說仁說義: June 2010

Monday, June 7, 2010

目前的免费翻墙方案

尽管有官方的层层封锁，现在要玩翻墙还不算太难，只是最近两起知名人士的Twitter账户被调包事件实在令人不放心。其中一个被害者Jason Ng也曾提醒我们“使用可信任的翻墙工具”，因此，那些使用具有特殊政治背景的翻墙工具的用户，最好还是谨慎点。什么是最值得信任的？当然是自己买的SSH、VPN之类，只不过……好吧，我这人比较吝啬，一时还舍不得花钱，另一方面也是因为我找到了一个可以信任的免费翻墙工具——hyk-proxy。之所以说它值得信任，是因为它是基于Google App Engine的，反正都把邮件等交给Google了，再多一个浏览记录也没什么。也正因为它用的是Google大神的服务器，其速度和稳定性肯定是不用担心的，用来看Youtube也不含糊，估计收费的也不过如此。另一个基于GAE的翻墙工具GAppProxy也有这些优点，不过hyk-proxy又拥有前者所不能的浏览https的能力；另外官方还宣称XMPP模式可以在GAE被墙的情况下实现翻墙，又是一优势，可惜最近GAE在包括“不存在的那一天”依然坚挺，我也无法测试是否真有那么神奇，只是感觉在速度上似乎没有多大影响。不过hyk-proxy安装起来比较麻烦，官方的说明也稍微笼统了点，对GAE不熟的话不妨看看攻防日志的教程。另外Java运行起来也不太稳定，不过优点是可以跨平台。
pic via deviantART
说了这么多，hyk-proxy好像比收费的还要好啊？其实也不是，因为GAE本身的限制，使得我们无法用它来上传文件、同时1M以上的文件也下载不了。虽然大多数没感觉，但有些时候还是很不爽。我的解决方法是利用FoxyProxy来同时使用多个翻墙工具。举个例子，我的主力代理是hyk-proxy，占规则里的绝大多数；而那些需要上传文件的，例如Blogger的模板编辑，则用Tor；理论上这样就行了，但是Tor的速度实在有点……因此，那些涉及到大图的网站我就交给“门”了——当然前提是我不登录这个网站。我想这是一个比较好的方案了，就免费的来说。当然这也只是目前的方案，谁也无法确保这些东西能永远用下去，所以寻找其他方法肯定是需要的。例如这个FreeSSH.us，或许哪一天临时有事时会用一下。不过，最好最稳定的方案总归还是自己买一个翻墙帐号。

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Visual Search二三事

微软Bing

谷歌Plink Art和Goggles

支持Upload和Draw的日本Gazopa.com

支持细节、色系、形状、图案搜索的购物网站Like.com

服饰搭配mix&match为卖点的Fashionlatte.com

Viewzi的可视化搜索

Google Goggles Demo Up Close

A demo of Google Goggles from the Google search event

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

血路1989

part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9n5l7gDI2w

part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfORo7MJATY

part3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnF9KDNuwPM

part4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=888x5m4aWHA

part5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZT42K4XO3c

FF14 Class&Skills

Class

Gladiator

Gladiator Abilities:
Roaring Sword- Waving the tip of your blade to get the enemy’s attention
Cover – Protect the party members behind you by taking damage instead of them
Rampart – Using your sword to increase your defense (raises physical and magical defenses)
Precision – Lowers evasion and increases accuracy
Aegis Boon – When guarding with your shield, any damage taken heals your HP instead

Weapon Skills:
Phalanx – Anger the enemy by attacking after guarding with a shield
Red Lotus – A swinging fire elemental attack on the enemy
Shield Bash – Hit the enemy with a shield and prevent them from casting a spell
Spinning Stroke – Attack the enemy. Damage increases if the enemy is not attacking you.
Circle Slash – AoE weapon skill

Comments from the Developers:

Planner Iwao – They can wear many different kinds of armor, use large shields, and are blessed defensively. I think lots of people will use them to draw the enemies attention and serve to protect the other members of their party.

Battle Director Okuda – As this class is very good at using shields, people might think of them as a defender but they can do a lot of damage as well.

Planner Sato – Both an attacker and a defender, they can do just about anything perfectly so I think this will become a very popular class.

Okuda – When it comes to attacking, you can choose between two styles: swinging attacks and thrusting attacks. Each has their advantages and disadvantages so you will have to take that into consideration when fighting.

Iwao- I think it’s safe to say that this class is a very versatile fighter.

