The Pxl Lab is a blog dedicated to writing about the great games, software, and the stuff you can do with them.
Archive for June, 2008
It’s a Big Week for Browsers, The Launch of Opera 9.50
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Shortly before the launch of Firefox 3.0, Opera had a launch of its own. Version 9.50 of the venerable browser signified a turn in Opera‘s interface. An almost complete overhaul of Opera‘s tab interface, as well as many separate new features of its own.
Being a long time Opera user, (though now throughly devoted to Firefox), it was interesting to see the changes over time. I must admit, version 9.50 continues Opera’s long tradition of pioneering in terms of browser tabs. Their new tab interface is sleek, intuative, and best of all, it works. Adding a new tab button to the right of your open tabs, as well as the ability to recover closed tabs simply by clicking on the trash can icon, Opera proves that, though it may be the little guy, it is still capable of innovation. In addition to the new tab interface, it added a Quick Find Bar, almost identical to Mozilla Firefox’s “Awesome Bar”. The new version also adds a new browser engine, making it twice as fast as Opera version 9.2 when it comes to rendering Javascript and HTML, as well as third party plug-ins. It also considerably accelerates Opera‘s start up time, which was not slow to begin with. Likewise the new version added Opera Link, which synchronizes your bookmarks with your Mobile Phone. This allows you to take your bookmarks anywhere. It also revamped the Toolbar system, giving more customization options to the user, and virtually eliminating the accidental opening of the toolbar. (That was a major problem during my use of version 9.2).
All in all, the new version of Opera is fast, sleek, and an overall improvement on an already excellent browser. If you’re a fan of Opera, I whole heartedly encourage you go ahead and download the 9.50. Personally, I’m going to stick to Firefox 3.0.
Team Fortress 2, The Greatest Multiplayer Game of the Year, Now Free
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To celebrate their latest patch to the amazing game Team Fortress 2, Valve is allowing anybody with a Steam account to download the game for free and use it for the weekend. After the weekend (June 20-22, 2008) you can no longer play the game for free unfortunately. The new patch adds 3 new unlockable weapons for the Pyro class. There’s a shotgun replacement called the Flare Gun, which is basically just what it sounds like. It shoots off a flare to allow you to ignite your enemies at long range, but takes a very careful aim to get it right. It also adds a new flamethrower into the mix, called The Backburner. It removes the Compression Blast ability, but the Backburner always has critical hits when burning an enemy from behind, as well as adding 50 points of health to the Pyro wielding it. The final unlockable is a new axe, called the Axtinguisher. This weapon critical hits any enemy who is on fire, but does considerably less damage to those who remain in a state of not on fire.
The patch also adds 35 achievements for aspiring Pyros to unlock. One of my personal favorites, is called BarbeQueQ. You obtain it by causing a dominated player to leave the server. Other fun achievements such as Freezer Burn (provide enemies with freezecam shots of each of your taunts), make it worth your while to try for the achievements. There are also two new maps added, A capture point map called “Fastlane”, and a Capture the flag map called “Turbine”. All of these factors make it an excellent weekend to play TF2, and if you aren’t already a player, to join the phenomenon.
Results of Download Day 08
13 years ago
Download Day took place on June 17th, 2008. Throughout the 24 hour period there were an average of over 8 MILLION downloads. According to Mozilla those 8 million downloads in a single day is more than the total amount of Firefox downloads in history. Although the number of participants in this event is very outstanding, was the actual 7.14 mb of data worth the download? An inside look of the brand new Firefox 3 shows that everything they previewed in the beta and on the website came through remarkably well. The features are near perfect and a huge upgrade from it’s child Firefox 2. Firefox 3 is a breakthrough in browsers, this time clearly outdoing Internet Explorer and other browsers such as Opera. Firefox is moving up the charts, and the people can thank Mozilla for that.
