Jack Zhang's Blog

The Blogger blog is being retired

2010-04-08T16:40:00.001-07:00

In this social age of new media and having to catch up with trends, having Blogger is like having a walking cane.

I'm now here to announce this Blog is now retiring to be replaced by this:

The New and Improved Jack Zhang's Posterous

Hopefully people will follow me there as I dump my thoughts and work on there.

PS3 loses Linux

2010-03-31T17:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/03/sony-steals-feature-from-your-playstation-3

You hear me right, if you update your PS3 once the new firmware for it comes out, you will LOSE your Linux capability and never get it back.

This is the same thing as the ongoing "Homebrew" battle between Sony and the PSP modders. The cause for the Linux revoking is a hack that effectively bypasses the hypervisor and allows full access to the Cell and possibly the RSX.

Quote from the article:

Sony is effectively downgrading PS3s already sold and in the hands of consumers — when you bought it, it could play games, play Blu-ray discs, and run GNU/Linux. After April 1, it's an inferior product.

Could Sony be turning into the new Apple? Locking down so much that it's just like a iPhone/iPod Touch in terms of DRM? It looks like both aren't open source supportive after all.

Remember the days when Consoles didn't need firmware updates? (The PS2, Gamecube days?) This might want to keep some FLOSS (Free Libre Open Source Software) supporters on the PS2.

Edit: A less descript article on CNET on Sony's position on this. Way to brainwash people to say it's making the PS3 more "secure". Well, it is... primarily to lock people out of the hypervisor.

And may I quote a commenter on that article that is pretty much what everyone thinks of this:

This is total crap, seriously. An update to solely remove features is not an update.

Alert! The Computer is being Captured!

2010-03-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is a BIG heads up for people who installed WATU or are going to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1... There's Spyware.

It has been confirmed by TechARP.

And page 2 talking about Windows 7 Service Pack 1 makes it only get worse.

The Windows 7 SP1 spying algorithm is similar to the way YouTube attempts to curb "shady" uses of content with their Video ID system. If a "qualified authority" abused this power, (Like Warner Music Group abused their power with Video ID) we'd see court cases spring up all over the entire world... (Yes, these updates apply worldwide.)

In short metaphoric terms, Microsoft is trying to close Pandora's Box, which is nearly impossible.

EFF or ACLU, this is clearly not acceptable. Another legitimate reason why you should avoid this update.

First Vimeo, now Viddler?

2010-03-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, the reason I moved from my original file uploads from Vimeo to Viddler is because Vimeo abandoned it for basic accounts and Viddler didn't.

Well, guess what just came in my Inbox...

The Terms of Use are changing to state that personal level accounts’ original source file will be stored for 30 days from the date it was uploaded. Of course, the converted video file will be available as long as your account is active. And you will still be able to download the converted file.

This is Deja Vu all over again... Do video sites really want you to PAY to use it as a original file backup service? Some of us use it to both showcase and do an off-site backup. Now, there are NO MORE free off-site video backup/serving services...

I'm outraged by this. I'm guessing I won't upload to any of these sites since they're so untrustworthy to their basic account users until I get enough $$$ for Vimeo Plus... (Oh wait, I don't have a stinking credit card.)

I shall remain with only 2 out of the 3 golden places for backup. I have my Personal Internal and External HDDs, but I'll never get that off-site backup.

This will be cross-posted to my Buzz.

Fixing codec woes on Windows 7 64bit

2010-03-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

So here was my problem, I couldn't run the AC3 ACM or XviD on Windows 7 64bit. There are steps you can do to get everything working again:

For XviD:

1. Get celtic_druid's x64 build of XviD here

2. Go into your Registry Editor, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\Drivers32

3. Delete the "vidc.xvid" (in lowercase letters) string and recreate the string as "vidc.XVID" (in all caps) with a value of "xvidvfw.dll". I've confirmed that renaming will not work as it will say "The key already exists".

For the AC3 ACM:

1. Get version 1.5 of the ACM here, it has both x64 and x32 versions.

2. Install the x64 version as you normally would. It will install correctly.

3. Take the x32 ACM and put it in Windows\SysWOW64

4. Go into the Registry Editor, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\Drivers32

5. Create a new string called "msacm.ac3acm" with a value of "AC3ACM.acm"

This should get the AC3 ACM and XviD working on Windows 7 64bit.

Unblock ads to give up Privacy and Security? No way!

2010-03-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

(from one of my Google Buzz posts)

I'm replying to the Ars Technica article about blocking ads: http://arst.ch/g8o

Listen, we ad blockers have a reason to ad-block: Privacy and Security. Remember when The New York Times bought ads from a super cheap Internet ad agency that actually put malware in the ads?

Not only that, tracking pixels are everywhere and some people don't trust them, blocking them gives that next level of privacy and security that they aren't being monitored the whole time.

It's obviously not that we want to hurt your revenue (though you make it seem like so with this article) It's our privacy and security that we want to protect. I have not gotten a single major virus ever since I started ad blocking.

If this is a round about marketing tactic, shame on you Ars Technica for trying to brainwash the smart to give up their ad blockers.

Edit (March 22): See? Nowhere is safe when it comes to banner ads... Especially if the server gets hacked into.

Thank goodness for Adblock. Again, shame on you Ars Technica.

No more direct links to this blog

2010-02-24T05:29:00.000-08:00

I admit, the thrill of blogging has been snuffed by Twitter and even Buzz. Therefore all my public profiles will no longer have direct links to this blog, they'll be a couple of layers down. (For example, my Google Profile only has my Blogger Profile page, not the direct link to the blog)

I might post occasional editorials if something happens to get me to write a lot more than 140 characters and that wouldn't fit on Buzz. Vimeo videos from me will also appear here as they get posted.

My Ustream channels are still up and running, scroll down a couple of posts to find the embed players for the streams I do.

This is not the end of my blog, it's just it'll be way less active now.

Anyways, see you all on Buzz and Twitter. (and Steam too, if you game)

So what happened to my Computer...

2010-02-20T03:26:00.000-08:00

If you've been following my Twitter for the past 2 weeks, you witnessed the quest for Genuine Windows take a nosedive then come right back up.

Here's how it all started...

Paul Thurrott repeated a blog post on the Genuine Windows Blog about the "Windows Activation Technologies Update" or "WATU" on his podcast on the TWiT Network called "Windows Weekly". When I got my 32bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate, I never found out how it got installed. It was a "courtesy" repair job from a major retailer here in Canada and it was half the price of getting Win 7 OEM just to get 1 hard drive with it pre-loaded.

Not knowing how the operating system got installed is a real pain because you never really know if the repair was done with non-genuine techniques or genuine from a disc.

Well, Tuesday the 16th came and I installed WATU. Went into the Task Scheduler and let it run once. Rebooted, and it was indeed non-genuine. I have been ripped off.

Looking back, I noticed 2 things that might have tipped off the OS was not genuine:

1. The "Change Product Key" link was not present on the "View basic system info" page (the one where you have to right-click "Computer" in the Start Menu and go to Properties)

2. The Recovery Disc I burnt had the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" text in German, not English.

What did I have to do? Buy Windows... offline. But first, I wiped the drive using my Recovery Disc and the DISKPART command. (I should have done an HDDErase, but didn't and I think my SSD speeds are a little slower than normal due to that.)

I decided I finally needed 64bit Windows, so on Wednesday I got an OEM Genuine DVD (with Holograms and a Certificate of Authenticity (COA)) from one of Canada's big DIY Builder retailers, NCIX. Installed it and restored all programs and backups and only around yesterday did I get everything back to normal.

It only cost me $220CAD to get this copy, compared to the kit online that costs $30-$40 more.

No worries now... And I'm not installing WATU on this new clean install since I know I installed it.

X25-V Review, once again in PC Perspective style

2010-02-11T23:12:00.000-08:00

Intel X25-V Review - (unofficially) PC Perspective from Jack Zhang on Vimeo.

I'm hoping for your job, Ken Addison (PC Per Intern Video Editor)... If Jeremy can work from Canada, with Dropbox, I could edit from Canada too...

My ISP peers with BitGravity

2010-02-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

So, I did a tracert on BitGravity and discovered that my ISP is now peering with BitGravity. This is pretty good as TWiT Live is now no longer hiccuping due to this peering, which is amazing!

However, this does NOT solve persistent problems with streaming for (not even long) periods of time. Re-visiting my NASA TV feeds, it still disconnects after 5, 10, 20, 90 minutes. It used to be that I could stream 23 hours non-stop NASA TV, that's no longer true even with peering.

And this just takes the cake and slams it on the ground: Watching the STS-130 launch, the stream cut out in the middle of everything TWICE. Listen, NASA, move to BitGravity live streaming and I'll be much happier since my ISP peers with them. Having the stream drop out in THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING LAUNCH is completely unacceptable. My internet's never done that till today...

I'd really like peering to sites like Ustream, Justin.tv, and many more live streaming sites. Even peering with Steam would dramatically increase speeds due to lower latency.

Off-topic: I found it so uneasy that NONE of the major news networks other than BBC world news covered the shuttle launch live, since most (if not, all) were running videotapes for the night.

Finally... 1080p for Vimeo. But...

2010-02-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

Another Hiatus lift...

So Vimeo rolls out 1080p trials right now, but at the moment, it's for Plus members only...

This leaves people like me, with a free account, in the cold once again.

First, they scrapped original file download for non-Plus users and now 1080p is ONLY for Plus users...

Here's what I think: Roll out 1080p site-wide for all users but have a compromise...

Plus users would get the best possible encoding settings: 1080p at 6mbps with 2-pass encoding and maybe even VBR.

Basic users would get a toned down 1080p encode: 3mbps with only 1-pass CBR.

Not only that, they should get rid of the VP6 encoding for talking head videos and stick to H.264 for all videos that Basic members upload.

