Annoyed with the sound quality mac version of Skype ?

Skype for mac is silly, it auto-adjust its mic volume but there is no setting for manual overdrive..

so,, here's a tweak I found to change that:

Disable Skype's auto-changing of microphone volume 

Skype always irritated me with its automatic microphone volume changes. The Windows version has the ability to disable this option in the preferences pane, but the Mac version does not. Today, I spent some time trying to solve this problem. After some searching on net, I found a solution for the Windows version which also works on the Mac. 

Quit Skype and open the folloving file with TextEdit: ~/Library » Application Support » Skype » shared.xml. At the end of the document, you'll see this section

<VoiceEng>
<MicVolume>77</MicVolume> </VoiceEng> Simply change this section to look like this (adding one new line): <VoiceEng> <AGC>0</AGC> <MicVolume>100</MicVolume> </VoiceEng>

AGC means Automatic Gain Control, and setting it to 0 disables this feature. Set it to 1 if you want to enable it again. TheMicVolume can range from 0 (mute) to 255 (full volume). Save the file and start Skype. 

Note: I'm using Tiger and Skype 2.6.0. I have no experience with other OS X and/or Skype versions, but I hope this hint will help some frustrated Skype users. 

source: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20081116113445565

happy skype-ing!!!

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Koalarooooo!!!

Another day of my study break is well invested on a trip to Caversham Wildlife park 

With some flat neighbours, we took pictures, laughed together, sight seeing, saw a farm show, and brought sandwiches for picnic lunch :P

Here are some of the pics:

 Hanging out with koala's

  

Arrrr!!! getting a bit Pirate with the bird

 

Meet my new friend Joe!

They are just very lovely creatures aren't they?

this episode's fun stuff:

If you like this T-Shirt you can buy it Here:  http://www.palmercash.com/p-496-mens-captain-awesome-t-shirt.aspx

btw, I found another cool online T-shirt that is much cheaper, here's the link:

http://www.6dollarshirts.com

and here are some of my favourite ones:

   

cheers!

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They say g'day!

Study Break this week!

From my point of view, study break is the opportunity to actually sit down and study and catchup with projects/assignments. While at the same time, I could do lots of refreshing.

So, i have some pictures from this week's adventures:

London style  street:

 

Hays street area
 

If you guys like daft punk,, there's this cool flash website where you can play around with it making a daft punk style song:

http://www.najle.com/idaft/

Btw, for all you game programmers out there, these might be useful if you get a coder's block:

Dealing with Coder's Block: A Guide To Getting Back Into Your Project
By: Joel Longanecker

Evil Hamster Games 2K3 

Okay, everyone that has ever worked on a game or application in any language knows what coder's block is. It is not easy to deal with. Getting paid to work on the project is an excellent motivator, however, this is most likely not going to happen. I am going to share with you some of the ways I deal with it. 

Playing similar games of the same genre help. If I am working on a Bomberman clone, I play Bomberman; super Bomberman, and some other top-down puzzle games. Same thing goes if I am trying to create an RPG. I will sit down and play Megaman Battle Network until my head hurts. I think this helps because you will understand more about what you are trying to do. You might consider things you wouldn't have thought of otherwise. 

Draw out screen shots. As dumb as it might sound, visualization it a big part of getting your self motivated. Draw out the characters and color them. You can always work on other parts of the game then the code. If I am designing a FPS, it might help to see what the enemy looks like dead. 

Talk about it. Get on a forum or MSN and tell your friends about it. If you can get them interested, you can get your self interested too. 

Get some fresh air. Just walk away from the computer for a week or so, but just make sure to leave some indication of where you stopped. 

I hoped this helped. Now stop reading this and get to work! 

taken from:  http://nehe.gamedev.net/data/articles/article.asp?article=12

G'day mates! :P

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Invaders Must Die

Hi, I would like to share a really cool thing, it is the latest Prodigy Album : Invaders Must Die. It's pretty well packed with awesome beats and tunes to keep you going through the day.

