed by your consultants and mentors.



Having a BFF for an Executive Secretary only helps you in trusting the man’s loyalty, it doesn’t mean he can be trusted with the deliverables. You talked about the importance of training our police force and yet you brought in an inexperienced and untrained man to become the Little President? The Cabinet, Sir, as my friend Trixie once said, is not a training ground. I have no problem if women and wine are his coping mechanisms; but to be seen in public doing that while people are hurting reminds us of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning.



Your Communications Team was impressive when you were still running for the position. They were excellent in writing fiction; communicating the truth is a different discipline altogether. And they might not be the right men for the task, considering that they don’t even communicate among themselves. And Sir, this is not just about the Black Monday; they have been sending apologies since Day One. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!



Jesse Robredo, God bless his soul, is a good man. He was an excellent Mayor. But his glaring ineptitude was exposed during these last few days. He never had any experience nor exposure on a national level, Sir. If you find his contribution indispensable, just create a new office, like Presidential Assistant for Municipal Affairs or something.



Come out from the protective shell, Mr. President. Do not be afraid to be caught in the line of fire for it is the sacred space where your salvation can happen.



I hope you realize that DEATH is a key element in your life journey as a man and as a leader. A year ago, the death of your mother fuelled a national movement that catapulted you from being Kris’ brother to a president. A year later, the death of nine victims fuelled a nationwide disgust that can bring you down from the pedestal to a pigsty where years of eating chicharon will be avenged.



Do not be afraid, for something in you has to die so that the real Noynoy will emerge better and wiser.



Embrace the Black Monday as your Good Friday Mr. President. Do not resist the crucifixion for as our faith tells us it is the only way to a new life. Yours, and ours.



Believe it or not, your cheerers may have become cynics, but they are still your companions in this journey. I, for one, will not abandon you Mr. President.


Here is President Noynoy Aquino's response:

Response to "Mr. President, Something In You Has To Die"
by Noynoy Aquino
Retrieved: September 15, 2010 09:15 AM


This is in response to: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=494735718205



Hello, Reyn. This is your President.



First of all, thank you for your note on Facebook. Such insights from concerned citizens are vital in a maturing democracy such as ours, where all avenues and technologies should be explored in order to raise the level of public discourse. However, thoughts expressed in such sites, which can sometimes be incendiary, spread easily without the necessary validation. This is why I felt the need to respond to your letter.



Your comments against my Cabinet seem to prejudge them without taking a hard look at the reality. For example, I do not believe that my Communications team writes fiction. When have they ever lied or not sought to tell the truth?



We do agree on one thing: the last administration wrongly governed. You supported us because like you, we condemned the nine years of corruption under the previous dispensation. You may not be fully aware of the magnitude of the problems we have inherited, such as midnight appointments by the last administration, which sought to embed in our bureaucracy people who do not share our mission of reform. There is also the increase over the last decade in the number of people living in poverty. The deterioration of our corruption ratings was laid out before the world, making our country less attractive to foreign investors. I do not believe it is realistic, as suggested by your letter, to change everything in two months.



We gave ourselves a more reasonable timeline, two years in fact, to show evidence of real transformation. In the last two months, we have been surprised by very encouraging developments that the changes we envisioned, and promised to our people, might actually be achieved in a shorter time. These are developments, which unfortunately, seem to have been overshadowed for now by the hostage taking tragedy.



One of the priorities that I have repeatedly said my government will focus on is job generation. Just last week, a call center by Convergys was inaugurated in Manila. This facility will provide 5,000 new jobs on top of their existing 17,000-strong workforce.



In a recent courtesy call to me, a major European bank guaranteed an increase in investments by three times the current level with their exposure here in the Philippines.



The forthcoming US trip will likewise reinforce this bullishness on our country’s growth through the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs.



In addition, I will be on hand to receive a $430 million grant from the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.