There are very many helpful and amazing features that, after a few days of testing, have proved to be essential to my Firefox experience. First is the new toolbar, nicknamed the Awesome Bar. Basically, you type in a keyword, and it gives you all possible results in a drop down menu that are relevant to that keyword. It becomes increasingly helpful when you can’t simply remember the website you visited yesterday, but you do of course remember the actual content the website contained. I love this toolbar because it is too confusing to bookmark every single site you go across that you wish to view daily. This tool is a great toolbar (no pun intended) that helps keep your bars clutter free and your day just a bit less hectic! This amazing feature is probably the most helpful, but there are many others that deserve a mention. The second most useful tool added to Firefox 3 is the advanced malware protection. This protection is a huge step up from Firefox 2, letting there be a smart list of possible internet attacks being updated every second! This is another step in the direction of perfect protection. This time around Firefox 3 delivers a killing blow with a full screen message blocking possibly dangerous websites that can infest your computer. The virus defense Firefox 3 offers works with your anti-virus program as well! It lets the program know when your downloading something, and automatically scans the file, making sure there is nothing harmful contained within it! I for one am ecstatic about this improvement to the already wonderful browser. The new security measures Mozilla has taken to ensure our safety is a very important part to our internet lives. A few other minor updates that are worth noting are the One click bookmark (which allows faster bookmarking of sites if you are in a hurry), Integrated parental controls, and Full screen zoom and navigation. These provide for an all around better Firefox experience.
I have used Firefox for many years now, and from many of my friends whose first experience with Firefox is Firefox 3, their opinion of the web browser is void of criticism and critique. Firefox again does not disappoint the public, and held true to their word. I want to thank Mozilla and specifically the creators of Firefox for this wonderful, versatile browser!
Mad-Croc Energy Gum is an Energy Drink, Only Not
33 years ago
by Japanerd
in Energy Drinks
So I recently ate some “Mad-Croc” Energy Gum. Well, ate is a strong word. It was more along the lines of, chew for five minutes then spit out because of pure disgust. Mad-Croc is one of the few products I’ve found whose taste goes from fairly good to absolutely unbearable a matter of minutes. I had some spearmint gum first, which was definitely the best of the flavors. It actually tasted fairly good for the first minute or two, then all pretenses of flavor dissipated into nothing more than a sticky pile of sickening goop in my mouth. I mean, if a baby chewed this stuff, I swear you would see his face melt, Raiders of the Lost Ark style.
Moving away from the flavor factor, in terms of working, it’s not bad. The only problem is you have to chew for at least 10 – 15 minutes to get the full effect of the gum, and it is unbearable after the first three. So it’s a challenge to get the proper effect from the gum, but if you’re willing to put up with it, it is a decent energy provider. Two pieces, according to the packaging anyways, is equal to one 8 oz. energy drink. That isn’t bad, I suppose. Not spectacular, but not bad.
So, in closing, I think I would make a great student council representative because of my strong work ethic and willingness to help others. And Mad-Croc Energy Gum sucks.
A Book That Will Slip Under Your Skin
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Ted Dekker’s Skin is the story of Wendy, a young adult who has escaped from a cult. Her family abused her, and she now has trouble with men. She is unable to touch them, and has trouble talking to them at all, due to her horrid childhood experiences. Now Wendy is on a trip to meet up with her long lost mother, but is side tracked in a freak storm. After she barely escapes crashing into a truck in the middle of the highway, she picks up a woman, who has passed out after having been bitten by a poisonous snake, and also picks up her brother. She invites the siblings into her car and they drive toward Summerville, a small town five miles away from the highway. She gets trapped in Summerville with Colt, a cop from L.A. who moved to Summerville to calm down his rough life, and Pinkus, a hardcore gamer, who was to enter a tournament in L.A. Wendy and her friends then have to survive not only a F6 tornado, but a lunatic killer by the name of Red.
Skin is edge of your seat entertainment. It will keep you turning pages hour after hour, and you will be unable to put down the book until you have finished. Again Ted Dekker delivers with a killer thriller with its own personal twist on good vs. evil. Get to your local library and pick up your copy today, or buy it now.
MeasureIt Measures Stuff In Firefox
03 years ago
Web developers know that finding exact measurements of anything that isn’t an image can be a pain. MeasureIt attempts to make life easier by putting a button in the bottom-left corner of Firefox’s window. Clicking on the button will put a semi-transparent white layer over the webpage (I don’t know why honestly), and lets you click and drag a portion of the screen to see its exact measurements. The addon isn’t perfect though, as you can’t select particular elements of a page like Colorzilla (an excellent color picker for Firefox) does.