Listen up, not everyone has a credit card... Leaving people out like this is obviously not beneficial. The free service is now so crippled, it's 720p HD is actually worse than YT. (and even worse for talking head 720p videos)

The HTML5 video rollout is a total mess

2010-01-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

It's a temporary lift of my Blog's hiatus to express my opinion on today's HTML5 video rollout. It's an utmost near failure.

First, Mozilla releases the new version of Firefox today, 3.6. This is also the same day many Video sites start rollouts of HTML5 support.

BUT... Most people would associate this 3.6 update to Firefox to the HTML5 rollout. This is nowhere near the truth.

Firefox failed to obtain a license to use H.264 decoding in it's browser, and every implementation in today's HTML5 rollout ALL use H.264. Therefore, this left Firefox entirely cut out of this technological move to a much more streamlined and less resource intensive video playback experience.

Most people reporting on the new HTML5 video playback who actually could watch the videos in that format, like Chrome and Safari users, reported sluggish playback since it's 100% software driven (Like trying to play a video using OpenGL on VLC). The day HTML5 clients can be accelerated with hardware accelerators, (like the Broadcom Chip coming to Intel Pine Trail netbooks or NVIDIA's ION and ION 2) similar to Flash 10.1, then HTML5 would be a contender to push out Flash as a new form of playback.

And now to a couple of drawbacks/criticisms:

Vimeo

*Not all videos are encoded in MP4. Anything with very low motion (such as talking heads) or any old video encoded a long time ago is encoded in Flash VP6. It is impossible to play this in any HTML5 implementation.

*Censorship of the comments for the official blog post for the rollout is Vimeo's way of protecting their community integrity by preventing talk about codecs and browsers and sparking flame wars. I should know, one of my comments about H.264 was censored within 10 seconds.

YT

*Ad-supported videos will never be played in HTML5, since Flash is the only way to integrate the ads. This still makes them protective a little of closed-source infrastructure of applying Google Adsense and banner ads in full-screen videos.

*It's Google. They're sticking to H.264 and are very reluctant to use codecs such as OGG at the moment.

And sites that will never work with HTML5 Video: Hulu and any other TV broadcaster site.

Plus, here's what I'd also like to see in the future as this evolves: Live Streaming playback via HTML5.

So, Mozilla, MPEG-LA, you've learned your mistakes this time, let's hope there's not too big of a mess later on. Also, for those thinking about putting x264 or FFmpeg H.264 decode in Firefox... Well, that's a little of a legal grey area so it shouldn't be attempted at the moment.

And here's an editorial article from a friend: Is VP8 the Codec that solves HTML5's vender problems?

Blog and Twitter now on Hiatus

2010-01-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

My blog and Twitter will now be on Hiatus. Tweets will specifically be replies only.

I've also deleted many posts that might have been deemed "worrisome" from the past 2 weeks.

Edit: Twitter is off hiatus, but this Blog will remain in hiatus for quite some time.

TWiT Live BitGravity, eat your heart out.

2010-01-06T23:52:00.000-08:00

Before, I used to be able to watch TWiT Live BitGravity High (1Mbps, which is the above embed) on my 25mbps connection on my Core 2 Quad all the way until the cache refreshed after 1 hour. Now it is in an endless loop of breaking and buffering every 1-5 minutes.

I have no idea if it's my ISP or our DNS server or if it's just the fact that the BitGravity player is barely buffering compared to before, where it buffered 2-3 seconds. I've noticed now that it just instantly starts the video and doesn't really buffer at all. Ustream and Justin.tv both have scratchy sound due to encoding at a 22.05k audio sample rate and crude upsampling, making it not my recommended alternative.

I've tried using manual buffering by pausing, it still quits after 5 minutes. Oh and as I am writing this, I stand corrected, it's both the low and the high connections...

Before all this streaming trouble, I was able to watch NASA TV over the internet for over 12-22 hours. Now after 3 hours that quits. Now this happens? Come on Canada, We need Net Neutrality where our Skype packets aren't limited to the point where reliability is so low, we get disconnections and packet loss all the time... Streaming packet limiting is what will be hit next if no action is taken.

I also remember when we got KylinTV, which was kind of like the Chinese version of the Roku box, it buffered like crazy on our connection, so much so that it became unwatchable.

So, for the rare few that still follow this blog (since I might have scared everyone off with all the recent grim news), How's your TWiT Live BitGravity experience? (Preferably, Canadian people watching the stream.)

Edit: Well, someone listened probably... there's now a starting 2 second buffer on the BitGravity feeds at live.twit.tv, it no longer starts immediately.

It solved one half of the problem to do with the stream breaking, But I still get buffering breaks on my C2Q... There must be issues with my ISP... or it's due to the massive amount of traffic viewing the video all as once.

Edit #2: With a blip which I assume was the restarting of the Streamasaurous, I was able to watch 46 minutes before they went live and the buffering became totally atrocious...

Edit #3 (1/13/2010): Buffering's worse again. It's not breaking but when it buffers in the middle of receiving (not the buffer that starts the stream), it goes on for 2-4 seconds then continues. I freaking hate my ISP...

Edit #4 (1/27/2010): The problem is no longer the struggle to buffer, but dropouts... It drops 2 seconds of video as a buffer pause. Then again, today, there's 10000 people watching the stream at the same time...

My PC Perspective audition tape...

2009-12-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, that's a little overshooting for the title of this post, but here's a video of me rebuilding my computer in PC Perspective style:

(unofficially) PC Perspective System Rebuild from Jack Zhang on Vimeo.

Disclaimer in video and on video page.

A world apart, not a world together

2009-12-23T05:17:00.000-08:00

We hear today that Kim Peek, the guy who was the inspiration for the character Dustin Hoffman played in "Rain Man" has died.

Then, I hear today of something that I cannot spread to the public at the moment. It has affected me to become passive for the next few days.

I will say this though, it reinforces the quote "A world apart, not a world together." rather than the more positive "A world together, not a world apart."

General Purpose Ustream Show up

2009-12-22T01:33:00.001-08:00

This is for general stuff not related to TF2, it's also in 720p HD.

As of the day I posted this post, right now it's playing a video of me finishing a drawing called "Spy's sappin my VT5".

Updated the blog template to fit bigger videos

2009-12-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

If you noticed my blog got a bit wider, you're right.

To accommodate the 640x360 embeds I'll be placing from here on out, this blog is now WIDER than before.

And since most people are now using higher resolution widescreen displays, this move should have been made a while ago.

I'm Ustreaming now

2009-12-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

In the best interest of curiosity, I have managed to get a Ustream account and am streaming my TF2 playing sessions.

So, if you want to see me play TF2, this is the place.

My attempt at trying to be "The Tech Guy"

2009-12-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

Jack Zhang: The Tech Guy from Jack Zhang on Vimeo.

Disclaimer on video page.

Proof that I am in the TV program

2009-12-04T15:48:00.000-08:00

...is here.

First image... that's me on there.

It's nearing the end of the semester, so exams loom upon us...

Windows 7 Problems and Solutions

2009-12-03T04:31:00.000-08:00

When it comes to problems in Windows 7, it is obviously not bug free.

It seems like TF2 isn't as stable as it should be in 7 since it crashes possibly due to a GPU Memory Leak since Aero takes up over 100MB of GPU memory and we all know TF2 is highly inefficient when it comes to GPU memory.

In some multi-stage levels (like Goldrush or Dustbowl) it gets up to 600 or 700MB of used GPU memory. So, the action to fix this: turn off Aero. But it is a recoverable crash from the Game Engine and not from the 7 drivers so it doesn't crash the system.

AudioDG.exe was carried over from Vista to 7, and along with it comes the problem of it being a CPU hog. It's the same fix for this as it was on Vista: Go to Playback Devices after right clicking the speaker icon in the taskbar, go into the properties of each audio device and under the enhancements tab, check the box that says "Disable all sound effects".

Those are a few Problem/Solutions for Windows 7, I have yet to encounter a unfixable problem in 7, other than my Jmicron SSD controller sucking when it comes to small writes (but that's hardware).

Oh yeah, did I mention I'm running 7 on a (cheap) SSD now? 100MB/s read speed makes TF2 and it's levels load in and around 7 seconds now. SO FAST. (yet so slow on the writes)

Windows 7: Fine for gaming if you only use one input language

2009-11-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

I take back what I wrote for a blog post saying Windows 7 is good except for Source Engine games. It's still good for Source Engine games, IF you use only one input language: English combined with a US Keyboard layout.

If you have additional input languages, Windows 7 tends to freeze Source Engine games cause you never know if the other language might pop up/switch to and try to type foreign characters in place of W, A, S, or D.

I have tested the L4D2 Demo and it ran seamlessly with only one input language used.

I will test L4D1 next and will post results on whether I was able to play "Crash Course" (a 2 level campaign) seamlessly and a full-length campaign seamlessly in an edit to this post.

Edit: I've surpassed the point where I got freezing problems in Crash Course in L4D1 with no problems. However, in the main menu the game tries hard to look for as many Steam Group Servers as it possibly can (one time I got upwards of 300-500 servers)... Even though you're not part of their group... This is probably a problem that comes and goes in Windows 7 since it only does it sporadically.

If you see blank "In-Game" fields in your Steam friends list, you might want to click the Check for Steam Updates button once, that somehow fixed it for me.

Also, be aware that Windows Firewall might block L4D2 from internet access as a FYI.

Edit #2: Played most of the Dead Air Campaign with no problems (didn't finish the campaign as it was pretty much definitively stable). Windows 7 actually has a higher CPU and GPU usage possibly due to optimizations...

Edit #3: (moved to a new post since it is very extensive)

How's Life?

2009-11-26T04:36:00.000-08:00

Well, stressful with the final exams coming up and a recent incident with someone in RL has prompted a end to social searching in RL for now:

Journal on incident (on FurAffinity)

Best Case Scenario: I survive... barely... to Winter Break.

Worst Case Scenario: Dropping out (which one of our students in the TV program already has)

Hardest classes: Business Communications and Interpersonal Relationships

Looking back on this post in the future, this would definitively be proof that this is the hardest part...

