Was just back in town for two days and was catching up on some emails and rss feeds when I learned Steve Jobs has passed away. I've never been a apple user, never really used or owned an apple product other then brief uses of an iPod and iTunes, but I still tip my hat to Steve and Apple for creating the slickest & sleekest tech around.

It's widly accepted that Apple is Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs is Apple, so it is interesting times for the future of apple. Personally I think long term Apple's future may be bleek without steve being there as the moral center guiding Apple's direction.

I admit I have not spent as much time using Unity as I'd like to these last three weeks. I have been working out of town and have no internet where I am so I only have the Unity documentation to tie me over. Without internet access I can't gain access to more reading material on Unity so have not made much progress. But I think I am begining to understand it better from what little time I have spent with it. I still have about another two weeks or so of working out of town so I won't be able to dive much deeper into Unity until until I get back.

On the other hand I have been working on my Zider project and have been making some progress here and there.

I have taken a look at Unity and have decided to make an extra effort to try and dive deeper into it and learn more. The last time I even took a look at unity was quite some time ago, probably not long after it became availible. I've decided to try and document my learning process here in the blog.

The current iteration 3.4 seems promising, from the videos I've watched and some of the reading I've done on it. I am currently working out of town for about two weeks so I have no internet access and must rely solely on the Unity documentation.

Problems

1. Poor documentation! Unity comes with help docs but I have yet to find any starting point guide. I can't find a API other then what C# language/api features are available. I need a clean clear and concise api reference documentation for Unity if I am to figure out how to use it. First and foremost I am a programmer so without an API to browse through I'm lost. At least in Visual Studio you have the Object Browser and can browse trough the assembles and read the documentation.
2. Poor UI. One of the bigger drawbacks is that the unity UI is that it is to "custom" aka programmer designed. It works but the look and feel is too cumbersome and nor easy to work through. To much reliance on File menu structures rather then say a context aware Microsoft Office style tool bar.
3. Can't determine the exact nature of the scripting system, There seems to be a choice of JavaScript or C# or some other language I have never herd of called "Boo".
4. Poor flow control.
5. I have zero clue where to start. I am having trouble even trying to get a single object to move in 3D space with keyboard input.

Unanswered Questions

1. How do I respond to keyboard events and move an object?

Notable Discoveries

1. Democratizing game development as the Unity team describes it, with Union and how they are trying to setup a way for Unity developers to market and sell there games an a vast array of platforms from set top boxes, XBox, PS3, Wii, PC/Mac etc.
2. The Unity team seems to be in talks and making deals with more and more AAA publishers and game companies regarding Unity. This give them credit as a legit and serious contender in the game dev space.
3. They provide a free version of Unity that can compile your game

I've been making numerous updates to my Zider project over at codeplex. Other then that I have not been getting much done programming wise, been busy with other things.

I was trying to figure out how I could apply multiple shader effects to a UIElement in xaml but was having problems. Then I realized I could just use a nesting approach and embed my ui element into a hierarchy of canvas elements or some other container control and apply an effect to that canvas.  I have provided an example below of how to do it in xaml ...

 -->
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
    xmlns:cbx="clr-namespace:cbxSLEffects;assembly=cbxSLEffects"         
    mc:Ignorable="d"
    d:DesignHeight="552" d:DesignWidth="702" Name="rootCtrl" Loaded="rootCtrl_Loaded">

    
        
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                
            
            
                
            
        
    

GAH! Google is such phail, Bing is no better either. Been trying to find out how to use EF + SqlCe without having to specify any settings in my web.config.

Finally I found this page on unit testing that pointed be in the right direction.

And here is how to do it in code!

    
    public class testModel
    {
        [Key]
        [Required]
        public int ID { get; set; }
        [Required]
        public int SomeID { get; set; }
    }

    public class MyClass : System.Data.Entity.DbContext
    {
        public MyClass() { }
        public MyClass(string filename) : base(filename) { }
        
        public DbSet TableTest { get; set; }
    }
   
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {

        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            var path = this.Context.Server.MapPath("~/bin/");
            Database.DefaultConnectionFactory = new SqlCeConnectionFactory("System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0", path, "");
            Database.SetInitializer(new DropCreateDatabaseIfModelChanges());
            var tmp = new MyClass("test.sdf");
            tmp.TableTest.Add(new testModel() { SomeID = 5 });
            tmp.SaveChanges();

            return this.View(); 
        }
    }

ISP's frustrate me sometimes. I was playing around with some numbers in order to gain some perspective.