Track list:

01. Invaders Must Die (4:55)
02. Omen (3:36)
03. Thunder (4:09)
04. Colours (3:27)
05. Take Me To The Hospital (3:40)
06. Warrior’s Dance (5:12)
07. Run With The Wolves (4:24)
08. Omen Reprise (2:14)
09. World’s On Fire (4:50)
10. Piranha (4:04)
11. Stand Up (5:30)




-> Rapidshare


My favourite track on this album is the song "Omen"
hope you guys like it!
cheers~

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Is bad luck real? or God is just testing me

what a week.. what a week.. what a week!

A series of unfortunate events that test my patience and sencerity has been occuring quite often these days. I prefer not to get emotional, but it really is getting on my nerves with all these pressures. 

 

Anyway, enough about my complaining, heheheh

Last friday I attended a MITS (Murdoch IT Student Society) , and my network cable wasn't long enough.. so I didn't play any games there,, but I did copied some useful content from other guys..

such as the TV series "Reaper" which has a very nice plot and story

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7AF070F5AA8A7DB3&playnext=1&v=HiEkN0rcXeI

Anyway, some scientist was able to create a "programmable matter", which is quite scary for me,, coz it feels like the "future" is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZlE4AH3enU

It's been a while since they've created a combat flight sim, and soon, the world is about to see a really cool one, H.A.W.X.

I've recently updated the looks of my blog.. Does anyone like it? if you do or do not, please comment ;)

I've recently download the new Safari for windows, which pretty much looks like Google chrome, but a bit slower in terms of performance, yet it looks much cooler than any other browsers released out there. 

I also have installed the newest version of skype, which is version 4. I should agree, it is AWESOME! The quality of the sound was greatly improved, the user interface was totally revamped to suit ease of use, and finally we can chat on the same window where you talk.. 

Where in the old version the window for chatting and talking was different.. very annoying and space consuming for busy people like me :P 

Yesterday, I've tried to install Star Wars KOTOR (Knight of the old republic) on my vista laptop,, which didn't work! quite a waste of time. So I ended up playing around with race driver grid, which has very hard car handling, so I removed both of those games from my laptop and continued with my studies.

To finish today's post, I would like to recommend to you guys to see these 3 sites:

1. A friend's blog about a very interesting conspiracy which involves the entire humanity, the truth of civilization. : http://informasi-rahasia.blogspot.com

2. A very funny and interesting game i'm waiting for scheduled to be released this April:

http://stalinvsmartians.com/

3. An interesting story that moved me recently and lifted me up a bit to be a better person:

"Who I am Makes a difference!"

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The library is heaven and hell at the same time

Hello mates!

It sure is hard to keep up updating blogs daily, especially when your internet quota is depleted. Finally recharged my quota yesterday though. awesome. If you are wondering why i put that title, it's because i found out that the library in my uni is really beautiful, and often populated with attractive people. But, it is so big, it is quite challenging to find the book i want. On top of that, I ended up borrowing a book from the reserve section, and returned it 22 hours late, which resulted in a $ 20 fine. sucks. Must becareful next time. Anyway, must go back to my mountains of assignments.. cheers!

this weeks cool stuff:

Damn it! I want this camera! It has really cool analog gauges on top of it.http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090223005300&newsLang=en

A really cool lego robot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNHGaSagaM4

Btw, I wonder what the Americans are planning to do with this device that looks like a superweapon:  https://lasers.llnl.gov/

scary.

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Chapter II: Lost in Perth

Hi mates!

A week since my arrival in the city of Perth has passed by, the summer weather is still quite hot and warm most of the time. The view is spectacular, the people are friendly, and the food just makes me craving for more. Uni life starts to bite on my spine, but I keep on going.
I've got lost several times in my campus, because it is quite humongous for me.

btw, for you guys who are new in Perth an need transport info check this web:

www.transperth.wa.gov.au

and for foreigners who just arrived, especially students make sure you have registered your Overseas Student Health Cover at this web:
www.oshcworldcare.com.au

You guys can see the pictures i've taken from my phone here:

Click here


For today's entertainment from the web, take a look at this website:

www.thewebsiteisdown.com

Blogged with the Flock Browser

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