"...is waiting for that bell to ring." -Coldplay

It's true, first semester is the hardest one.

Why I'm not as keen on using Second Life or PlayStation Home

2009-11-22T03:58:00.000-08:00

Sure, they are the best when it comes to making far away connections that much closer, but it does have one huge drawback: Commitment.

If you start spending real $$$ for your virtual self, you are in the first phases of committing yourself for your virtual self. Spending in big cases nearly thousands of real dollars so you look presentable online.

It's the step above from Facebook. Your profile (not your avatar) is what you worry about on Facebook and enhancements to it are what you worry about with having the most apps in your profile and such.

My advice: Find a local social gathering and go to it... in Real Life. I did with Howloween Bowling 2009 and I've already had a blast over there.

My only public social site I'm able to manage for now is Twitter. So keep watching for my tweets as they do detail some stuff on what happens at my TV program.

I should have been the actor for this doctor...

2009-11-17T20:57:00.000-08:00

Really, This doctor at the end of a recent Curb Your Enthusiasm episode should have been me. Seriously, it's such a minor role I could do it.

Or... It could also be for one of my High School buddies Bradley Jung (AKA Hyprodimus Prime in some places)

Searching for Lyrics?

2009-11-16T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well, get ready for this, as it's now MUCH HARDER to obtain lyrics from the web and copy and paste to a text file for personal use.

Sites like MetroLyrics are starting to encode their lyrics (but not scramble them) in the HTML source and are starting to use Javascript to prevent selection of text. This is pretty much the 2nd instance where Javascript has been used as a cheap form of DRM (with the first being the right-click disabler)

Primarily, CDDB gracenote is the primary user of this crude DRM Javascript technology.

On some sites, NoScript on Firefox is enough to bypass it, but on certain dedicated embeds, if the object is blocked, so is the text.

This is showing how DRM is becoming a nuisance to all consumers, but the Film and Record Industries all back it 100% with stuff like AACS and BD+ on Blu-ray and the infamous Sony/BMG rootkit DRM.

1080p on YT? Pl-eeze...

2009-11-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

This is not the marketing move that will make me return to YT. First off, Vimeo is much better when it comes to it's community aspect compared to the abusive community on YT.

Plus, nothing's been done about the WMG crap and Fair Use remains in a tombstone not to be disturbed on YT.

Sorry, but I'm putting my pity towards both Vimeo and YT. Vimeo disabled original file download and now that YT has 1080p, isn't that a reason to not dumb down the free accounts on Vimeo but rather bump them up in quality? And YT's ID system is exactly why veterans of the site (such as AMV makers) never use it anymore.

It's impossible to get YT to change their act, but Vimeo sure as heck can. Get 1080p on Vimeo (that is also accessible to the free users) and I'll be happy.

Edit (Expressing my right for Freedom of Speech): Looks like DOUBLE takedowns are happening where it goes Down->Counter->Up->Down->Banned.

R.I.P. Fair Use on YT.

What's with the housewife target demo driven Sci-fi dramas?

2009-11-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

First Defying Gravity, and now V?

Listen, Sci-fi does not belong with interpersonal situational drama. It can be to a point, but if it goes overboard, it's housewife material.

V started to go a little overboard when it came to this during the pilot, but Defying Gravity went way overboard.

Sci-Fi is pretty much all about everything but interpersonal conflict. Are we living in drama viewing environments now where it's all about interpersonal stuff?

Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica (the new one) found balances in this formula to make them great shows. Star Trek (except DS9) found the perfect balance of technical and personal storyline. Defying Gravity and V? They barely go into the technical side and focus specifically on interpersonal. This makes it a flop to Sci-fi traditionalists and a hit to the general American public.

Don't let Sci-Fi shift entirely to general audiences, we need at least a couple of tried and true technique sci-fi shows on the air now.

Edit: Wow, the most recent East Meets West podcast is dead on with this topic. (which is being taped at the moment on twit.tv)

Edit #2: 2nd episode of V is just 95% interpersonal material... That's going over the amount for balance between true sci-fi and such. Trekkies, Stargaters, and members of the Colonial Fleet tune away now.

Edit #3: Here's why this demographic is being targeted. It's the biggest one.

Windows 7: Great for everyday use, but not for Source Engine 3D gaming...

2009-11-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

Microsoft is not bringing false promises when it comes to Windows 7's ease of use for everyday tasks, but extreme gaming is where this can suffer and it's where the statement is not true.

Source engine games (practically every recent game made by Valve Corp) doesn't run well with Windows 7, often freezing the game if you hold the strafe keys too long (WASD)

Casual games probably have no problems on 7, it's the FPS shooters that will be disappointed.

My review unit was a Intel Core 2 Quad and a Nvidia GTX 275 running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit. Since the Win 7 was on a separate hard drive from my Vista Home Premium SP1 32bit HDD, going back was easy.

Gonna wait until SP1 arrives to see if the gaming problem is fixed.

Update: I'm trying L4D with all the Stickykeys and Filter Keys turned off... I think... and hopefully this solves the problem...

Update #2: Nope, this does not solve the problem, meerly just turning off the Stickykeys or Filter Keys sound. DO NOT USE SOURCE ENGINE GAMES ON WINDOWS 7 at the moment, wait for Windows 7 SP1.

New Jack's Vlog with Updates on me

2009-10-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

And who knows, maybe some bonus footage will appear too...

First Vlog with a Wireless Microphone. (only have it for the weekend though)

I didn't know this until now...

2009-10-29T00:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems my TV instructors might be the social bunch!

My BCIT TV Instructors that do the video sides of things have their own Twitter accounts!

Follow @davegtv and @john_a_mills on Twitter for the thoughts of my instructors and how they keep up from day to day.

The old HP AMD Laptop is now half-dea...Nope, just fixed it.

2009-10-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Why, you might ask?

*The Internet Explorer is 95% broken

*The XP Search Companion is gone

*The Extended Services window is corrupt with nothing on it

*Installing Windows Script 5.6 ALWAYS produces an error about a DLL I will name below this list

*System Restore is gone

*HTML Help is gone

*I have -1KB images in Internet Explorer

The apparent solution? "regsvr32 jscript.dll" (and for my case, scrrun.dll also needs to be dealt with)

Except, everytime I do that I ALWAYS GET 0x8000405 errors

This is possibly an unfixable other than re-installing windows situation.

And now, I'm sad to say that my Laptop's Internet Explorer is now a Zombie.

Update: After doing a permissions check and fix on the registry using secedit, I think I might have fixed it! Windows Search companion is now showing up, and all the rest are all starting to show up as well, along with IE!

So just remember kids, if you encounter the 0x8000405 errors, check your registry permissions and reset them with something such as secedit or manually using regedit and RegMon (or Process Monitor as it is now called).

New drawing possibly in the works...

2009-10-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

It's a TF2 based drawing, and if you saw one of my tweets, you probably know already.

It's "Spy's Sappin' my VT5".

Very uncertain on when to start work on it, as I'm super busy right now.

Ok, now it's getting stressful.

2009-10-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

From not knowing about a test until the day it happens, to mid-terms for a class and a test for a class that requires jotting notes at lightning fast speed. Yes, it's starting to get stressful.

Again, I apologize for all this negative news, but it's pretty much all I can report for now on the personal blog.

By the way, as a clear note, this is NOT my BUSA 1620 blog, it's my PERSONAL blog. The BUSA 1620 is hidden to everyone except Charlotte (our BUSA 1620 instructor).

Colleen Kelly, I apologize.

2009-10-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

I might have overstepped my Tweeting and IRCing limits to the point where you felt uncomfortable, compounded by the fact you were in a high-pressure situation of a broken Newtek VT5 machine today.

To that, I'm terribly sorry if any discomfort has arisen from my recent tweets and IRC chat blubs.

I just wanted to help, but I guess it came out all wrong.

If you saw the Twitter updates on the right, you know what happened: 6 Tweets (Edit: No, scratch that, 8 Tweets) about her in 1 day, that's too much.

Wondering where one of my elements on the right went?

2009-10-13T23:25:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, according to http://busa1620-2009.blogspot.com/, I cannot share my profile details anymore.

This is all in check to get together a professional blog.

But, my DeviantArt and FurAffinity still have that profile info you crave.

Facebook hack/spam actually hurts families

2009-10-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

No, really, that's true. In another NOWHERE ON THE WEB story that aired on CTV News today, a family in Nova Scotia is disgusted when a hacker/spammer made a spam wall post on a dead loved one's Facebook page.

If you used Facebook, you know your account has been compromised when you are making wall posts that you never made such as stuff about colon cleansers. This is exactly what happened.

The specific example for this story is here: http://countermeasures.trendmicro.eu/facebook-colon-cleansing-spam-via-mobile-web/

In detail, the family in Nova Scotia had someone close to them lose a fight against something lethal in January. The family expected only wall post comments from friends in show of sympathy for her passing. Then, on October 3rd, they saw she made a new wall post. The family at first is stunned on how she could post a new wall post after being deceased, but then realizes it's hacker spam. At current, the comments below this post show disgust on how a deceased person's account can be taken advantage of to be spammed on. The family is also disgusted and expressed that in the news story I saw that came from one of the CTV Nova Scotia affiliates. (They have no website, hence, the story is NOT on the net)

This shows how phishing and hacking/spamming is never caring of if a account belongs to a dead person or not. The ramifications truly are more severe when the spam is applied to a dead person, since serious emotional consequences can be made.

Update: The story just re-aired on CTV National News and I've located a article on the net about this just by Googling the person in question's name: http://www.trurodaily.com/index.cfm?sid=293716&sc=68

Guess it isn't nowhere on the net.

First blog post on the net about the Superfan BC Lions Flag Waver

2009-10-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Before this post, this was NOT IN A SINGLE WEB PAGE ON THE INTERNET (at least, according to Google)

Remember the "Super" BC Lions fan that waved his flag proudly and then, without reason, security confiscated his flag? No? Then I can say that it was a news story on Global BC a while back.