Lancer

Lancer Abilities:
Inspire: Party members receive TP for attacking their target
Ferocity: You lose HP but your next attack will give greater damage
Fighting Spirit: You lose HP but you gain TP
Collusion: Attack the enemy from behind another party member while the enemy is focused on that party member
Spirit Surge: Decrease enemy evasion while sucking away their HP

Weapon Skills:
Overrun: If you attack while the enemy isn’t aware of you, you can land a series of high speed successive attacks and increase your TP.
Feint: If you use right after an enemy has evaded your attack, your next attack will surely hit.
Leg Sweeper: AoE attack where you target the legs of your enemies and prevent them from moving. Cannot be used on aerial targets.
Moonrise: Attack the enemy and suppress their ability to gain TP
Skewer: Attack all enemies between you and your target. Movement for land-based enemies will become slower.

Developer Comments:

Iwao – This class uses the long range of their polearms to attack from a relatively safe distance. They also have a number of special attacks that can confuse an enemy or bind them.

Sato – Since they are back farther than other front line party members, they have a wider view of what’s going on around them. If the back line is in a jam, they are probably the class that is best able to quickly get over to help them.

Iwao – Lancers are really affected by the distance between them and their target. They will have to make adjustments to where they stand and constantly think about the location of their target, their party members, and themselves. This class requires somebody who moves tactically.

Sato – This person has to think about many things, not just about what they know about the enemy.

Pugilist

Pugilist Abilities:
Whistle: Gain the attention of the enemy
Blind Side: Increased damage when you attack from behind the enemy
Chakra: Use TP to regain HP
Steal: Steal things from the enemy
Feather Step: Increase evasion by a large amount for one shot

Weapon Skills:
Jarring Strike: If used after a missed enemy attack, your next attack will hit and bind the enemy but also anger them
Piercing Fists: Piercing attack. If done in succession, the chances of a critical hit increases.
Haymaker: If used after a missed enemy attack, you can do heavy damage to the enemy
Tackle: A rapid succession of attacks
Earth Render: An earth elemental based distance attack. Doesn’t work on enemies in the air.

Developer Comments:

Iwao – They have a very short attack range and their defense isn’t very high. However, they are tricky fighters who can tease the enemy with their wide range of abilities. They also can change between different stances which means they can change their fighting style in accordance to the enemy or party makeup.

Sato – Stance will make a huge difference. Players will have to think on their feet, taking the flow of the battle into account when choosing whether to go offensive or defensive.

Iwao – If you continue to use the same stance, the number of things you can do while in that stance will increase. While you can change your stance at any time, changing the stance means you go back to a previous level of ability. Your split time decisions on whether it is best to make adjustments or stick with the same stance to get the extra benefits could decide whether you are the victor or the vanquished.

Marauder

Marauder Abilities:
Blood Bath: The damage you give the enemy turns into HP for you
Power Attack: Increases the chance of critical hits
Defender: Use your Axe to increase your physical defense in exchange for not being able to attack
Disorient: Lower the enemy’s evasion
Unyielding March: Can move, albeit slowly, even when hit with binding magic

Weapon Skills:
Skull Thunder: Lasting damage on the enemy or gather your power to create a wider AoE attack.
Log Splitter: Very affective attack against plant-type enemies.
Fracture: If used after parrying an enemy attack, you can seal the enemy’s ability to use weapon skills while damaging them.
Brandish: AoE attack
Iron Tempest: A donut-shaped AoE wind elemental attack

Developer Comments:
Iwao – This class can do a lot of damage with their axe, enough to change the outcome of a battle with one swing. However, depending on the number of enemies and how they are scattered about, they might not be able to gather all of their strength and have trouble during battle.

Sato – They have more attack power than other classes but their accuracy is a bit lower.

Okuda – In order to use some of the Marauder’s special abilities, you’ll have to be standing still. So it takes foresight to play this class effectively.

Archer

Archer Abilities
Replenish: Fire off multiple arrows at one time (the description says all of your arrows)
Chameleon: Erase your presence to avoid detection
Stride: Be able to move quickly for a short period of time
Retrieval: Gather up arrows in exchange for some HP
Hawkeye: Increase the accuracy of your next attack

Weapon Skills
Shadow Stitch: Bind the enemy
Wide Volley: Attack your target and other enemies around it
Quick Knock: Use multiple arrows in rapid succession to attack enemies in a fan like AoE attack
Snakebite Arrow: Attack and remove enhancing magic from the enemy
Shrieker: Attack the enemy and cause it to retreat

Developer Comments

Iwao – More than anything, their role is to attack enemies from a distance. After that, it all depends on the technical abilities of the archer. If they attract too much attention from the enemy, they could get in trouble as they don’t have a high defense. So you have to think about where you are going to stand and the best way to attack the enemy without capturing their interest. This class has to look at the big picture.