Crude Number Crunching

Average days in a month is days in year divided by months equals average days in month.

365 / 12 = 30.416

avg days in month divided by 24 hrs in a day
30.416 * 24 = 729.984 (hrs in a month)
729.984 * 60 = 43,799.04 (minutes in month)
43,799.04 * 60 = 2,627,942.4 (seconds in a month)

Total monthly transfer cap equals 75 Gb at 5Mbit (downstream) connection

75 * 1000 = 75,000 Mb
75,000 * 1000 = 75,000,000 Kb
75,000,000 * 1000 = 75,000,000,000 bytes
75,000,000,000 * 8 = 600,000,000,000 bits

Bits of data per month divided by average number of seconds per month
600,000,000,000 / 2,627,942.4 = 228,315.5064 Bits per second

Converted back to MBits sec
228,315.5064 / 1000 = 228.3155064 KBits sec
228.3155064 / 1000 = 0.2283155064 MBits sec

Actual Mbit per sec cap is equal to 0.228 Mbit/s

So you would need to be transferring data all day every day for the entire month at a minimum of 0.228Mbits a sec and at no point in time
could you ever drop below that transfer speed. Only then would you reach the 75Gb monthly cap.

I pay for $50 month for up to 5Mbit connection speed as it is advertised. But technically speaking my connection speed is 0.228 Mbit/s if I want to remain within the 75Gb
monthly transfer cap.

Or to put it another way somebody with a really good dial up connection at 28.53Kb/s could reach the 75 Gb transfer cap.

My argument is that my ISP is providing a huge transfer speed but then turning around and restricting how much data can actually be transferred. Thus negating the transfer speed
all together.

The actual monthly transfer cap if you use the 5Mbit/s advertised speed is as fallows

Bits per sec transfer speed multiplied by 2,627,942.4 seconds in a month

5,000,000 * 2,627,942.4 = 13,139,712,000,000 Bits
13,139,712,000,000 / 8 = 1,642,464,000,000 Bytes
1,642,464,000,000 / 1000 = 1,642,464,000 Kb
1,642,464,000 / 1000 = 1,642,464 Mb
1,642,464 / 1000 = 1,642.464 Gb

1,642.464 Gb potential data per month transferred. Assuming that you were able to transfer at the advertised speed of 5Mbit/s and at no point in time
could you ever drop below that transfer speed for the entire month.

1,642.464 / 75 = 21.89952 That's over 21 times the actual monthly cap of 75Gb of monthly transfer.

Retarded policies and plans

Basically the whole idea of ISP's putting a monthly transfer cap on customers internet traffic is ridiculous in my opinion. For example given what I laid out above my transfer cap is 1,642.464Gb assuming that I can download at 5Mbit/s and at no point in time could I ever drop below that transfer speed for the entire month.Which is impossible because 5Mbit's that my isp offers is just a "potential" download speed the actual speed is slower.

So by putting a cap on the speed at which I can transfer data they are all ready putting a cap on how much I can transfer per month.

A traffic monitoring that has never worked

My current cable isp (CityWest) took over another cable isp (Monarch) that had been operating in the area. The CityWest used the exact same software Monarch used for customers to log into and check there internet usage, create and manage there email etc. There has only been one slight problem that seems to have persisted for the last 10 years from the old isp Monarch to the current isp CityWest. The traffic usage page has never fucking worked and has never worked for the last 10 years. All you ever get is a 404 or cgi error page.  Hmmm isn't that interesting.

I left my original isp (Monarch) and moved over to a different company that offered dsl (Telus). I made the move because at the time I was playing a lot of Counter Strike: Source and I was getting bad latency times. After moving over to telus my latency times went way down. Then up to about 2 years ago I left telus because they were claiming I was going over there monthly traffic limits by a lot. Like 2-3 times over the limit. There traffic usage website was reporting some very suspect numbers that was totally wonky. After they cut my internet connection a few times and fighting with them to get it turned back on, guess what had happened.