In the last two months, we were also successful in terminating contracts to procure overpriced equipment for the Department of Agriculture. The P60 million acquisition price has been brought down by nearly half, to P32 million.



We are also tightening procurement for police equipment, to improve our law enforcers’ ability to deal with future hostage-taking incidents and other law enforcement challenges.



Let me also remind you that in the recently submitted budget to Congress, we have sought to make real the campaign pledge to fight poverty. The budget puts in place promised improvements in health and education, and conditional cash transfers. If we are able to sustain them over the life of my administration, we will help lift millions of Filipinos out of poverty.



It has always been my personal philosophy not to overly play up achievements that any government should have been doing in the first place. Perhaps my administration should be doing more to highlight this, but the simple truth is that we are working hard to solve our problems.



I understand that much of your frustration stems from the unfortunate crisis that befell our nation, but my administration will not be defined by this tragedy. It will be defined by what we have already achieved and what we will still achieve in the future.



Again, thank you for your note.


Are you satisfied by Benigno Aquino III's response?
If you were to write your own letter, what would you like to tell the Philippine president?


Update:
Since rumors were floating around that the reply was ghostwritten (not written by Pnoy himself), we asked confirmation from Manuel L. Quezon III - the Philippine Undersecretary of Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning.

Here was Manuel Quezon III's (@mlq3) response:
@skiverz the letter was signed and sent by the president for publication whther drafted by or for him.

Booshaka - See What's Trending on Facebook

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Want to know the latest hot topics in the Facebook world?

We have Topsy for Twitter users. Now we have a counterpart for Facebook.
Enter Booshaka!


Booshaka is a Trend engine for Facebook.
By using this, you'll be able to know what other people on Facebook are saying about a certain topic.

For example:
Type in "Garena", it will return with the results showing the latest hottest Facebook status messages citing Garena. From this, you might discover where to get GarenaHoN beta keys.

The possibilities are immense.

URL:
http://www.booshaka.com

What uses can you possibly think of for Booshaka?

HoN is Free To Play in the Philippines

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Great news Pinoy gamers!

The much awaited 2010 release, Heroes of Newerth is going to be FREE for Filipino gamers.

Yes, you've read that right. It's going to be FREE in the Philippines!

"Libre na ang HoN!"

We have Garena Philippines to thank for this for bringing us this premium DotA based game into our shores.

Since HoN PH is essentially region-locked with other SEA countries, Philippine Heroes of Newerth players will be playing with gamers from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

For GarenaHoN announcements and updates, you can like GarenaHoN on Facebook.

*As of this writing Garena HoN (GHoN) is currently under intensive closed beta testing. You can get Garena Heroes of Newerth beta key giveaway updates by adding HoN Philippines on Facebook.

Kita Kits sa Newerth!

Garena Prepaid Cards Now Available

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Garena is now offering Garena repaid cards for Philippine gamers!


The times when asking around where to buy Garena Shells is over.
You can easily get the Garena card from net cafes and prepaid card shops in your area.

Garena prepaid card uses:
-Purchase Garena Items (Gold memberships, name changers, etc.)
-Purchase in-game stuff for Garena-published games

*Gold members will also get a free beta key for Garena Heroes of Newerth.

Garena Prepaid cards are currently available in the following peso denominations:
*20 PHP
*50 PHP
*100 PHP
*300 PHP

Useful Facebook pages:
Garena Philippines - Latest Garena Philippines news
Heroes of Newerth Updates - Latest Heroes of Newerth updates
Heroes of Newerth Philippines - Tagalog HoN Facebook page

Useful Twitter users:
garenahon - Garena Heroes of Newerth Twitter Page
garenaonline - Official Garena Twitter Page

How to Get A Free HoN Beta Key

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How to get a HoN beta key?

There used to be a time where Heroes of Newerth beta invites were abundant.


But then sudenly, S2 Games started limiting those keys since they already had more than a million players in beta.

Good thing there's the Give a HoN Beta Key To A Friend event.
Sparked by the people behind HoN Updates, they are helping other gamers who have been looking for HoN beta keys get what they want.