Sato – Archers also have a lot of abilities they can use to put some distance between them and their enemies. I hope people use those in their battle strategies.

Iwao – The type of arrow you pick is also important. There are arrows for doing direct damage but you can also use arrows to affect the status of your enemy and thereby help out your party members.

Conjurer

Conjurer Abilities
Profound: Casting time increases but so does the spell power
Trance Chant: No matter what, your spell casting will not be interrupted
Spirit Bind: You bind yourself in exchange for decreasing MP costs per spell
Roaming Soul: You can cast while walking
Purge: You can balance off the elemental status of you and the enemy (translation note: I really don’t know what they mean by that)

Weapon Skills
Fire: an AoE fire attack
Cure: an AoE cure spell
Protect: an AoE spell that increases the physical defense of your party members
Shock Spikes: A thunder elemental spell that surrounds you and will attack and paralyze the enemy if you are attacked
Frost: a DoT AoE ice spell

Developer Comments

Iwao – This is a sorcerer with elemental magic.

Okuda – This class has to look at the situation a party is in and adapt to a changing environment. They also have to have a good understanding of the elements in play.

Iwao – They have attack magic, defensive magic, recovery magic, etc. They can cast a wide range of spells so they can be an attacker for a party or in a support role. I think we can call them an active almighty class you can look forward to. I think one special feature of this class is the AoE magic they can cast. The area is a circle of effect drawn around the player.

Okuda – By the way, all of the actions you do in battle go towards building your TP. That includes spell casting.

Sato – That means we have power TP moves for Conjurers as well.

Thaumaturge

Thaumaturge Abilities
Blood Pact: You lose HP but your spells become more powerful
Thorn: Damages the enemy that gave you damage
Dark Seal: Increase magical accuracy
Initiation: Spread a magical status you have to your party members
Paradigm Shift: Decreased attacking distance in exchange for a wider area of effect

Weapon Skills
Drain: AoE HP sucking attack
Gravity: AoE attack that slows the movement speed of enemies
Sacrifice: Give up your HP in exchange for the HP recovery of one of your party members
Siphon: Suck MP from enemies you have defeated
Absorb-Acc: Suck an enemy’s accuracy and increase your own

Developer Comments

Iwao- The Thaumaturge has a lot of status changing spells at their disposal. Their AoE is also fan shaped and they have many strong attacks. Compared to the Conjurer, they are more effective when they get closer to the enemy.

Sato – Basically, the Thaumaturge has been given strong damaging attack spells. However, there is also a risk to using them so you have to look for the right balance. We’ll listen to players’ feedback about this class and make adjustments in the future.

Iwao- The Thaumaturge can take and absorb different things from the enemy. They can also stack many spells. They will have to read the flow of battle and decide when is the best time to cast things.

For the Blacksmith and Miner, we don’t have abilities or weapon skills but you can get an idea of what they do.

Blacksmith

Blacksmith Handiworks
Iron Ingot (made from Iron Ore)
Sword Guard (made from Iron Ingot)
Spatha (made from Spatha blade, sword grip, sword guard, and a Pommel)
Pick (made from Pick head, Pick ball, and a grip strap)
Spiked Labrys (made from a Labrys and Bronze Ingot)

Miner

Things Miners Collect
Bronze ore
Gold ore
Saltpeter
Silica Sand
Little Worms

Developer Comments

Iwao – The Blacksmith is a crafting class that makes weapons, tools, or metal products. It can also repair these things. The Miner is a gathering class that mines up minerals. You can’t expect much fighting power out of either of these classes. However, we plan on adding abilities to make them useful in battle. For example, we are thinking of giving the Blacksmith an ability to discover the weaknesses of metalic enemies as well as find battle spoils afterwards. Depending on how you customize your abilities, a fighting Blacksmith might not just be dream.

There will be more information to come over the next few days! Keep checking back so you don’t miss a thing.

More>>

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Booyah Raises $20 Million From Accel

http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/16/booyah-raises-20-million-from-accel-expects-6-million-users-by-the-end-of-this-summer/

Booyah Raises $20 Million From Accel, Expects 6 Million Users By The End Of This Summer

techcrunch.com

Booyah is the not-so-little location based engine that could. The company behind MyTown has raised $20 million in new funding from a group of investors led by Accel (current investors, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and DAG Ventures, also participated in this round). Accel's Jim Breyer, a board me...

http://tech.qq.com/a/20100517/000477.htm
腾讯新闻：手机地理位置服务商Booyah融资2000万美元
Booyah：NightClub City幕后开发商
创始人Keith Lee曾担任DiabloIII producer