We now know from the management that the flag was blocking an advertisement but the fan does suspect there was other motives. He's also confused on why he was picked on when there are so many other flag wavers in the stadium that night.

The abuse that the guards put on this fan was acknowledged by the management though and they apologized. That was caught on cell phone video but again, it is NOWHERE on the web, it was only played during the news story that aired on Global BC.

This was a TRUE Superfan of the Lions. He had memoirs of the BC Lions, shirts, and all that sports memorabilia. BUT, after this incident, his faith in the Lions will never be the same.

I bring this up because the exact same thing has happened WAY TOO MANY TIMES for me. The most recent being SPY. So if you're a Superfan, ABANDON IT while you can!

Sorry for the primarily negative news on this blog but...

2009-10-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

It might just get worse with this post (And this post is not about me, I'm doing fine right now)

It seems a Florida man who was going to be wed the next day thought there was a break-in when in fact it was his wife to be. He then shot her and she died later in hospital...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/orl-bk-winter-springs-fatal-shooting-100909,0,3718388.story

I'm not the internet "OMG" or that kind of slang person when it comes to a story like this. I honestly think this is probably the only person in the developed world who's much worse off than me even in my worst times.

And once I start having trouble with assignments, who's worser off will equalize or get worse for me.

The Microsoft Office class at BCIT also calls for a Professional Blog

2009-09-27T14:57:00.001-07:00

...and this one doesn't count.

Yup, for the first (official) time, I might have two blogs to contend with.

(Keeping this short, like a tweet, but the difference is, this won't disappear after you've reached the max amount of tweets.)

No Escape from Telemarketers!!!

2009-09-26T14:54:00.001-07:00

Well, I Googled a 1-877 number I was getting on my cell phone which was with Fido and it turns out, all Fido associated numbers are automatically shared with telemarketers.

This is pretty ridiculous. Cell companies are giving away all their reserved numbers to telemarketers... Also, marketers are actually abusing Canada's Do Not Call list to actually inundate people with telemarketing calls.

THERE... IS... NO... ESCAPE!

BCIT Broadcast Shenanigans

2009-09-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

One of my classmates (Jeremy Abbott) wanted to see this posted somewhere on the web, well that wish is now true.

BCIT Broadcast Shenanigans (Jeremy Abbott) from Jack Zhang on Vimeo.

Heavy involvement in stuff to do with Leo Laporte today

2009-09-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

But it will also be my last day doing such, no frequent call-ins, e-mails, or anything of that nature.

I'll only observe and not participate now that my point that I think everyone needed to know has been made clear on the call-in radio show. (PS3 losing it's AV Multi Out)

And with big celebrities, it's pretty much observe but never interact except through someone like an agent/through heavy filtering.

Control is a virtue.

Edit Sept. 26th: Well, this was a good choice, as I just heard on TWiT Live that Leo's Daughter received a serious death threat. More reason to veer away from the "Superfan" styles like I was on SPY.

My god, don't get bad images in your minds everyone

2009-09-18T23:28:00.000-07:00

It seems the story about the person that supposedly killed that Yale student brought up this quote (bolded words are highly important, and what I'm empathizing):

"Ray has always been very controlling over what goes on in the mouse room...bothering people to the point of damn near harassment. Annie got a message from him saying her cages were dirty."

Now, it's true many people are now saying that about me right now. I don't clean mouse cages but I do tend to be a terrible social person coming from a completely anti/incapable-social state.

Even my instructors fear my fellow students in my TV program might have this against me and will refuse to allow me to join their group. If all groups don't want me, the program heads actually can take me out of the program.

So, my biggest fear is to turn downhill super fast. It's stable now that I switched from SPY to TWiT (This Week in Tech, the Leo Laporte made show). I just wish nothing will cause the cascade of failures that might end up in me being on the street.

So uncertain about the world, so uncertain about everything...

2009-09-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today I got what I hadn't gotten in a long time: a major meltdown.

No specific details will be given, but it is somewhat related to a support class in TF2 that if read as an abbreviation, will spell the name of this popular Canadian iTunes broadcasting sensation.

If you saw my tweets on the right, you already know. If you tuned in late, guess.

I guess the time for fandom is over, along with every stress reliever that has carried me this far.

Each time I say it, it's never directed at my personal self. Well now, I can finally say it once and for all...

I AM AN EPIC...

(And may I remind all of you to take this post seriously, I've just had the worst day so far of my entire life. Sympathize, please!)

This post has been deleted.

2009-09-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

This post has been deleted.

Were you in our Photo Scavenger Hunt?

2009-09-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

Though I cannot post the photos due to privacy issues, Yesterday was the "Photo Scavenger Hunt" day at our BCIT TV program. Our Group won and we got $5 iTunes Gift Cards cause of that (I don't use iTunes so I just gave the card away).

I was using a D80 (but the lens had terrible focusing) and another student was using a Canon DSLR. In all, only me and him were using DSLRs to take pictures that day.

And to spiff up our photos, I wore my "Vote for Graham" pin yesterday for the occasion of taking photos.

If anyone else on campus wants to see them, it's in the ShareOut folder of our class.

It was a wise decision for me to stop uploading to YT...

2009-09-10T01:55:00.000-07:00

Cause my friend wasn't so lucky, his account just got suspended all cause he likes to remix and make AMVs constantly.

He also unfortunately had videos that were non-copyrighted (random life moments captured on cell phone video) taken down in the process.

Let that be a lesson to all AMV makers, YT is no longer your domain for that. At best, search for an alternative site to host your AMVs.

And just in case you were wondering, here's the EFF's guide to YT takedowns.

Also, your personal life videos and your remix videos should be on separate sites. For instance, personal videos can be on Vimeo and AMVs can be on Viddler.

Tablet Pen's button broke

2009-09-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

Maybe it was working on Art too hard, maybe it was overuse... But the button on my tablet pen is no longer being held inside it's hole. I'll have to get a rubber band to prevent it from popping out. And... worst part of all, it broke in the middle of class...

I never knew that button was so fragile... Are all Wacom Tablets like that?

And it's in for some heavy use over the next 2 years...

Update: It's now being held in place by rubber bands. But is it wise to just get a new pen?

That was spent up real quick...

2009-09-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

Using my mobile web on my phone to tweet, I used up all of the $$$ reserved for internet usage in 2 days... I'm now gonna use Wi-Fi to tweet.

Why? It's a prepaid plan, not a monthly plan.

Thank goodness they don't block Twitter here, if this was Burnaby South, Twitter would be blocked along with a lot of other stuff...

1st Day at BCIT

2009-09-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

It's orientation day today, and I have my phone setup with Twitter. So today my Tweets will about my first day at College.

See the Twitter feed on the right or go to my Twitter page to get the latest.

The PC nightmare from Hell...

2009-09-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I wasn't asleep so it's not a "Dreamed" nightmare... But my dedicated SATA capture Hard Drive in my Quad-core (which did have the hard drive's SATA port snapped off and lodged in one end of a SATA cable with the exception of the pins at an earlier date) started malfunctioning and I thought it was dying... Turns out, a bad SATA port can cause the same symptoms of a dying hard drive except it doesn't harm the hard drive.

A special angular placement so that the pins make maximum contact and that none of the pins are touching each other has I think solved the problem. To get the SATA cable to that angle, I had to move the Hard Drive from one vertical HDD bay in front to the one behind it.

This took all night from 4AM to 9-10AM... Haven't slept since...

Finally have a Cell...

2009-09-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

...but that's all I'm gonna say...

This is worthy of a Tweet, but it's 4 days too early. Therefore, it's on the blog.

Look closely at this picture...

2009-09-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

This was originally on Sucker Punch's website since I sent it to them, however, they ruined the detail so this is the original photo in full resolution.

If you look closely, the Sly 3 box has the words "PlayStation 3" and "High-Definition Edition". (And if you were wondering, yes, Bruce Oberg did see that on my Sly 3 box during my visit in 2006)

I truly believed that re-mastering PS2 games in HD would be a good idea at the time. Then the PS2 HD Upscale feature came (which isn't HD rendering)... But guess what, with the PS3 getting it's Backwards Compatibility scrapped, a new market of re-mastering PS2 games into PS3 Blu-ray Discs with HD graphics has become reality. God of War 1 and 2 are the first to start up this trend:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/08/31/god-of-war-collection-blu-ray-disc-compilation-available-this-holiday-season/

If this market gets hot, expect a lot more of this with the great franchises of PS2 past.

PS3 slim will not be backwards compatible

2009-08-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

So, to cut costs, Sony has decided to scrap the backwards compatibility of the PS3 on the slim model. It was cut from current "Phat" PS3s a while ago and it looks like it's not coming back.

http://kotaku.com/5340337/sony-explain-why-the-ps3-slim-has-no-backwards-compatibility

I have no doubt that the next feature to bite the dust is the AV Multi Out now. Since no one is playing PS2 games anymore, and more people are moving to HDTVs, they WILL drop the AV Multi Out in the very near future.

I, fortunately, bought a 60GB first generation 90nm model with the PS2 chip inside. But for future PS3 owners, if you want to play a PS2 game, you're gonna have to buy a PS2 Slim.

The Gentle Manne's Service Medal...

2009-08-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

Is the stupidest idea Valve has ever come up with. Period.

Why? You had to go to a special easter egg page on their website just to get it and only 11,111 people ever did.

Here's the page (But OH... You're too late!): http://www.teamfortress.com/classless/hidden/today_is_a_good_day/

Unless this is released again as a REALLY rare unlockable, this is Valve's biggest...

...by far.

On a lighter note...

2009-08-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

I've just created a Stop Podcasting Yourself Steam Gamers group and I actually got a member to join!

So if you're a fan of Stop Podcasting Yourself and also like to game on Steam, here's the link to join the group:

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/StopPodcastingYourself

Wonder how Dave and Graham would react to this, I'm practically expanding their realm to the world of video games...

