This study is about a device which is probably the best joypad of all times: the Dual Shock. It has many variants and we can expect it to keep evolving in the coming years, however, we will focus here on the current version, the Dual Shock 3. In this article, we will go through the history of the game controller in general and then focus on the history of the Dual Shock itself, so that we understand in which context and how it was built. In a next part, we will then analyse the controller by studying its specifications and comparing it to its most direct competitor, the Xbox 360 controller. Basics There are many categories of game controllers, among which we will retain the most popular one, the gamepad, as that’s exactly what the Dual Shock is. Gamepads, also known as joypads, can have many action buttons combined with one or more omnidirectional control sticks or buttons. They are held using both hands with fingers (typically thumbs) used to provide input; as mentioned on Wikipedia, most modern game controllers are a variation of a standard gamepad. Common additions include shoulder buttons placed along the edges of the pad, joysticks, centrally placed buttons and internal motors that provide haptic feedback (as in, they typically vibrate). Some history In his article intituled “History of the game controller”, Catalin Ivan stated “Ever since the very beginning of video gaming, the controller has been the best (and usually the only) way of man-machine interaction.” That’s actually an interesting fact, and it would be good to follow the evolution from that “very beginning” to see how we reached the current gamepad technologies. There had actually been many, many gamepads released throughout the history, we are not going to study all of them, we are just going to review those who appear like important milestones that we observed from a study by John Honnibal and that we are summing up in the following table:...

In this post I will show you two methods to configure your .NET applications so that they would launch as soon as Windows starts. These two methods do not require any change to the registry, hence you don't need to worry about cleaning up that database if the user uninstalls your application. The first method: From the Windows Installer Deployment Project, follow these steps:...

Vous avez probablement deja utilisé le service de messagerie instantanée de l'un des «géants» de l'Internet, qu'il s'agisse de Gmail, MSN ou Facebook. Vous savez, cette petite fenêtre avec vos contacts en ligne dans le coin inférieur, qui peut être prolongée avec des conversations. Est-ce que ce ne serait pas cool si vous pouviez avoir un système similaire dans votre propre site web? Eh bien, maintenant vous pouvez, c'est exactement ce que fait le nouveau Mango Chat....

You have probably used the in-browser Instant Messaging service of one of the Internet "giants", whether it's Gmail, Msn or Facebook. You know, that small window with your online contacts at the bottom corner, which can be extended into conversations. Wouldn't it be cool if you could have a similar system right into your own website ? Well, now you can, that's what the new Mango Chat is all about....

La semaine dernière, j'ai eu à réaliser un prototype en papier pour une application mobile sur laquelle je travaillais.J'ai fini par construire quelque chose de pas trop mal (photo ci-dessus), mais au début je n'étais pas sûr de savoir comment m'y prendre. Donc j'ai pensé que je pourrais écrire une petite note à ce sujet. La première chose était de......

Last week, I had to make a paper prototype for a mobile application I was working on. I ended up building a quite nice thing (picture above) but at the beginning I was not sure about how to go about it. So I just thought I would write about it to share how I proceeded....

Let's start with the dark part of this post. When you decide to start running a blog, you are likely to fail before the end of the first three months. It is not easy to write, and moreover, to write things that interest others. Professional life and personal constraints (family, schedule, etc.) are often the first causes of slacking. In the same vein, one can also note the useless pressures and deadlines that we impose upon ourselves. For example, some may start by committing to writing at least one article every day at a given time. This is not really necessary because you need a minimum degree of inspiration to write. And when you don't have it, you should have a way to get it....

(Random conversation in French with Banglet about Judo and programming) Necemon: mais je maintiens ce que jai dit la programmation cest comme le judo Banglet: soit plus explicite Necemon: ok...

Google GOOSE est un produit que j'ai proposé lors d'un exercice de marketing. On nous avait demandé de penser à un nouveau produit d'une marque bien établie qui pourrait combler un besoin des clients. Veuillez noter que le produit GOOSE est purement fictif. Je ne travaille pas à Google et la description du produit qui suit n'est pas approuvée par Google ou un de ses employés. Le problème Le shopping est devenu un processus coûteux en temps. Le rythme de nos vies, emplois et autres activités va tellement vite que nous ne trouvons guère le temps de faire des courses correctement. Les technologies actuelles nous fournissent des solutions pour accélérer le processus par des achats en ligne.Mais même en ligne, le shopping reste une tâche qui implique quelques efforts, de réflexion et de temps pour chaque achat. Parfois, vous n'avez simplement pas envie de le faire, ou vous avez beaucoup d'autres choses à faire. De plus, nous sommes parfois tellement occupés que nous pouvons simplement oublier de le faire. Une autre chose est que cela pourrait être pénible. Bien sûr, il est souvent intéressant de sortir s'acheter des chaussures et des vêtements neufs. Mais ce n'est pas si amusant d'aller chercher des légumes et de la viande chaque semaine. La solution Et si vous pouviez simplement décider une fois ce qui devrait être là à tout moment dans votre réfrigérateur et ne plus vous en soucier? Vous pourriez juste avoir ce que vous voulez à tout moment sans avoir à appliquer régulièrement des efforts, du temps et de la réflexion (ce que les achats d'aliments nécessitent). Et c'est ce que le nouveau Google GOOSE propose....

Shopping is a time consuming process; the rhythm of our lives, jobs and other activities goes so fast that we hardly find time to shop properly. The current technologies provide us solutions to speed up the process by shopping online. But even online, shopping remains a task that involves some effort, thinking and time for every purchase. Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing it; or you got a lot of other things to do. Further, we are sometimes so busy that we may just forget to do it. Another thing is that it may be such a pain. Sure, it's fun to shop for new clothes and shoes. But it’s not fun to go get vegetables and meat every week. The solution What if you could just decide once what should be there in your fridge at all times and not worry about it again? You could just have what you want at all time without having to regularly spend the effort, time and thinking that food shopping require. And that's what the new Google Supply Search Engine (GOOSE) is all about....