Windows 10 Security≠Privacy

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There is more and more news coming out about Windows 10 Security… what they actually should be saying is; Windows 10 the No Privacy Edition. No doubt there are some problems. But, it isn’t as bad as many make it sound.

Security
Security

To get some information on privacy settings see: What Windows 10’s “Privacy Nightmare” Settings Actually Do. You’ll learn your phone, tablet, notebook, and Windows 8 are pretty much all doing the same things that Win 10 does. So, it is mostly nothing new.

For gamers there is another Win 10 consideration for anyone with a NVIDIA card older than the 600 series. Eliz926 (7/30) in the Adobe forum points out:

Previously NVIDIA said that its Fermi (400 and 500 series), Kepler (600 and 700 series) and the new Maxwell (750 and 900 series) GPUs would all support DirectX 12. However, an updated support document confirms that the older Fermi series (<600) are still using the WDDM 1.3 drivers, rather than the new WDDM 2.0 drivers needed to support DirectX 12. The article said that support will be offered “at a later date” for Fermi GPUs.

We can assume everything before the 400 series is NEVER going to support DirectX 12. (Reference) 

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Blender: Restore Your Settings

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When upgrading Blender there is an option to bring your settings forward from the previous install. Unfortunately, if you start using Blender and do not click the button, the next time you open Blender the button is gone. There is probably some way to get back to it, but no one seems to know how. So, there is a way to manually move your settings to the new install of Blender.

Blender Nation posted a link to this video.

Somewhere in the past I wrote a text tutorial on how to do this. But, this is a really nice, quick, well done video, so a link to my article is pointless.

You can also copy the two files he shows you to a safe place to be a backup of your settings.

Blender: Making Wood Floors

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There are several programs one can use to make textures for wood floors. Blender has an addon that can be used to accomplish that task.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=38&v=61gNzVKcuLQ

There are some problems with the addon. So, check out Blender Nation for information on those. Look in the comments. Similar information can be found in the YouTube comments.

Windows 10 is Here

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If you are running Windows 7 or 8 you are likely getting popups telling you can upgrade to Windows 10. It was released this month, August. Personally I’m waiting to update my office machine. I am assuming my Adobe products that just updated to CC 15.1 will work well with Win 10. But, just in case…

WINDOWS 10
WINDOWS 10

I’ll be changing my Win 8.1 laptop this week. I’ll play with Win 10 on it and see how that goes. I don’t use the laptop often and should probably sell it. But, it can serve as a guinea pig for Win 10. 

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Second Life Week 32

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WoW Losing Subscribers

For years I have heard how Second Life is losing subscribers. It is true, but the new users and returning users keep the number of people in SL about the same. SL has gone from 1 million plus to about 900,000 from 2007 to 2015.

Blizzcon – Official World of Warcraft Art // Illidan Stormrage
Blizzcon – Official World of Warcraft Art // Illidan Stormrage

Let’s try to put some perspective on that. Take a look at World of Warcraft’s numbers. In Q4-2014 there were 10 million subscribers. By the end of Q1-2015 it was down to 7.1 and now at the end of Q2-2015 it is 5.6. That is almost half the users in 6 months. (Reference – nice graph) In December 2005, 15 months after starting WoW, they passed 5.6 million. In October 2010 they were at 12.0 million, the peak I think. 

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Cool VL Viewer Updates Week 32

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August 1st Henri updated the Cool Vl Viewer. It now handles:

  • Provides full Experiences and Experience Tools support !
  • Provides Avatar Hover Height support !
  • Provides Marketplace Listings support !
  • Provides global clothing layers limit (60 in total instead of 5 for each of the 12 types) support !
  • Provides CEF3 media plugin support ! (this is still work in progress, available only in the experimental release)

CoolVLViewer-1.26.14.2 is the current version. It comes in Linux and Windows flavors. Download