Following up the grim post I just made

2009-08-24T01:38:00.000-07:00

My pal, Martin Breault, has also posted on his blog expressing how he feels on this issue and provides the same link I just gave as well as a Canadian perspective on the same thing:

http://cron-z.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-politics-and-creative-media-should.html

"Wherever you are in the world, speak out to your government about your concern. Help them understand the reality."

Take note of this article if you own a PS3, it looks grim.

2009-08-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

From the EFF:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/06/hollywood-drives-us-

It looks like Blu-ray players have been set into an Analog Sunset. This is exactly the analog hole plugging that the EFF is trying to prevent.

So, after 2013, you better have a HDCP HDMI HDTV or else you can't use your PS3 by the sounds of it. It sure sounds that PS3s will no longer have AV Multi Outs and exclusively use HDMI by that day.

This also is terrible for people with Intensity Pros as we'll have to get extra equipment to just capture from the PS3 soon.

This also means your Slingbox Pro-HD will no longer work on your Blu-ray player after as early as 2010 to stream the SECURE HD video to a PC or a Mac.

Some of you might say: "Oh but this is only for Blu-ray, games must be safe, right?" When it comes to upcoming restrictions, nothing can be guaranteed and the whole PS3 might lose it's analog outputs.

But, 360 fanboys can cheer since the 360 is not under the AACS ever since HD-DVD died. 360 will still output Analog HD and HDMI for years to come.

However, pretaining to my Intensity Pro, hopefully I'll be working at Greedy Productions where they've mastered the HD game video capturing process by the time the changes take place.

TF2 Humilation Animations set to Benny Hill.

2009-08-16T02:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is a new YouTube video from me (a rare thing) so I'm giving a link instead of an embed to protect privacy.

That is actually my new "You Failed" music for my copy of TF2 (on the PC of course).

It seems I'm the only one reading my blog.

2009-08-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

All my viewcounts are down everywhere. Vimeo being the worst with the worst amount of views per week of under 10...

And I'm guessing I'm the only one reading my blog too...

I really do apologize that I'm so down right now, but it's just what's been happening. I'm totally down and out and don't really have good things to write about.

At least Martin Breault still links my blog on his blog.

R.I.P Hugh Haugland

2009-08-07T04:21:00.000-07:00

He's an unfortunate victim of a news helicopter crash covering the Quebec tornado that happened a few days ago.

They were just normally taping destruction from a tornado when fate just had to lead into the destruction of themselves...

My condolences do go out to the families and people affected by this loss.

But, will this give me second thoughts about going into TV? NO. But I'll try my best to avoid potentially hazardous ENG gathering (riots, confronting crew assaulting people (when investigative reporting goes a bit far), and helicopters)

The Pennsylvania man that gave his life, I'd never follow...

2009-08-06T02:23:00.000-07:00

This guy was at the end of his rope when it came to his severe depression. You could say this blog has turned down that same road with all the failures that I've experienced, but I'm at the moment not as severe as him... but I fear it might come to it.

I need some hope, success, and something to move forward... not get stuck and keep in failure until something as dramatic as what the Pennsylvania man did.

One day, personal e-mails nearly went to the same level, but I'd like to thank a person for replying and saving me. Now that's no longer possible and if I went extreme, no one could help.

I have no doubt no one has sympathy for me, though I'd never put down my date of death, I could slip so far out of the limelight that no one would care, even if I died.

After 9 years, we've lost tier service.

2009-08-05T11:01:00.001-07:00

It seems that after 9 years of free tier service that was a mistake that a technician forgot to correct (since our building is individualized service rather than our old building that we moved from 9 years ago that did have free tier service. We did not know that and I think neither did the technician.), after asking for a all digital switch for our HD box, we've now officially lost our tier service.

Goodbye Space Channel, Discovery Channel, and also my younger brother won't be able to watch Treehouse TV.

All I watch on Space is Star Trek, I have alternate sources for that...

All I watch on Discovery is quite a lot, so I've officially quit TV cause of that. (I can watch Twitter Tracker online.)

You could say this is for both sides a major cable...

Failing into insanity...

2009-08-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

Jack's Angry Dance: Failing into Insanity from Jack Zhang on Vimeo.

Note to self, stick with 185.85, and never upgrade drivers again.

2009-08-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

I just crashed again even with the clock locking that I did to lock the Clocks in at the performance 3D levels.

Looks like I have to stick to 185.85 for the rest of my PC's lifetime.

Will I have fails for a lot longer than usual? (for the next 2 years?) I'm certainly thinking that might be the case.

Reserved my Twitter username.

2009-08-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

That's right, I've signed up on Twitter under Jack_Y_Zhang. I just feared by Sept 8th, the name would be taken already.

I'll still only make my first tweet on Sept. 8th. But if the pressure is high enough, I'll start tweeting sooner.

Ironically celebrating 11 months of Fail.

2009-07-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well, my life's not getting any better and it's one bad post after another for the past 11 months. I'm stepping off the public and internet spotlight and won't post as often here, on Vimeo, or anywhere else. You can still find me fragging hard on Steam to Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead under "JackmanofVancouverBC".

But, for the rare people that are actually still interested in my life, I'll set up a Twitter account on Sept. 8th (first day of college) just in case you're still curious.

An important message to all Superfans out there.

2009-07-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

If you want to extend a relationship between fan and your personal idol, forget about it.

I cannot go into why but if you get contact, consider yourself lucky as it never lasts long.

I was wondering why James and Ryan weren't responding. So much for making connections in the industries that I'm into.

I cannot tell more than what I just said.

Gonna play Team Fortess 2 and Left 4 Dead for the rest of the summer to get my mind off of this.

Bumped down the FSB, unfortunately

2009-07-24T02:02:00.000-07:00

After numerous recoverable graphics driver crashes, I've decided to bump down the FSB clock. Getting the FSB to within specs will help in ensuring system stability.

I don't really think my Superclocked card would have that many problems, put it in any other machine and it probably would be fine. So it has to probably be an FSB issue.

I'll edit this post just in case it happens again and the issue is not the FSB, but rather a using programs in order problem.

Edit: It's not the FSB, it's the drivers. It seems in the attempt to make the drivers compatible with both Vista and Windows 7, this created TONS of stability issues.

But, I did get more crashes at 2D clocks when it came to the higher FSB speed (even on the old 9600GT), so it might have had the effect of instability.

I've since reverted to an older driver (the first compatible driver for the card) and am monitoring for problems.

Edit: No more problems after going to 185.85 and applying the Rivatuner force clock speeds trick found here. They've since posted an old solution that's new to me so I'll try that and see what happens.

Edit #2: The cmd commands that built that mini-program actually worked and it speeds up my startup since I don't have to load Rivatuner anymore. Problem solved, but I can't update drivers anymore.

Edit #3: Took a risk and went back up to the 190.38 drivers (the ones that were totally unstable before the clock locking), I did the cmd command and have locked in the clocks at the performance 3D level. If I experience any crashes, I'll post in a new post, but so far it's actually looking good.

Still... Never Fold right after you finish playing L4D, always reboot.

2009-07-18T03:24:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest log from Folding @ Home:

[10:37:15] + Processing work unit
[10:37:15] Core required: FahCore_11.exe
[10:37:15] Core found.
[10:37:15] Working on queue slot 03 [July 17 10:37:15 UTC]
[10:37:15] + Working ...
[10:37:15] 
[10:37:15] *------------------------------*
[10:37:15] Folding@Home GPU Core - Beta
[10:37:15] Version 1.19 (Mon Nov 3 09:34:13 PST 2008)
[10:37:15] 
[10:37:15] Compiler  : Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 14.00.50727.762 for 80x86 
[10:37:15] Build host: amoeba
[10:37:15] Board Type: Nvidia
[10:37:15] Core      : 
[10:37:15] Preparing to commence simulation
[10:37:15] - Looking at optimizations...
[10:37:15] - Files status OK
[10:37:15] - Expanded 98690 -> 492276 (decompressed 498.8 percent)
[10:37:15] Called DecompressByteArray: compressed_data_size=98690 data_size=492276, decompressed_data_size=492276 diff=0
[10:37:15] - Digital signature verified
[10:37:15] 
[10:37:15] Project: 5750 (Run 4, Clone 97, Gen 338)
[10:37:15] 
[10:37:15] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[10:37:15] Entering M.D.
[10:37:22] Will resume from checkpoint file
[10:37:22] Working on Protein
[10:37:27] Client config found, loading data.
[10:37:27] Starting GUI Server
[10:37:28] Resuming from checkpoint
[10:37:28] Verified work/wudata_03.log
[10:37:28] Verified work/wudata_03.edr
[10:37:28] Verified work/wudata_03.xtc
[10:37:28] Completed 84%
[10:38:42] Completed 85%
[10:39:55] Completed 86%
[10:41:09] Completed 87%
[10:42:23] Completed 88%
[10:43:37] Completed 89%
[10:44:51] Completed 90%
[10:46:04] Completed 91%
[10:47:18] Completed 92%
[10:48:32] Completed 93%
[10:49:46] Completed 94%
[10:51:00] Completed 95%
[10:52:14] Completed 96%
[10:53:27] Completed 97%
[10:54:41] Completed 98%
[10:55:55] Completed 99%
[10:57:09] Completed 100%
[10:57:10] Successful run
[10:57:10] DynamicWrapper: Finished Work Unit: sleep=10000
[10:57:20] Reserved 111976 bytes for xtc file; Cosm status=0
[10:57:20] Allocated 111976 bytes for xtc file
[10:57:20] - Reading up to 111976 from "work/wudata_03.xtc": Read 111976
[10:57:20] Read 111976 bytes from xtc file; available packet space=786318488
[10:57:20] xtc file hash check passed.
[10:57:20] Reserved 33528 33528 786318488 bytes for arc file= Cosm status=0
[10:57:20] Allocated 33528 bytes for arc file
[10:57:20] - Reading up to 33528 from "work/wudata_03.trr": Read 33528
[10:57:20] Read 33528 bytes from arc file; available packet space=786284960
[10:57:20] trr file hash check passed.
[10:57:20] Allocated 560 bytes for edr file
[10:57:20] Read bedfile
[10:57:20] edr file hash check passed.
[10:57:20] Allocated 24899 bytes for logfile
[10:57:20] Read logfile
[10:57:20] GuardedRun: success in DynamicWrapper
[10:57:20] GuardedRun: done
[10:57:20] Run: GuardedRun completed.
[10:57:25] - Writing 171475 bytes of core data to disk...
[10:57:25] Done: 170963 -> 153395 (compressed to 89.7 percent)
[10:57:25]   ... Done.
[10:57:25] - Shutting down core 
[10:57:25] 
[10:57:25] Folding@home Core Shutdown: FINISHED_UNIT
[10:57:33] CoreStatus = 64 (100)
[10:57:33] Sending work to server
[10:57:33] Project: 5750 (Run 4, Clone 97, Gen 338)