Somehow telus managed to lose my account in a move over to a new system. I was still operating under the old system so my traffic usage was fucked up. What I was seeing on the telus website was different then what the operator was seeing on there end.

Now by this time Monarch had been bought out by CityWest and after the aggravation with telus I said fuck it I'm going back to cable internet. So I signed on with CityWest. It didn't take long for me to figure out that CityWest simply inherited the old Monarch systems. As soon as I logged in to the customer service page I saw that it was the exact same page Monarch was using and hey hey guess what! After 7 years the internet traffic usage page was still returning a 404/cgi error page.

Sigh.

Flip Flops. Suspect = NetFlix

A few months ago my ISP (CityWest) sent me a letter that they will be starting to charge people who go over there monthly plan. As if to suggest they were not charging people who went over there monthly limit in the first place even thought they claimed they would. Then after a few months passed there was no updates on there website. Then they made a news post ...

"In November, we sent letters to our customers to point out that there are usage limits on our Internet plans, and that we planned to begin charging for over usage in March. 

Since then we have decided to delay billing for over usage so that we can provide better information to our customers.  CityWest customers will not be billed for any usage over their plan limits until further notice. 

As we work towards this transition, we will be providing more information to our customers."

As it turns out just after they made the initial announcement that they would be charging people that go over there monthly usage Netflix came to Canada! Netflix in recent years now claims the largest overall internet traffic in north America.

Coincidence I think not. "Netflix Lowers Data Usage By 2/3 For Members In Canada" The blog title says it all. Not long after netflix came to canada they reduced there data streaming for canadien customers so us poor little Canadians would not go over our traffic limits. Again only more proof of how behind the times canada is getting in terms of what our isp's have to offer.

I am a dedicated netflix user. I watch 1-3 shows a day somtimes more. I don't own a tv and I stopped watching tv years ago. So netflix streaming movies is ideal for me.

Conclusion

As with a lot of things, I started writing this a while ago but have not gotten around to finishing it until now. The power of the internet as a communications platform has exploded onto the world and within two very short decades has changed the course of human history forever. It has led to the devastation of countless industries. From classified newspaper ads, music, movies, tv, gaming, crowd sourcing, basically anything involving the transfer of information.

The internet and access to it is becoming as important to society as the very air we breath.

I was reading up on the new features comming in silverlight 5. And it seems to me that one day we may very well see silverlight running on the XBOX thus completing the trifecta (PCs/XBOX/WF7).

It really makes sense if you think about it. Silverlight is designed to run on almost any pc/mac hardware and with the introduction of xna graphics features in SL5 I'd bet microsoft is planning to make silverlight availible on xbox one day similar to there current xna/xbox setup.

Pair of wood peckers made a nest in a tree next to a pond near Jackpine flats just out side of Terrace, BC.

Came across this cool machine. It's the quicker picker up-er!

Just finished using the internet archive wayback machine to add historical blog posts to this site that were previously missing. My blog entries now stretch back as far as June 6, 2002.

Here is a cbxChangeLogger dump of all the changes ...