It's a 2 fold attack from both Facebook and Twitter.
So if you have an extra HoN beta key, give it to a HoN beta invite beggar on these sites.

Give a HoN Beta Key To a Friend (Facebook)
Give a HoN Beta Key To a Follower (Twitter)

If you found this advice useful, feel free to subscribe to the blog. I'd really appreciate it. :)

Topsy - Search Engine for Twitter Users

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Topsy is the "Google" for Twitter.


Calling itself the search engine powered by tweets, Topsy represents the epitome of real-time search.

No need to keep rambling about this awesome site, you have to try it out for yourself.
*Recommended for Twitter users only.

URL:
http://topsy.com/

Got a Useful Site you can recommend? Send over a comment below. :)

Idejder of S2 Games Interview

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All these were taken from the Ask Me Anything page of Idejder on Reddit.
I chose the best questions for one of the game developers involved in 2010's 2nd most awaited game release, Heroes of Newerth. (Blizzard's StarCraft 2 is #1 presuming they release this year)

Due to popular demand, let me present to you Ask Idejder #1.

Who is Idejder?

Game Designer for S2 Games working on Heroes of Newerth.

I do game balance, map tweaks/creation, hero creation, game scripting, community involvement, and helping decision making behind the scenes. I was hired near the beginning of beta and have worked with the other designer Fielding since then.

I script in XML and can read C++ code well enough to decipher how things work from reading our source code when I need to do complex things for heroes.
What did you do previously before your position at S2? Have you worked on games before? What kind of game programming education do you have? How old are you?

Firstly I am 25.

26 in March.

This is my first title and before I worked at S2 I was a Game Design student (along with a partial Biomedical Engineer, Chemical Engineer, Biology, Chemistry Major. Woo changing a lot!) I don't have much programming experience but I don't need much to do what I do.

Did you play DotA at all before being hired for HoN? Did it affect your want to work with S2 Games?
Yes I played DotA for a long long time before playing HoN and then getting hired. It effects me in the way that I know what the overall goal of the project is before I even had to read anything. To capture and grow that awesome feeling you have while playing a DotA/HoN style game.

Dota and HoN should not be competitors but should complement each other. How will S2 games maintain a healthy relationship with the Dota community and will you be working with icefrog in the future?

We have a huge amount of respect for Icefrog and have been in communication with him plenty. Just having that mutual respect I think is a huge part of a healthy relationship with the game that created a whole genre.

Really it comes down to the players, though. We can do all we can but it's hard to stop that "one sided" mentality people have.

What can you say about the Dota based games genre? Do you think HoN can attract gamers who have never played DotA? With that tough learning curve and all? And what is S2 doing to help flatten that curve?
* I think the genre as a whole is just starting and is prepared to explode into a pretty huge mainstream gaming thing.
* I do think it will attact gamers who never played DotA because of the ease of getting into it, the great layout/graphics, and the upcoming tutorial.
* Tutorial. :)

Can you lead us through a typical day for you? Is it just 12 hours of staring at a screen? or is it more talking with the other devs about bugs and how to fix them? Or just a non-stop HoN game session?

Also, on that note. How often Do you play HoN in the office? and How the hell do your bosses allow that?
* Days vary completely but mostly always include hours infront of a computer doing something. Sometimes I sit/lay/sit-upside-down on the couch in our office to talk about stuff or brainstorm. Sometimes I nap on said couch. Sometimes I just turn on music on the speakers and work on a map editor all day. grumble... cliffs... grumble
* I play HoN at least daily. I say least because sometimes it several games a day at random hours. And my direct boss plays as well, sometimes he comes to work and plays a game a HoN before he does anything else. Just cause.

Fun fact: Idejder is Red Jedi inverted.

Wanna get in the Heroes of Newerth beta to try this game out?
Get in through the Heroes of Newerth Updates' Facebook page.