I’ve been playing quite a bit of AOE2 of late; and one recurrent problem while running the (now dated, but still going strong) game on Windows 7 (or Vista) has been an issue with map colors. The colors on the map look muddled, grainy and ugly on 7 and Vista, kind of as if they have been inverted. After a bit of research into the issue, I finally arrived at a working solution.

No, updating the graphics driver or Direct X does not work. First, what you need to do is navigate to the ‘age2_x1.exe’ or whichever exe file is associated with the game for you, right click on it, go to the ‘Compatibility’ tab and select ‘Run in compatibility mode for Windows XP (SP2), ‘Disable Visual Themes’, ‘Disable Desktop Composition’ and ‘Disable Display Scaling on High DPI Settings’. This might just do the trick, if you’re lucky. But if you’re not, like me (which is quite a high possibility), read on.

For some people, minimizing the game just after it starts up and then maximizing it again sets the colors straight. But it didn’t for me; what worked for me instead was to open up Process Explorer with Ctrl+Alt+Del after starting the game up, ending the process ‘explorer.exe’ and switching back to the game with Alt+Tab. This did the trick, and should work for most people.

This solution can also be automated without the need for having to go through the process of terminating explorer.exe before starting the game and rerunning it each time the game ends; this can be done by creating a batch file with the instructions fed to it. To do so, create a new notepad file with the following content:

taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
EMPIRES2.EXE
Start explorer.exe

{if you have the regular AOE2, or)

taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
age2_x1.exe
Start explorer.exe

{for AOE2 Expansion}

Then save it as a batch file, say ‘AOE_fixed.bat’ and then copy it to the folder where the EMPIRES2.exe or age2_x1.exe file exists. Then you may create a shortcut for the batch file on the desktop or elsewhere and then double click on it to launch the game whenever you want. Cheers

Original post at: http://smnitb.blogspot.com/2010/02/running-aoe2-smoothly-on-windows-7vista.html

BRAIN TRAINING

Lumosity is a website that features simple and addictive flash based games to help you keep your brain worked up. These games measure your Speed, memory, attention, flexibility and problem solving skills to calculate the final  BPI* (body performance index). They tell you where you stand among others after analyzing the statistical data.

Lumosity also has a facebook application.

*BPI : Your Brain Performance Index (BPI) is how you measure and track your cognitive performance in Lumosity. It is useful in tracking your improvement and comparing yourself to others.

If you have a low score, there is nothing to worry about. The website also has brain training courses to improve your cognitive abilities.

Image via Wikipedia

YouTube really changed our lives and 2009 was probably the year it was at its peak. With HD streaming videos comng in and special features like the “lights off” and the “change player size” (Buttons on the top right of the videos) it was really fun stumbling amazing user generated content, trailers, music videos and what not! Eight minutes of video getting uploaded every minute was something very huge in average numbers. Google released a list of the most watched and searched videos on YouTube

Most Watched YouTube videos (Global):

1. Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent (120+ million views)

2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)

3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)

4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)

5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

Most Watched music videos on YouTube (Global):

1. Pitbull – I Know You Want Me (82+ million views)

2. Miley Cyrus – The Climb (64+ million views)

3. Miley Cyrus – Party In The U.S.A. (54+ million views)

4. The Lonely Island – I’m On A Boat (48+ million views)

5. Keri Hilson – Knock You Down (35+ million views)

Fastest Rising YouTube search terms by month (Global):

January: inauguration

February: christian bale

March: the climb

April: susan boyle

May: pacquiao vs hatton

June: michael jackson thriller

July: michael jackson

August: usain bolt

September: kanye west

October: paranormal activity

November: bad romance

December: tiger woods

Fastest Rising YouTube search terms by month (U.S.):

January: obama inauguration

February: on a boat

March: watchmen

April: susan boyle

May: pacquiao

June: michael jackson thriller

July: wedding

August: send it on

September: kanye west

October: paranormal activity

November: adam lambert

December: tiger woods

via [GOOGLE BLOG]

[Play Duck Hunt]
Duck Hunt was a game in which the player had to shoot the ducks aiming at them. When the ducks fell dead, a dog used to pop up with a duck in its hand (LOL). A special controller the NES zapper was used for this.

If you used to play NES when you were young. Then Duck hunt was one game you mustn’t have missed. A flash based Duckhunt recreation.

Perfect menu, music/sound-effects and gameplay. I couldn’t find a flaw. Just left me wondering, how the gun control on NES used to work?

[Play Duck Hunt]

Numb3rs is a show about a small group of people under FBI solving crimes.  What is different is they do it using maths – The lead actor David Krumholtz -  “Charlie” spotted stating – ‘Everything is Math’ frequently. A totally unconventional theme which sets it apart from other suspense shows. An episode of the famous TV series “Numb3rs” was associated with the Riemann hypothesis.
Riemann Hypothesis and its significance:
One of the maths greatest unsolved problem is the proof for Riemann’s hypothesis. Riemann hypothesis is someway related to define a generalized formula for finding the prime composites of any number. The proof of this problem can fetch you a million dollars.
The complete encryption on the internet is based on the fact that this problem is still unsolved. The encryption is done using the prime composites of very large numbers (of the order of quadrillions 10^15). This is a  fool proof one way process. The present encryption system will probably fail if a solution is proven for Riemann hypothesis. This would cause disturbance in the internet.

Some of the German students claim to have solved the problem. But apparently the claims seem to be false ones. Well, there are many other ‘one way’ mathematical functions to help continue the encryption on internet. But the present encryption collapsing would probably come as a temporary close down.