Grant Hulley

Amnesia: The Dark Desent

granthulley — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:46:32 +0000

Last night saw in the release of Frictional Games newest addition to its game collection Amnesia. After its success with the Punumbra series, this game was highly anticipated and I for one was really looking forwards to it. I’m now pleased to say that although I have only tried a few minutes of the game itself I can’t wait to continue. With in moments of starting an intense anticipation for what’s to come was already growing. The game itself starts you off as a character called Daniel which is all you initially know about yourself, the idea is then to descend into his world looking for clues to who you are and what has happened to you. This game then simulating Amnesia very well with dark areas and events causing your character to slowly loose himself, meaning you have to be aware of your environment. You then need to solve puzzles slowly completing each part of the game whilst being careful of other characters as many are a lot stronger then you.

This like Punumbra has to be one of the best games I have played letting you experience real fear and anxiety in a virtual world. To find out more about this amazing game have a look at its website here

T91MT, Multi Touch Notebook

granthulley — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:09:54 +0000

Asus have recently released their new EEE PC net book computer the T91MT. Although its Processor only has 1.33Ghs to play with the incorporation of the new multi-touch screen makes up for any loss. It’s worth paying a little extra for the 2GB RAM update but as long as this is done the computer itself is very responsive taking just 32 seconds to start up or shut down even with a hard drive full of programs. The computer itself is light weight and with the multi-touch screen this laptop is very handy as a mobile computer. A good example of this would be the fact that I’m sitting outside in this amazingly sunny weather typing out this whole blog on a touch screen computer and as my battery life says I have 6 hours left I plan on being here for some time to come. Overall, it’s a good computer. Don’t expect a lot of power or gaming from it but as a computer to use on the move or for note taking etc it’s fantastic.

Manycam virtual webcam

granthulley — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:41:43 +0000

This is a small program which runs from the system tray. It takes in any number of web cam sources then allows the user to manipulate the video stream as needed. For example, the user can opt to include the current time on any video stream or add a waterfall in the background just for fun. The list of possible add-ins is limitless due to downloaded content being available from the programs website here. If you are interested in trying out this program it can be downloaded from here.

Copenhagen User Experience – Windows 8 Concept

granthulley — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:00:27 +0000

This is just a quick video called the Copenhagen User Experience. Does this not look amazing??

Stem Cell Computing

granthulley — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:44:47 +0000

This is a bit of a strange post. For those of you who know me you will know that I study Computer Science and Cybernetics. As such I have an interest in all things technological, both future and past technologies. For this post I want to blog about what’s been coined as “Stem Cell Computing”. Now you can check this out at Zii.com or by following this link, but I though it would be interesting to see what people thought of the idea? Basically Stem Cell Computing takes the concept of Stem Cells and produces a processor using a similar design. This processor the “ZMS” is then meant to be more powerful, greener and cost affective then any other current processor as well as being 100th the size. Sounds too good to be true but it seems this processor is already in use around the world. Have a look at the video though and see what you think. Comments would be welcomed

Electric Sheep – What a Screen Saver

granthulley — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:37:04 +0000

It’s always nice to have something to look at when your computer is doing nothing… Screen savers are used to not only protect your computer screen but to give everyone near something interesting to look at. An Electric Sheep is an art based mathematical image and in this case a screen saver. The image below gives a good example of the types of images which could appear in a running video with this program installed.

This screen saver is unique as it allows the user to vote on which images they like most. This information is then sent online where a mating algorithm mates your favourite Sheep producing a better Electric sheep unique to each user. This program is also free to download from here with more information available here. A video of a users sheep can be found here. This screen saver is one of the best free Savers I have found in a long time. Enjoy

F.lux. Night and Day

granthulley — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:48:09 +0000

When it comes to using a computer most doctors will tell you that prolonged use of your computer screen can possibly damage your eyes. On top of this your screen’s back light uses a lot of power. For laptop owners this could be a problem when using battery power. F.lux fixes these problems with their small program, What is does is change your screen brightness depending on the time of day. At 12am it is at its brightest keeping your screen looking good in both light and dark areas around the home. However, as the day goes on and the sun sets your screens brightness will change to a dimmer setting protecting your eyes and saving power as it goes. F.lux is only 546kb in size and runs from the system tray with a preview mode if you want to see how your screen will change over time. You can download the software from here as well as find more information on how it helps your computer.

Digsby for IM’s, Email and Networking

granthulley — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:48:59 +0000

Digsby is an amazing little piece of software which allows you to connect to multiple Email accounts, social networks and Instant messengers all at once from within one windo. Better yet is its completely customizable with the user being able to choose the look and feel of just about every aspect of the program. with the added feature of docking / hiding off screen this piece of software is very handy for any one who has any number of account’s across the net. Digsby’s main website is here .

Hardware and Software Monitoring

granthulley — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:58:41 +0000

If your looking for a piece of software to monitor and give you information on your system the free software Speccy has to be one of the better choices. Produced by Piriform, Speccy comes in a 1mb file and once installed will give you information on your Processor, installed Hard Drive’s, RAM, Graphics Card and Operating System along with showing there temperature and other information where available.

Speccy can be downloaded here Its free of charge and very handy

Piriform also has other free software packages available which can be found here

A Blog to be proud of….

granthulley — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:29:26 +0000

So this site is coming along nicely, I will have information on the projects section’s posted by tomorrow morning, till then though feel free to have a look around and tell me what you think