[10:57:33] + Attempting to send results [July 17 10:57:33 UTC]
[10:57:35] + Results successfully sent
[10:57:35] Thank you for your contribution to Folding@Home.
[10:57:35] + Number of Units Completed: 1145

[10:57:39] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[10:57:39] + Attempting to get work packet
[10:57:39] - Connecting to assignment server
[10:57:40] - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.11).
[10:57:40] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[10:57:40] Loaded queue successfully.
[10:57:40] + Closed connections
[10:57:40] 
[10:57:40] + Processing work unit
[10:57:40] Core required: FahCore_11.exe
[10:57:40] Core found.
[10:57:40] Working on queue slot 04 [July 17 10:57:40 UTC]
[10:57:40] + Working ...
[10:57:40] 
[10:57:40] *------------------------------*
[10:57:40] Folding@Home GPU Core - Beta
[10:57:40] Version 1.19 (Mon Nov 3 09:34:13 PST 2008)
[10:57:40] 
[10:57:40] Compiler  : Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 14.00.50727.762 for 80x86 
[10:57:40] Build host: amoeba
[10:57:40] Board Type: Nvidia
[10:57:40] Core      : 
[10:57:40] Preparing to commence simulation
[10:57:40] - Looking at optimizations...
[10:57:40] - Created dyn
[10:57:40] - Files status OK
[10:57:40] - Expanded 45430 -> 251112 (decompressed 552.7 percent)
[10:57:40] Called DecompressByteArray: compressed_data_size=45430 data_size=251112, decompressed_data_size=251112 diff=0
[10:57:40] - Digital signature verified
[10:57:40] 
[10:57:40] Project: 5771 (Run 4, Clone 227, Gen 226)
[10:57:40] 
[10:57:40] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[10:57:40] Entering M.D.
[10:57:47] Working on Protein
[10:57:49] Client config found, loading data.
[10:57:49] mdrun_gpu returned 
[10:57:49] NANs detected on GPU
[10:57:49] 
[10:57:49] Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE
[10:58:01] CoreStatus = 7A (122)
[10:58:01] Sending work to server
[10:58:01] Project: 5771 (Run 4, Clone 227, Gen 226)
[10:58:01] - Error: Could not get length of results file work/wuresults_04.dat
[10:58:01] - Error: Could not read unit 04 file. Removing from queue.
[10:58:01] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[10:58:01] + Attempting to get work packet
[10:58:01] - Connecting to assignment server
[10:58:01] - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.11).
[10:58:01] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[10:58:01] Loaded queue successfully.
[10:58:01] + Closed connections
[10:58:06] 
[10:58:06] + Processing work unit
[10:58:06] Core required: FahCore_11.exe
[10:58:06] Core found.
[10:58:06] Working on queue slot 05 [July 17 10:58:06 UTC]
[10:58:06] + Working ...
[10:58:06] 
[10:58:06] *------------------------------*
[10:58:06] Folding@Home GPU Core - Beta
[10:58:06] Version 1.19 (Mon Nov 3 09:34:13 PST 2008)
[10:58:06] 
[10:58:06] Compiler  : Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 14.00.50727.762 for 80x86 
[10:58:06] Build host: amoeba
[10:58:06] Board Type: Nvidia
[10:58:06] Core      : 
[10:58:06] Preparing to commence simulation
[10:58:06] - Looking at optimizations...
[10:58:06] - Created dyn
[10:58:06] - Files status OK
[10:58:06] - Expanded 45427 -> 251112 (decompressed 552.7 percent)
[10:58:06] Called DecompressByteArray: compressed_data_size=45427 data_size=251112, decompressed_data_size=251112 diff=0
[10:58:06] - Digital signature verified
[10:58:06] 
[10:58:06] Project: 5771 (Run 6, Clone 56, Gen 864)
[10:58:06] 
[10:58:06] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[10:58:06] Entering M.D.
[10:58:13] Working on Protein
[10:58:14] Client config found, loading data.
[10:58:14] Starting GUI Server
[10:58:15] mdrun_gpu returned 
[10:58:15] NANs detected on GPU
[10:58:15] 
[10:58:15] Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE
[10:58:27] CoreStatus = 7A (122)
[10:58:27] Sending work to server
[10:58:27] Project: 5771 (Run 6, Clone 56, Gen 864)
[10:58:27] - Error: Could not get length of results file work/wuresults_05.dat
[10:58:27] - Error: Could not read unit 05 file. Removing from queue.
[10:58:27] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[10:58:27] + Attempting to get work packet
[10:58:27] - Connecting to assignment server
[10:58:27] - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.11).
[10:58:27] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[10:58:27] Loaded queue successfully.
[10:58:27] + Closed connections
[10:58:32] 
[10:58:32] + Processing work unit
[10:58:32] Core required: FahCore_11.exe
[10:58:32] Core found.
[10:58:32] Working on queue slot 06 [July 17 10:58:32 UTC]
[10:58:32] + Working ...
[10:58:33] 
[10:58:33] *------------------------------*
[10:58:33] Folding@Home GPU Core - Beta
[10:58:33] Version 1.19 (Mon Nov 3 09:34:13 PST 2008)
[10:58:33] 
[10:58:33] Compiler  : Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 14.00.50727.762 for 80x86 
[10:58:33] Build host: amoeba
[10:58:33] Board Type: Nvidia
[10:58:33] Core      : 
[10:58:33] Preparing to commence simulation
[10:58:33] - Looking at optimizations...
[10:58:33] - Created dyn
[10:58:33] - Files status OK
[10:58:33] - Expanded 45468 -> 251112 (decompressed 552.2 percent)
[10:58:33] Called DecompressByteArray: compressed_data_size=45468 data_size=251112, decompressed_data_size=251112 diff=0
[10:58:33] - Digital signature verified
[10:58:33] 
[10:58:33] Project: 5771 (Run 5, Clone 56, Gen 828)
[10:58:33] 
[10:58:33] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[10:58:33] Entering M.D.
[10:58:39] Working on Protein
[10:58:41] Client config found, loading data.
[10:58:41] Starting GUI Server
[10:58:41] mdrun_gpu returned 
[10:58:41] NANs detected on GPU
[10:58:41] 
[10:58:41] Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE
[10:58:47] CoreStatus = 7A (122)
[10:58:47] Sending work to server
[10:58:47] Project: 5771 (Run 5, Clone 56, Gen 828)
[10:58:47] - Error: Could not get length of results file work/wuresults_06.dat
[10:58:47] - Error: Could not read unit 06 file. Removing from queue.
[10:58:47] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[10:58:47] + Attempting to get work packet
[10:58:47] - Connecting to assignment server
[10:58:47] - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.11).
[10:58:47] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[10:58:47] Loaded queue successfully.
[10:58:48] + Closed connections
[10:58:53] 
[10:58:53] + Processing work unit
[10:58:53] Core required: FahCore_11.exe
[10:58:53] Core found.
[10:58:53] Working on queue slot 07 [July 17 10:58:53 UTC]
[10:58:53] + Working ...
[10:58:53] 
[10:58:53] *------------------------------*
[10:58:53] Folding@Home GPU Core - Beta
[10:58:53] Version 1.19 (Mon Nov 3 09:34:13 PST 2008)
[10:58:53] 
[10:58:53] Compiler  : Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 14.00.50727.762 for 80x86 
[10:58:53] Build host: amoeba
[10:58:53] Board Type: Nvidia
[10:58:53] Core      : 
[10:58:53] Preparing to commence simulation
[10:58:53] - Looking at optimizations...
[10:58:53] - Created dyn
[10:58:53] - Files status OK
[10:58:53] - Expanded 45426 -> 251112 (decompressed 552.7 percent)
[10:58:53] Called DecompressByteArray: compressed_data_size=45426 data_size=251112, decompressed_data_size=251112 diff=0
[10:58:53] - Digital signature verified
[10:58:53] 
[10:58:53] Project: 5770 (Run 9, Clone 32, Gen 713)
[10:58:53] 
[10:58:53] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[10:58:53] Entering M.D.
[10:59:00] Working on Protein
[10:59:01] Client config found, loading data.
[10:59:01] Starting GUI Server
[10:59:01] mdrun_gpu returned 
[10:59:01] NANs detected on GPU
[10:59:01] 
[10:59:01] Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE
[10:59:13] CoreStatus = 7A (122)
[10:59:13] Sending work to server
[10:59:13] Project: 5770 (Run 9, Clone 32, Gen 713)
[10:59:13] - Error: Could not get length of results file work/wuresults_07.dat
[10:59:13] - Error: Could not read unit 07 file. Removing from queue.
[10:59:13] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[10:59:13] + Attempting to get work packet
[10:59:13] - Connecting to assignment server
[10:59:13] - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.11).
[10:59:13] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[10:59:13] Loaded queue successfully.
[10:59:14] + Closed connections
[10:59:19] 
[10:59:19] + Processing work unit
[10:59:19] Core required: FahCore_11.exe
[10:59:19] Core found.
[10:59:19] Working on queue slot 08 [July 17 10:59:19 UTC]
[10:59:19] + Working ...
[10:59:19] 
[10:59:19] *------------------------------*
[10:59:19] Folding@Home GPU Core - Beta
[10:59:19] Version 1.19 (Mon Nov 3 09:34:13 PST 2008)
[10:59:19] 
[10:59:19] Compiler  : Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 14.00.50727.762 for 80x86 
[10:59:19] Build host: amoeba
[10:59:19] Board Type: Nvidia
[10:59:19] Core      : 
[10:59:19] Preparing to commence simulation
[10:59:19] - Looking at optimizations...
[10:59:19] - Created dyn
[10:59:19] - Files status OK
[10:59:19] - Expanded 46743 -> 252912 (decompressed 541.0 percent)
[10:59:19] Called DecompressByteArray: compressed_data_size=46743 data_size=252912, decompressed_data_size=252912 diff=0
[10:59:19] - Digital signature verified
[10:59:19] 
[10:59:19] Project: 5767 (Run 9, Clone 131, Gen 552)
[10:59:19] 
[10:59:19] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[10:59:19] Entering M.D.
[10:59:26] Working on Protein
[10:59:27] Client config found, loading data.
[10:59:27] mdrun_gpu returned 
[10:59:27] NANs detected on GPU
[10:59:27] 
[10:59:27] Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE
[10:59:41] CoreStatus = 7A (122)
[10:59:41] Sending work to server
[10:59:41] Project: 5767 (Run 9, Clone 131, Gen 552)
[10:59:41] - Error: Could not get length of results file work/wuresults_08.dat
[10:59:41] - Error: Could not read unit 08 file. Removing from queue.
[10:59:41] EUE limit exceeded. Pausing 24 hours.
[16:37:14] + Working...