New Content

• Saturday, April 30, 2011 (Post): Magic 8 ball show me the future!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Registered createdbyx.com
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Added more content
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Added more content to the development section
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Dec 8 Update
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Dec 19 Update
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Added how to sample
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Site Updates
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Jan 16, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Jan 17, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Jan 31, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Feb 12, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Feb 20, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Feb 28, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): March 6, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): March 12, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): March 21, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): March 29, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Kinda cool ...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Bear with me ...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): More about the blogger service
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Created by: X
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): DX9Tools update
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): A few new images
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): DX9Tools Snapshot 1 now availible
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Strange vs2k2 error and how to fix it.
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): I just created a new app called ZipThatSnip
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Added a new code snip!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): New code snippet!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): MS D3D and vb.net tech chat comming up
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): 28 Flash cartoon shorts.
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Started work on GratuitouslyZippy
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Microsoft Gives some insite...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Interesting VB.NET varible decloration quark...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Current Efforts - July 3, 2004
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Don't accept cookies from my site!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Want something done right do it yourself!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Level Editor/GameEngine I am working on ...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Axiom game engine for .NET! Sweet.
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Skeena Vally Walkabout
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Progress Report
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Get your Free copy of VB.NET 2003 standard free!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Pardon the interruption
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): You can post your comments!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): DX9Tools update...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): DX9Tools overkill?
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Revisited: How to create a D3DTexture from an embeded image resource.
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Crazy Crazy :p
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Missing DirectX references under the "Add References" dialog?
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Countdown..
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Links page has been updated
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): WebCam capture app on the way
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Running Times
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Online peep show!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): What a day...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Craaaaaaap!!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Yahoo Mail = 100mb!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): New photos in the Photo Gallery!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): VB.NET 2003 has arrived!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Earthquake!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): 6.7 Quake!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Slow week...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Sucky, Sucky. Ten dollar, Ten dollar! =o)
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Sucky, Sucky. Ten dollar, Ten dollar! =o)
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Breakthrough!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Cool Scent tracking AI
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Possibly a new site is in the works
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): DirectX 9.0c SDK now availible
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): What's happinging?!?
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): I'm Back!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): What's Up!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): New site up and running! Well sort of...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Slow But Steady
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Uh oh...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): 2 new reviews
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): The New York Times - In Video Games, Sequels Are Winners
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): OMFG! The DirectX team is at it again!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Arena Wars - Community Site
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): FarCry Review
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Son of a Bi...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Just had an epiphany...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): DX9SampleFramework
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Just a check in...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): CBXBlogger Custom DNN 2.1.2 module
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Yikes!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): I have 6 gmail invites! Anybody want one?
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Wanna free DVD from Microsoft? I do! I do!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): OMG! I've wasted my life...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Sooooon my precious
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Long time no posts...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Scheduled maintenance...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): I've got a contest going!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): New DX9 shader video is availible
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): I apologize...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): New Doom3 *.pk4 (*.zip) search utility
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): New video is availible! ATI render monkey basics.
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Comming Soon ...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Just thought it was funny
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Up and down Thornhill Mountian
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): DXTools Release 6 now available
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Regret to inform ..
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): The Claw!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Ack I'm Trapped!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): HP ZV5000 laptop
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Wuhoo unsecured wifi net access!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Blogging on the road!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Home at last...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Hint: noslO nosaJ "Nutty Soup"
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Contest winner to be announced soon.
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Came across something interesting...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Yahoo. Not too bright in the marketing department...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): We have a winner!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Sigh! Better late then never...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): GameDev.net Four Elements IV Contest!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Holy Crap! I can see my house from here!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Wiki fun
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Not much updates latley...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Bad Ping, Wiki's, Zider, in game consoles, and not enough code being written...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Mushroom Fever!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Wuhoo! I have the 2nd spot on Google.ca!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): New Managed DirectX9 Example availible.
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): While I've been away...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): DotNetNuke Configuration Errors
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Visual Studio Express! Absolutely Free until Nov 7, 2006!
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Woops forgot to mention
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Tile for a log dump

Updates

• Monday, April 25, 2011 (Page): cbxChangeLogger
• Monday, April 25, 2011 (Page): Gallery
• Friday, April 29, 2011 (Post): Toys made simple
• Friday, April 29, 2011 (Post): System.Console.WriteLine("Back to bizniz");
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Created new web site
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Still Under Construction
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): April 2, 2003
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Articles
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Solving the DriverInternalErrorException Exception.
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): DX Resize Problems
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Funny Spouce Beating
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Spouse Beating
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Misc
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Quick Tips (Old)
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Textured Index Buffers for D3D
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): IDEA: Textured Index Buffers for D3D
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Textured Index Buffers Again ...
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Subdomains at createdbyx.com
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): How to create a D3DTexture from an embeded image resource.
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): DX9Tools Release 5 is now availible!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Gmail - Inbox
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): It's just so hard!
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Status Report
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Projects
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): Mushroom Picking and more
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): EasyG
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Post): It never fails
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): Forums are now back online...
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011 (Post): WindowsXP Activation actually did something...

Removed Content

• Tuesday, May 03, 2011 (Page): Code Snips (Old)