Author Archive for Blink 7

30
Apr

Excel Tutorial: Using Conditional Formats for Traffic Lighting

By Blink 7 0 Comments
Categories: Technology and Tutorials

Note: This will be the first in a series of downloadable tutorials. Each tutorial runs in a self-contained browser with all files and software embedded [where legal]. If you would like a specific topic covered, please leave a message here.

Download: Mirror#1

Traffic Lighting on Excel

Simplicity is key when presenting statistics to management or customers. Data analysts are often tempted to put as many details as possible on the standard “one sheet” template; however, too many numbers on a page can cause confusion about where to initially focus. When reducing the number of statistics on a page is not an option and summary stats are not appropriate, traffic-lighting is a quick and effective method to highlight trends or draw attention to information that need to be addressed.

Included:
-Example Excel File
-Full tutorial

28
Apr

Live: Tycho @ The Drake Hotel

By Blink 7 0 Comments
Categories: Life and Times and Video-Blogging

Quite often, the best music is discovered by accident. Local artist and longtime friend Aia asked me to videotape a concert he was promoting at the Drake Hotel. Aia was opening for Tycho, a California-based graphics artist and music producer well respected in IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) circles. IDM is a highly experimental genre that can be difficult on the untrained ear; however, Tycho’s audio-visual performance was both accessible and inspiring. The artist’s website describes his music as follows:

Tycho is the music project of San Francisco based artist and producer Scott Hansen. As Tycho, Hansen blends swirling melodies into vaguely triumphant arcs that crisscross between stuttering beats and vocal samples, creating rolling sonic landscapes that extend off into the horizon.

To my ear, Tycho manages an impressive feat in layering lush, hyper-melodic sounds capes over throttling beats without crowding the frequency spectrum. Often, the beats evolve along with the melodies and at times embrace the boom sound associated with early-90’s hip hop - yet the melodies remain intricate and soothing enough to be “chill-out” music. At times Tycho’s retro-warbling is reminiscent of Scottish outfit Boards of Canada, while other times resembling the Japanese electronica featured heavily in anime. The sum of the parts is nonetheless original.
Continue reading ‘Live: Tycho @ The Drake Hotel’

24
Jan

The $699 Memory Stick

By Blink 7 0 Comments
Categories: Technology

memorystick.jpg

When buying electronics, two factors remain relatively consistent -

  1. If it’s new, it costs a lot more
  2. If Sony is involved, it costs a lot more

Yet, even these two truisms fail to account the the $699cdn (roughly the same in American dollars) price tag placed on a (third-party!) Memory stick currently being advertised at Staples. Granted, 4GB cards are relatively new but can be obtained for less than $150 if you are fortunate enough to have an SD slot. Given Sony’s penchant for being proprietary and expensive, perhaps we should not be so hasty to give up on HD-DVD?

16
Nov

Hamachi Patch for AOE 3 (all versions) and AOM

By Blink 7 2 Comments
Categories: Technology

Some time ago I wrote a tutorial on how to make Age of Empires 3 work with a freeware Virtual Private Networking (VPN) program called Hamachi. There have been many questions about where to find the AOE3VPN.exe patch referenced in the tutorial. Some people were unable to find it from the supplied Google search bar.

The good news is that a much-improved patch is available from Crea-Doo:

aoe3loader.jpg

http://www.crea-doo.at/weblog/2006/02/13/age-of-empires-iii-loader/

Version 1.63 of the Age of Empires loader makes the startup even easier by providing a GUI to select between using a Hamachi IP address and the machine’s public address. Override ports, sound settings, bypassing the intro video and direct IP connectivity can also be toggled. Best of all, support is not limited to basic Age of Empires III. The following “Age of …” games are supported:

Age of Mythology
Age of Mythology – The Titans
Age of Empires III
Age of Empires III – The War Chiefs
Age of Empires III – The Asian Dynasties
Age of Empires III – Napoleonic Era (mod)

A quick test with the new Asian Dynasties expansion booted to the menu screen without the intro video and connected to Hamachi effortlessly. Age of Mythology is no longer on this system but I’d be interested to hear if anyone has luck connecting Hamachi to the notoriously picky game.

aoe3loader2.jpg
The Age of Empires Loader works with The Asian Dynasties Expansion

23
Jul

Tutorial: Spotting a Phishing Scam in your Email

By Blink 7 4 Comments
Categories: Technology and Tutorials

Phishing, in practical terms, is an attack used by hackers to gain access to private information such as credit card numbers, social insurance numbers and user passwords. Rather than breaking down a physical or technological barrier, phishing is a social engineering attack where targets are typically duped into providing this information directly to false versions of legitimate websites run by the hackers. Personal information can then be used for fraudulent purchases, resale to third parties and even identity theft. While there are no universal statistics on the number or nature of phishing scams, most security websites agree on the following –

-Financial Services is the most targeted industry sector overall
-Paypal, Ebay, Amazon and the major banks are the most targeted companies
-North America is both the primary target audience and the region were the largest number of phishing sites are hosted
-Websites are by far the most popular portals through which to gather information, although an increasing number of phishing scams instruct targets to call a telephone number

Below are screenshots from a phishing email I recently received. Have a look at the warning signs –
Continue reading ‘Tutorial: Spotting a Phishing Scam in your Email’

30
Jun

Tutorial: Internet Gaming with Age of Mythology and Hamachi

By Blink 7 62 Comments
Categories: Technology and Tutorials

Update: If you are having trouble with this tutorial you can do the following -

  1. Try following some of the tips provided by Alien X in the comments section
  2. Visit the Blink7 page on the newest available patch for network gaming with Age of Mythology: (click here)Â

Important Note -

Try this tutorial first, and if it does not work for you then try AlienX’s suggest listed below in the comments section (thanks to AlienX!)
Background -
Tutorial: Internet Gaming with Age of Empires 3 and Hamachi

101-00-2.jpg

Age of Mythology typically defaults to the internal IP address rather than the Hamachi address during network play. This behaviour can prevent players from hosting multi-player games over Hamachi networks. Luckily there is a workaround …
Continue reading ‘Tutorial: Internet Gaming with Age of Mythology and Hamachi’

05
Apr

Tutorial: Reading Globe Online Subscription Content for Free

By Blink 7 2 Comments
Categories: Media, Technology and Tutorials

The Globe and Mail still belongs to a [hopefully dying] class of newspapers that tries to charge subscription fees for current news articles. The Globe Insider articles cannot be viewed entirely unless the reader logs into the system, and that temporary login requires isn’t free. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work …
Continue reading ‘Tutorial: Reading Globe Online Subscription Content for Free’

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Further Research










Dateline: Canada

    N.B. legion `sickened' to be target of scam

    Posted 20 hours ago

    The president of a Royal Canadian Legion branch in Fredericton says she's sickened by "opportunists" who are trying to scam Good Samaritans out of cash in the wake of flooding in the region. [Link]

    NDP to move today to topple Tories

    Posted 20 hours ago

    Federal New Democrats will make a last-gasp bid today to topple the minority Conservatives, citing the country's growing "prosperity gap" as the reason Canadians should go to the polls. [Link]

    Critics accuse PM of stalling on NAFTA-gate

    Posted 20 hours ago

    With MPs scheduled to head home soon for the summer, opposition parties are accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of stalling on two high-profile investigations that could prove embarrassing or awkward for his government. [Link]

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