As you can see, playing L4D still can cause problems if you don't reboot the system. ALWAYS reboot your system after playing L4D before launching anything that's sensitive to GPU and GPU memory stability. I've never gotten so many UNSTABLE_MACHINEs in a row. L4D must be the cause of this, since I'm folding fine now.

Also, I'd like to add that I've tested 50 iterations of MemtestG80 before all of this (right when I got the card and again very recently after all the NANs occured) and have gotten absolutely no errors, which means the hardware is fine. And all these failures specifically start after finishing up L4D.

Edit (July 20th): Vice versa of this is true too. Never Fold intensively then go into a game of something. It might be due to the Graphics overclock or something completely different.

Jack's Vlog: The GeForce GTX 275

2009-07-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

Jack's Vlog: The GeForce GTX 275 from Jack Zhang on Vimeo.

High Quality 60p version available on Viddler.

Holy crap...

2009-07-14T16:32:00.001-07:00

I only just finished uploading all my high quality videos from Vimeo to Viddler.

The ones I skipped from the mirroring process either did not have many views/isn't as popular or the quality won't really differ between the converted video and the original.

I'm working on my GTX 275 video right now. Just got to rest up before continuing.

and my Twitter worthy line for what's happening right now:

"Listening to Stop Podcasting Yourself right now"

Another Freedom of Speech post: Vimeo's doing Wha!?!?

2009-07-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna quote their blog:

"Starting August 1st, basic accounts' original source files will be stored for one week from the upload date, after which they will be removed."

They dropped the bombshell when they disallowed gaming videos, now they're doing it again with Original File downloads!

Thank goodness Viddler still has the feature for Original File downloads, and that's where I'm mirroring all my high quality Vimeo videos to right now.

This is just preposterous that they allow Plus members to keep the feature and the basic users get it taken away. They have growing sponsorship, so they could use that money to finance to keep it for everybody.

From now on, I'll be uploading 2 versions of the same video. A lower than original quality 720p30 or 24 version for Vimeo and a high quality (up to 1080p) version for Viddler.

And I'd also like to remind everyone of this: Mirror your videos; protect your rights.

And it's not just for Fair Use, it could be for instances like this when a well earned privilege is taken away so suddenly.

New videos coming soon...

2009-07-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

...Just as soon has I have hard disk space or a new portable Hard Drive altogether.

Our household has totally run out of disk space on nearly all our hard drives. So most likely we have to get new ones. Nikon D80 photos can take up to 4MB a photo. This would fill up a 500GB drive really fast. It's only been a year and we've filled a 500GB drive already.

My HDV stuff is 13GB an hour. That's a lot worse...

I'll most likely get a Hard Drive before my first semester at the BCIT TV program. Since it's pretty much necessary to do that before you start capturing and editing on workstations over there.

And since I have Vimeo Basic, I can only upload 1 video a week. And there are around 3 videos to finish.

Northwest Outing is ending Early

2009-07-09T23:39:00.000-07:00

We just got into a fender bender on Highway 101 heading into Cannon Beach. This unbelievable *&#$%@# slams on the brakes right in the middle of the highway. We had to do the same, but a car behind us (with someone possibly distracted) slams right into our rear bumper. And, the worst part is, the guy in front that slam the brakes first sped off after hearing the collision, fleeing the scene.

I get into this and I think of Billy Mays, who recently DIED around a week after a minor injury on a rough landing on a plane.

Now you'll probably get the idea that I might get some PTSD after this... and you're right, since this is the first time I've ever been in a car during an accident.

Let's pray to god hope that I don't suffer something to end up just like Billy Mays. In fact, just saw a memorial episode (and maybe the last episode) of "Pitchmen" dedicated to him on Discovery US tonight.

Back in the Northwest...

2009-07-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

So I'm that much closer to making new videos once I get back to my Quad-core back in Vancouver.

I have about 3 videos on the edit list:

1. A video of New York from the tourist perspective set to music from a VERY famous Chinese Sitcom.

2. A video of Niagara Falls set to the Toronto music in Over Canada.

3. (there is no guarantee on this video, unless I make it raw Stock Footage) Videos of the beaches of The Pacific Northwest.

Then, once I get back to Vancouver, I'll have to do my 9600GT vs GTX 275 performance comparison video vlog.

Was gonna see my old buddy Mike Lepore, but not this time.

2009-07-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

Several factors prevent me from meeting up with my old buddy from the beginning of this blog for a meet and greet.

The biggest factors: He's 50 miles away and the parents still don't approve of him.

At least I'll try to Skype with him...

Edit: Nope, that's no longer possible when we're this geographically close. Will try again in Vancouver.

WinTV HVR-950Q mystery

2009-06-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

Here's all I know: I just bought a WinTV HVR-950Q to watch HDTV on my laptop while I'm in NYC. I've got it working with the internal decoders and the EVR renderer but the framerate when viewing Live TV in 1080i is only 29.97 de-interlaced by blending fields.

I had just noticed the ability to use third party decoders in my WinTV 7 program and was able to use the Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 MPEG-2 decoder in windowed mode. Framerate is a smooth 60 when playing 1080i channels through this decoder.

When I went to full screen though, the USB stick always stopped decoding after a very short while.

Looking at my logs, I was getting the log entry "[DEBUG] Source Aspect Ratio: 16x9" every 1/100th of a second in full screen mode when using Cyberlink (resulting in a log file of over 10MB).

Another look at the log reveals a message saying "[DEBUG] Short sleep (5 seconds)".

Also, sometimes attempts to reset to the old decoders lead to BSODs and complete system lock-ups. Changing the settings were also shaky for a bit but a simple XML file change can help.

If anyone can help me on this or can convince the manufacturer to release a bugfix, feel free to.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2009-06-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

But I know when I'll be back again. (Anyone catch the song reference?)

July 13th will be the day I'm back in Vancouver, but not before a little tour of the Oregon beaches and the Olympic peninsula so I actually go for the flight home on July 8th.

And, I don't have a girlfriend to say "I hate to go" to. (Any of you know the song by now?)

MMVA 09 online HD Fail

2009-06-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Finally, a fail that I can report that doesn't involve me.

The HD feed of the MMVAs (The MuchMusic Video Awards) is multicast in 3 different bitrates...

600kbps, 1.4Mbps, and 3Mbps (only 3Mbps is 720p30HD)

Thing is, if your connection craps out on HD (and it has on my 25Mbps Cable connection), the feed transision is a terrible color bars and a bouncing grey box feed. :P

So, why would you add a bad feed to your multicast stream? Outrageous and it gets the gigantic...

Award.

Edit: ATSC and HD cable is much more reliable. And at the moment the new problem is it randomly stops. But that could be my 25Mbps connection crapping out.
Silverlight right now is next-gen my (bleep) when it comes to keeping a reliable feed.

Heck, another...

Never using Silverlight agsin.

Edit #2: And now there's a tone with the bars. :P :P

Your only solution, refresh the page if this happens. If IE8 crashes, Ctrl-Alt-Del the thing. Let the MS bashing begin (everywhere other than here).

Edit #3: Now the music mismatches the video... Refresh the page... AGAIN.

Edit #4: Now... NO VIDEO! Screw this, this stinks anyways.

Edit #5: OK, it's back... But I bet not for long. And there's a 2Mbps HD bitrate now. But I'm going to dinner... And this seems a little bit like Twitter...

A GTX 275 it is...

2009-06-21T01:49:00.000-07:00

It's risky, but I'm willing to bet that there will be lower prices for the GTX 275 in the mid-July timeframe, allowing me to get that instead of a GTX 260.

The reasoning to get the 275 instead of the 260 is due to the fact that the 275 has nearly an identical processor to that of the 285. The higher spec chips passed tests that make them binned as the higher and superior processors. And any which chip that has defects that prevent it for going to the higher specifications gets binned as a 260.

I will obviously go non-overclocked (I only have a Corsair HX520 power supply. It meets the 40A minimum but should be solid enough to handle the load) and go with a EVGA card.

I'll also make a multi-cam Vimeo video comparing performance boost from the old card to the new one.

New York fail?

