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Demosceners and Will Wright’s Spore March 6, 2006

Posted by James Webster in : software , add a comment

The News Before The News is late to the party on this one however this video of Will Wright’s upcoming game Spore is long but well worth watching. What I find especially interesting, according to Gamespy, is where Will found the inspiration for some of the techniques behind the game:

Wright looked to the “demo scene,” a group of (mostly European) coders who specialized in doing a whole lot with a little bit of code. Their procedural programming methods were able to, for example, fit an entire 3D game in 64K, using mathematics to generate textures and music, etc.

I spent a great deal of my mispent youth in awe at the faraway European coders creating amazing graphics and sound on my Amiga 500, exhibiting their awesome grasp of assembler to wrest every inch of power from Agnus, Denis and Paula. I thought it was quite cool that their techniques have influenced what might be the ultimate sandbox.

Colibri, Quicksilver for Windows February 5, 2006

Posted by James Webster in : software, windows , 2 comments

Any Mac user worth their smug air of superiority (and hey, that includes me!) will be familiar with Blacktree’s Quicksilver; a highly extensible, keyboard driven app launcher and ‘command-line interface for the GUI’. It is one of THE apps that makes working with a Mac so much fun, especially for all the GTD and productivity acolytes. But many of us also need to get things done in the World of Windows. Unfortunately there hasn’t really been a worthwhile Quicksilver substitute on the Windows platform. Yes, I’m aware of AppRocket, but it isn’t free and it hasn’t been updated for ages. It was great then to come across Colibri, which is promising to be all that Quicksilver is on the Windows platform.

So give it a go and start to see what all the Mac/Quicksilver users have been harping on about for so long. Its also the cure-for-what-ails-ya if your wrists are about to fall off. An ergonomics expert told me, around the same time I happened to be suffering from bad RSI, that the key to working safely with a computer is avoiding the mouse if at all possible. The advice was heeded and I have seen the results. Any app that enables more keyboard-focused operation or has good keyboard support itself gets a big thumbs up from me!

Build IVR and VoiceXML apps for free! February 1, 2006

Posted by James Webster in : software, telephony , 1 comment so far

All that and more looks possible thanks to Voxeo’s Prophecy platform, currently available in a preview edition.

Prophecy includes ‘high-quality’ speech synthesis AND recognition, out of the box compatibility with most SIP providers,100% compliant VoiceXML and plenty of other bullet points worth checking out. The greatest part about Prophecy is that it is an all-in-one download, prepackaged and ready to be tinkered with.

Voxeo have already proven themselves to be a developer-savvy organisation with the introduction of a Skype partnership for the Evolution Skype Developer Program. Now you can easily build SIP-compatible voice apps, and once finished Voxeo will happily host them for you. 2006 is definitely shaping up to be the year of disruptive voice applications (or was that 2005 already???)

Check out the press release. Also, additional discussion at VOIP Magazine and at the spkydog koop. The rest of the blogosphere seems to be remarkably quiet about this at the moment, c’mon people let’s build some voice apps!