If you’ve read this site for any length of time, you have probably noticed that I write about my host (RimuHosting) about once a year. If you have spent any time researching hosting providers online, you have likely run across comments about Rimu along the lines of “The support is amazing!” and you think to [...]
About Riyad Kalla
Software development, video games, writing, reading and anything shiny. I ultimately just want to provide a resource that helps people and if I can't do that, then at least make them laugh.imgscalr 4.2 Released
Quick heads up to the Java developers out there using the imgscalr Image Processing Library, version 4.2 was just released! There is 1 new feature in this release and 1 bugfix: New Feature: New ULTRA_QUALITY scaling Method provides the nicest looking scaling result typically better than GIMP’s highest quality scaling method (Lanczos3)! Bug Fix: When [...]
Detailed Look at the Brilliantly Simple CouchDB File Format
I’ve been researching CouchDB’s file format for the last week along side a few other efforts to understand resilient storage that is optimized for SSD or flash-based performance metrics. As it turns out, log-based file formats (and file systems) are optimal when working with flash memory like SSDs. CouchDB uses an append-only, copy-on-write approach to [...]
How to Unlock an AMD Radeon HD 6950 to an 6970 Easily
I purchased an XFX Radeon HD 6950 (2GB) video card a few months ago in preparation for all the triple-a titles that have come out in the last year; while I miss the PhysX support for the occasional game that supports it, I’ve been mostly happy. Shortly after the dual-launch of both the 6950 and [...]
imgscalr is Available from the Central Maven Repository
imgscalr is a tight and simple image manipulation library for Java. As imgscalr’s popularity has grown more and more people have asked for access to it via Maven’s central repository. While The Buzz Media has provided access to imgscalr via our own Maven repo as well as GitHub downloads, developers have pointed out that it [...]
Saints Row 2 is more inspired than The Third
I finished the original Saints Row and Saints Row 2 and remember them both very fondly; I was excited when the hub-bub around The Third started to get rolling as the game looked like more over-the-top, don’t-take-your-too-seriously shenanigans that made 1 and 2 so much fun in the first place. When it came time to [...]
imgscalr 4.0 released – Optimal Java Image Scaling
imgscalr is an optimized, fault-tolerant and simple Java library used to resize, rotate, filter, crop or pad images. imgscalr implements the most optimal code-paths for these tasks as recommended by the Java2D team and internally works around a number of hidden JDK and even JVM bugs pertaining to image operations via the Java2D pipeline. imgscalr [...]
Steam Cannot Connect to Internet for Qwest DSL User: Steam.exe exception and Hung Updating
If you are a Qwest DSL subscriber using one of the Actiontec Q1000 models and in the last few days (around 11/11/11) you noticed that when you run Steam, it just hangs during Updating… and after a minute or so of waiting it pops up with a cryptic “Steam.exe (main exception): .. connect to the Internet“, even [...]
The Growing Divide in Ubuntu – Apple’s Methods meets Linux Community
This article is my opinion. Mark Shuttleworth is dragging Ubuntu (and by extension) Linux, kicking and screaming into the “design-first” world of computing lead by Apple. This progress requires that he, to some extent, ignore an entire community that has never prided itself on or been particularly good at design aesthetics. Ignoring such a community has… it’s [...]
AWS Elastic Load Balancer sends 2 Million Netflix API Requests to Wrong Customer
What is it? If you are unfamiliar with Amazon Web Services (AWS) or their Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) service, ELB is a load-balancing service that you can use to spread incoming traffic across many different EC2 server instances. ELB, like all things in the AWS cloud, is a dynamic service that scales up and down [...]
Origin PC Launches AMD FX 8-Core 5Ghz Unlocked Desktop Monster
It looks like Origin PC may have beaten everyone to the punch with this Ghz-unlocked, 8-core AMD FX monster of a machine. I didn’t see any solid ship dates, but AMD’s release date for the Bulldozer architecture has been Q4 for a while now, so I imagine at some point between now and December we’ll [...]
Workout Program for People that Hate Working Out
The idea for this workout program dawned on me the other day as a way to slowly (very slowly) get into a fitness routine that you are meant to keep going the rest of your life. I was sick of training schedules and programs that were so extreme I could only keep them up for [...]
Save $10 on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine for the PC
I have been interested in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine since I first saw it at E3 this year and was surprised at how well it played and felt. Knowing nothing about the lore behind Warhammer 40k, I was hesitant to put in a pre-order before its release and wait to see how the reviews [...]
imgscalr 3.2 Released
Some good news for folks using imgscalr (a Java image-scaling library), version 3.2 was released today and brings with it support for rotation, a new AsyncScalr class used for support both asynchronous scaling support as well as scale-operation throttling in high-performance systems (e.g. web application) where 100s of scaling operations firing off in parallel would bog [...]
BloodRayne: Betrayal Screenshots
Some screenshots from the upcoming BloodRayne: Betrayal arcade reboot of the BloodRayne franchise for PSN and XBLA. When this title was first announced, I wasn’t all that excited for it (still wanting the original franchise to get rebooted and saved… along with Nocturne!), but after seeing some of the gameplay I really started to dig [...]
Why Does the Steam “Hardware Survey” Include a List of All Installed Software?
You are going to be prompted soon to agree to fill out the yearly Steam “Hardware Survey” and I would urge you to ask Valve first, why the hardware survey (a great idea in its own right) needs to include a list of all the installed software on your PC? The purpose of the hardware [...]
Tomcat Context Attribute ‘antiResourceLocking’ Disables Class Reloads
This is a quick TIP for anyone working with Tomcat during development and needing it to reload changes immediately… especially if you have Tomcat setup to run your webapp directly out of your IDE’s project folder. REMINDER: Remember you have to change your Project Properties to make your [projdir]/[webdir]/WEB-INF/classes directory your output dir for built [...]
Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress Screenshots
TW2 is really coming together, they just sent in another batch of screenshots for the Pirates of the Flying Fortress release and things look sharp. If you’d like to see TWII in action, it looks a lot like Witcher 2 crossed with Age of Conan; in the sense that it has the MMORPG feel to [...]
Unavoidable Security Risk Caused by Elastic Load Balancer on AWS
Last night I was reading through the Amazon Web Services Forums and ran across this post that has vexed me since then. I imagine this post doesn’t come as a surprise to folks very familiar with AWS, but not previously knowing how elastic load balancers were implemented in AWS, it came as a surprise to [...]
Duke Nukem Forever (PC) Review
Summary If you can appreciate Duke Nukem Forever for what it is, a game that should have come out 6 years ago, and stop expecting it to compete with modern shooters, you will get some enjoyment out of it, but there are still rough edges everywhere that will make playing it seem like a chore [...]
The War of the Worlds (XBLA / PSN) Screenshots
Some screenshots from the upcoming PSN/XBLA title The War of the Worlds. Below is the press release:
Interview with Brian Gomez – Design Director of Silent Hill Downpour
We were fortunate enough to have some one-on-one time with Brian Gomez, the design director behind Silent Hill Downpour, this year at E3. We want to thank Brian for cutting out some time for us right in the middle of the insanity of the show and giving us an interview about Downpour. Brian gives us [...]
E3 2011 – XCOM High Res Screenshots
XCOM is a re-imaging of the franchise as a strategic FPS somewhat like Ghost Recon, but a much simpler interface and set in the 1960s during an alien invasion. You work for t a special faction of the government tasked with adapting and re-using the alien technology against the invading forces. During a private XCOM [...]
Recent Comments