2009-06-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

I'm scared, this week of fail is a bad omen to my trip to New York.

I've heard (and this is a freedom of speech post) that the NYPD can arrest you without explanation if they think you're doing suspicious activity by taking pictures or videotaping suspiciously.

There will be no FOTC real locations in NYC video tour due to that. I have to keep to the tourist's clause of no tripods to keep myself safe and not to venture outside of designated tourist areas.

I guess this is the first vacation that I won't be a video producer.

Print to tape Fail

2009-06-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

I just got a Firewire 400 and 800 Expresscard for my Tablet PC to do my video editing works "On the road".

Capturing works fine, but when I went to feed data to my HDV cameras, it...

ed.

When will the fails end and the wins start? I doubt anytime soon...

Hiring Freeze + Union = Fail on Volunteer Job

2009-06-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

This shows that the local TV stations are struggling. But this does not contradict that some spend way too much on American Programming instead of the well-being of the station.

This is clearly yet another...

The title clearly describes it so I won't re-iterate it.

Guess it's back to Team Fortress 2 all summer long for now.

The week of fail... will it ever end?

Edit (June 22): It turns out that might just be for paid internships only. Will continue in private.

Edit (June 23): Nope, unions mean even unpaid internships aren't allowed. Still a Fail until about 1 1/2 years from now.

Well, Paul F. made another video...

2009-06-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

And I tried to brainstorm one, but it was full of...

In fact, the video is of me trying to brainstorm...

All these disconnections to connections I once had is having a bad effect on my health. Seriously.

And even the video right now is failing to show and it seems it'll take another 24 hours to show. Full of fail indeed...

Edit: It's finally up. Get ready for some serious fail.

Jack's Angry Dance: Video Brainstorm Fail from Jack Zhang on Vimeo.

Just saw the Ed Edd 'n Eddy movie

2009-06-15T01:56:00.000-07:00

And, it's sad to see the series go. This movie was to be the final episode to wrap everything up.

But, I can't post my visit to AKA video until the movie has aired in North America (not to mention I'd have to get Vimeo Plus to retain video quality in HD), so it's not likely for the near future.

In a surprise turn, they've gone Widescreen for the first time for the SD broadcast (or that might just be restricted to the countries where it's aired). I'd love to see it in HD 1080p with lossless 5.1 surround sound on Blu-ray.

One classic icon walks off into the sunset. Sigh......

School's now officially over... until report card day.

2009-06-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

Time to ramp up my gaming on TF2 (but not L4D until I get the GTX 260 card), as this summer might be one of the last few times in the next year I get to take this big of a break.

Dave Shumka, a student of the BCIT Television program, tells me that the course is around 65% hands on work and 35% paperwork. However, it is heavily crammed and coordinated to finish the whole thing in two years. No time for gaming... only Folding @ Home.

I go back for the report cards on June 25th and then the next day I head off for New York. I hope the rest of the summer would be my first summer job volunteering for The CityNews List.

School's out, Steam is in

2009-06-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

At this moment, I'm installing my Steam games onto my Tablet.

Though L4D would lag horribly on the tablet, TF2 at DirectX level 8.0 would run almost as fast as my 9600GT on High but the setting on the tablet would be low.

Just gonna have to make sure the computer is stationary or else the HDD protection system would interrupt some critical reads and writes.

Edit: Apparently not the 9600GT performance I was expecting, the fastest frame rates I was able to get from my tablet was around an average of 45fps. But the good news is it never dipped below 19fps. (except on L4D on all the lowest settings. 15fps even in 852x480.)

Math test tomorrow, I'll try to not let The List distract me

2009-06-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

Since a awkward incident back on June 2nd, I've lost contact with Citytv. This is good (in a non-sarcastic way) since I need to focus on this last test for Principals of Math 12.

But I think the probability of a meet and greet are getting slimmer, almost as slim as winning the Lotto 6/49.

And at the moment, all I see in the above sentence that is important is "Probability", as that's the last section in the Math 12 textbook we've been told to study.

This is great (in a sarcastic way), I've lost connections to Insomniac, Greedy, and Citytv for the time being. Will update if I ever get a reply from The List. (Though I doubt it, and makes a great reason to study for my test)

I'm Sorry The CityNews List

2009-06-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Apparently someone from the production contacted my Vice-Principal and wanted to talk.

I think of that as a huge deal and for all the grief and discomfort I've caused, I'm sorry.

I definitely hope everyone isn't bitter over there.

Edit: Yes, they aren't bitter, but a F-bomb on the phone did startle me today. But Amanda (another producer) told me that was due to tied phone lines.

Still a fan of The CityNews List.

I want a new video card, Garland wants to play TF2

2009-06-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

So, I'm thinking about making my move to 3D gaming (True 3D gaming with shutter glasses and 120hz displays) and I know my 9600GT is not gonna have the best effect when I play games like TF2 or L4D. I'm thinking of getting the EVGA GTX260 Core 216 55nm card in the near future to TRULY future-proof my mATX gaming/editing rig. (and get far better PPD in Folding @ Home.)

Garland Chang also found an interest in playing TF2 now that he's seen all the "Meet the Team" videos. He said his system was not capable of playing the game and I'm thinking of selling my 9600GT to him once I get my GTX260 (The 9600GT I'm selling to him is self BIOS Overclocked to SSC speeds, but doesn't work well with L4D because of that). I hope he has a good Power Supply and a PCI-Express x16 bus on his motherboard.

And, does he even have a Steam Account yet?

Greedy, Tough, Luck

2009-06-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

Thinking that I would get his voicemail, I called Victor Lucas to update him on my situation with BCIT and stuff and got patched DIRECTLY TO HIS iPHONE!!! (Possibly in the middle of a E3 press conference!)

I can't believe the tough luck I get for this... I'm thinking The CityNews List is a far better path for the current short term now that I've had this huge embarrassment...

I'll probably talk about it on Stop Podcasting Yourself.

I finished my own version of Paul Bae's Third Rail segment

2009-05-31T02:07:00.000-07:00

This will not be public though, I'm only sharing it to a select few (that would include The CityNews List staff).

It was edited and shot in HDV (huge step up from their current DVCPRO 25Mbps setup. They plan to at least get DVCPRO 50Mbps soon). The camera I used was a Canon HV30 and the chroma key was surprisingly good after I blurred the chroma.

Hmmm...... OK... I can tease everyone with one screenshot of the video:

The graphics for the bottom headlines is in SD cause I don't have the original images for that and making one from scratch would look too cheesy. Besides, Hockey Night in Canada uses Widescreen SD graphics for their scoreboards...

Now do you see the potential of working in HDV, James Donison? Downconvert the HD image to SD and it would look so much better than a DV25 chroma key (BTW, I used a blue screen (wall), not a green screen.)

Launched a Steam Community Group for The CityNews List

2009-05-31T01:54:00.000-07:00

Since no one has yet joined the group, I thought it would be appropriate to announce it on my Blog.

If you're a fan of The CityNews List and game on Steam, I just created a "The CityNews List Gamers" group on Steam here.

So if TF2, L4D, CS or CS:S, or even Unreal Tournament on Steam is your thing, and you watch and follow The CityNews List, why not talk to others that share the same interests?

Just logon to Steam and in the Steam Community tab, search for "citynews". The only one to pop up will be The CityNews List Gamers. (And don't worry, it's a public group.)

Just click "Join Group" and you will soon be gaming with your fellow The CityNews List fans and know which games they're in and join to have a good time!

My disconnection to Insomniac

2009-05-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

Man, it's been so long since I've had official contact with people at Insomniac. Even with today's podcast, I've lost my enthusiasm towards IG.

It's still in the back of my mind, but of FAR lower priority than before. Maybe I'll have to wait 2 years before anything more can happen...

And still, It was not an impulse reaction when I said Jack's Angry dance is on Hiatus indefinitely. It is still on hiatus indefinitely right now.

But, with the loss of interest in Insomniac comes a huge interest in The CityNews List. That could be a new short term goal, to volunteer for them after I graduate from South.

Just got back from Graham's LIVE "Stop Podcasting Yourself" show

2009-05-15T23:22:00.000-07:00

And... I'm featured in it.

WARNING: This podcast will contain tons of profanity and mature subject matter.

But, make sure to check out the 63rd episode of the "Stop Podcasting Yourself" podcast coming soon!

Graham was a really nice guy, and was very polite about my *fill in the blank (will divulge in podcast)*. And yes, I did a "You're the Best... Around! Give us some muscles to look at Graham!" before I left.

Make sure to listen! (if your discretion allows it...)

Edit: It's up! Make sure to listen for my voice in it!

http://stoppodcastingyourself.blogspot.com/2009/05/episode-63-live-with-jason-bryden.html

For a final reminder, Listener discretion is strongly advised before listening, as it is listed as an explicit podcast on iTunes.

I will also warn that the page I just linked to has an obscene hand gesture. View at your own risk.

Paul Bae: Burnaby South Grad of '87

2009-05-13T03:50:00.000-07:00

That's right, Paul Bae is a Alumni of my school!

In fact, his grad picture is still up at the school (had quite the buzz cut...), The Associate Producer James Donison even requested a scan of it in a call I made to him. (Talked also about local stations and HD and using the HV30 to do the Third Rail segments)

I'll try to dig up the 86-87 grad yearbook at school to scan it. If not that, I'll try to take a picture and send it over to James.

And I'm still listening to "You're The Best Around"...

Graham Clark gets around 144 votes

2009-05-13T03:38:00.000-07:00

That's the top non-major candidate score for Vancouver-Fairview. Looks like The List's marketing has worked!

Though it is nowhere near the thousands that the major parties got, and I was really disappointed that all the news channels didn't even mention Graham tonight...

In "The List" related news, I'm now addicted to the song "You're The Best Around" from the 80s movie "The Karate Kid". All because of Paul Bae's recent "Third Rail" rant.

Link to Paul's Third Rail segment (I will not use the YouTube embed to prevent privacy issues due to cookies)