All-in-all, MeasureIt gets the job done quick and pretty easily, so head over the the MeasureIt download page. At the time of this writing it works for any edition of Firefox from 1.0 to 3.0.
Hell of Sand – A Good Time-Wasting Flash Game
123 years ago
Hell of Sand is a flash game located at Andy’s Life. Though Andy’s Life should not be your one stop for flash games, I would highly recommend that you check out Hell of Sand. Actually, the game has almost no point other than to have fun and waste time. You set the rules, you set the conditions, and you have more fun. You can create pictures, and do things such as creating large explosions and seeing which kinds of substances explode, or melt, or do other things in relations to the plant, the fire, and the water. Everything is shaped to be like sand, but most substances follow realistic patterns, such as gunpowder exploding and plants flourishing under water.
If you are one of those people who have to have some kind of goal to meet, then this is not the game for you, but if all you want to do is make something that you can enjoy for a while and then delete, or you just need to blow 10 minutes and don’t want to get too deeply involved in a good flash game, play Hell of Sand. If you need to meet some kind of requirements, then go play something else like The Last Stand 2, otherwise Hell of Sand is your game.
Coke, The Not Energy Drink That’s Still Awesome
03 years ago
In the aftermath of a purchase of Rock Band, I find myself with an acute lack of money. Because of this, I am reviewing whatever I happen to have in my fridge today, which happens to be Coca-Cola. Now, you may be saying to yourself, in your whiny high-pitched 12 year old voice, “But Japanerd! Coke isn’t an energy drink, it’s just a soda!” Well I present to you, my friends, evidence to discount you claims that it’s not an energy drink. While it may not give you a massive buzz like Mountain Dew, it still has a large amount of sugar and caffeine. Do you know what sugar and caffeine does? It gives you energy. Shocking, eh?
Anyways, onwards and upwards to the review. Coke is a wonderful beverage. I mean, it’s the granddaddy of soft drinks, and it still has that great Coke taste. Screw Pepsi, given the option I’d choose a Coke over Pepsi any day. Anyways, I digress. Coke tastes great, and anyone who says otherwise deserves to be strung up naked in town square and by his own entrails, and flogged by his own festering, lying lungs until he is deemed purified, at which point he will be dragged around town behind a horse while passers-by will attempt to shoot him as many times as they can without killing him. Then he’ll die. Yeah, thats how it’ll go down.
Energy-wise, it’s effective, but needs to be consumed in large amounts if you’re looking for a significant boost. During the school year, I’ll generally drink a can of Coke in the mornings as a little pick-me-up, but it’s not something that will keep you up for long periods of time. If it’s any consolation, you can get two 44 ounce Cokes at your local convience store for about the same price a 16 ounce energy drink. All in all, I’d say that Coke, though not technically an energy drink, is definitely a winner in my book.
Drawball Brings Out a New Type of Artist
13 years ago
Drawball is not just some paint program. Drawball is a massive canvas where anybody can add their own piece of art. Every user is given a set ink amount, and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Artists can choose any color they like, zoom into a specific part of “the ball,” do a little puzzle to make sure that you are really a human, and draw away for the world to see. You’re probably wondering what’s possible in Drawball, so here are some pictures to awe and amaze you. You can click on a picture to enlarge it.
These are just a few examples of the great art that you can find at Drawball, so head over there and see if you can be the next great artist.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl – The Best in the Series?
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Overview of the Game:
The Super Smash Bros. series has gone though three games now, and the main question left to ask is, after a few months of playing, is Super Smash Bros. Brawl standing up to the legacy created by the original and Melee? Being a gamer, I have played the other games as well, and I have to say, the highlight of the series was Melee. It was one heck of a great game, with the least amount of flaws in the series. If you have played Brawl then you have probably asked yourself, “How many people do I truely see playing as characters such as Bowser, Princess Peach, Wario, Caption Falcon, or Jigglypuff?” The reasons behind people not playing as these characters is because of the lack of even game play between characters. (more…)