Multiple displays settings for Windows 8's Taskbar Properties

Something that a Windows 7 multiple desktop user would dream about.



This simple feature is one of the reason why I think Windows 8 rocks!

BLIMS Fine Furniture @ Robinsons Galleria -- worst after sale service

We bought ___ ______ and waited for 2 weeks, then the delivery arrived today. We are not really informed that the assembly is on the next day and that's why my wife is comfortable about the Sunday delivery because we are at the office during weekdays AND no one's at home.

While making some arguments with them regarding the assembly schedule I heard other crews including the "Manager" like laughing at my back on the other side of the phone saying "hindi naman umabot ng 2 weeks, less than 2 weeks naman na deliver (laugh)"... and more.

X79 setup it is!

I love my Q6600 and it also serves me well for almost 5yrs in January 2013!

Though if my motherboard is not having issues like USB power failures, often power on button / cold boot failures, often CMOS resetting after OC for quite some time, a bit loosed ram & pcie slot... maybe I will be still using this system for another year. Also since I'm a family man now, power consumption and heat may become a big factor to my upgrade reason.

So I finally decided for X79 setup. From my rough analysis with q6600 overclocked to 3ghz, the i7 3820 is 50%+ more faster, 30%+ less power on idle, and 10%+ less power on full throttle.

Besides I already bought all I need for my upgrade...
- Intel Core i7 3820 3.6-3.8GHz
- Asus P9X79 Pro Motherboard
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Turbo Dual Fan CPU Cooler
- GSKILL RipjawsZ 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600mhz
- Crucial M4 128gb sata

My existing will be...
- Lian-Li PC7 casing
- Seasonic X760 PSU
- MSI Frozr II AMD Radeon 6950 2gb
- Seagate 1TB and 1.5TB

...now I can't wait to bench this baby this weekend!

Wish me luck! :)

Upgrading Intel Core2 Quad 6600 to Intel Core i7 3820... worth it?

Here's just my rough percentage estimate of the improvement of Q6600 -> i7 3820 from the benchmark source @ cpu-wars.com, Intel Core i5 & i7 Game Benchmarks, Intel Core i7-3820 Synthetic Benchmarks

MULTI-TRHEADING: The factor of all upgrade reasons, speed!

q6600 @3ghz -> i5 750 = 23% improvement
i5 750 -> i7-3820 = 33% improvement
Q6600 @3ghz -> i7 3820 = 56% improvement

Globe Tattoo Postpaid vs Smart Buddy Prepaid (Part 2)

What: Globe Tattoo (Postpaid) vs Smart Buddy (Prepaid)
Where: Orient Square, Ortigas Center, Pasig City
When: 11am
How: Unbiased result from CA US server, unlike Globe/Smart server
Who: wins? See for yourself...

Datablitz vs X-Play: Who's side are you?

I don't want to discuss everything here again to what happen, Google or Bing it!

In Defense of Datablitz: Analyzing Datablitz’s Official Statements regarding CIDG Raid, Inside Sources Speak Out (updated)

Datablitz selling “pirated” "smuggled" software is not accurate, misleading and would cause catastrophe to their reputation and to gaming industry.

I have big respect to Datablitz. I've been buying games from them since God knows when and all are legits and never deal with their after-service ever!

So, do I love or hate Windows 8?

I hate metro originally (like I mentioned in my previous blog post : Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 thoughts...) but for the sake of catching up on development trend so I installed it in my laptop together with Visual Studio 2012 Express and for Windows Phone 8, off course.

Kinda weird seeing there is no start menu and all metro screen at first, but somehow in just 1 day I finally starting to love it for few reasons:

What is your Christmas Wish?

For me world peace! Seriously, more happiness to my family :)

...and this:

Intel Core i7 3770k
Noctua D14
Asrock Extreme4
GSkill 16gb 2400ghz
Corsair M4 SSD 128gb

Advance Merry Christmas!

Globe Tattoo Postpaid vs Smart Buddy Prepaid

What: Globe Tattoo (Postpaid) vs Smart Buddy (Prepaid)
Where: Potrero, Malabon
When: 7am
How: Unbiased result from CA US server, unlike Globe/Smart server
Who: wins? see for yourself

Gmail beats Hotmail as World's Top Email Service...

Got the news here from TomsHardware: Gmail Becomes World's Top Email Service

Well good for Google and I was surprised that it didn't surpass Hotmail long time ago. For starters, I thought I'm the only one using Hotmail hahaha!... (reference: my family, friends, relatives and co-workers).

iPhone5, worth the upgrade?

I guess I'm a bit stupid to answer this since I love windowsphones, but hey I used to have iPhone3gs+iPodTouch and shifted to HTC HD7 and never actualy looked back. Now desperately waiting for Lumia920/AtivS/8X to reach here so I could choose from them. :)

Anyway back to topic and just want to share. Maybe if you're coming from iPhone4s then the answer for me is NO, as I don't see any interesting features of 5 compared to 4s unless you're dreaming of an iPhone with 4" screen or just a die-hard apple supporter.

My next lens: Tamron 24-70 F/2.8 VC USD

I guess me and very few people are only showing interest to this lens especially in PiPho (pinoyphotography.org). Maybe the price? for 3rd party? I don't know.

For me considering plus vibration compensation, moisture resistant, faster/silent focusing, improved IQ and much better build to my 28-75/2.8. For the price of $1200, this lens is still cheap as it gets compared to Nikon and Canon which has both no visual compensation.

Letting go my Nikon 85mm F1.8D...

I'm already giving my AF Nikkor 85mm F1.8D. Here are the full details posted at tipidpc.com:
http://www.tipidpc.com/viewitem.php?iid=20444915&page=

I Recently realized that I "rarely" use this lens because of its very specialized purpose to a certain scenario only eg. more room space, better background to produce nice bokeh, and outdoor portraits.

Torchlight 2 is a better Diablo game than Diablo 3

Just installed the game this morning (Yep you read it right!) and I must say that overall better gameplay than Diablo 3 and probably more than just an eyecandy that Diablo 3 has to offer.

For me why Torchlight 3 is a better Diablo game than Diablo 3? Bear with me, this is just my first day playing this game...

• Soundtracks -- Diablo 2 sounding at it's best! it really brings back the memories while playing Diablo 2 like I almost cried just listening to the music.

Pre- PC upgrade...

My current setup: Q6600 + AMD HD6950 + 3x full hd monitors = eyefinity!

Running games like BF2 Dirt3 etc. at ease, been running my cpu for almost 5yrs, then my eyefinity going for 1yr.

Diablo III build diversity!

Wait what? build diversity my foot...

Not sure kung ano ano lang build ng Wiz ko from Normal to Nightmare. Then nag frost wizard ako from Hell to Inferno. Frustration begins until na research ko regarding build focus on Resist and LOE! Then nag survive ako pero hirap parin sa ACT2.

Finishing Diablo 3 using God-mode Wizard... what now?

I'm one of the guys who use god wiz but mainly for fun. I was originally stuck at ACT3 and got bored after a while.

My D3 verdict so far after hours of effort finishing ACT3 and ACT4 with proper MF gears...
- as an int character, I'm always getting full of dex items -- good job blizzard for making us really rely on your trading scheme!

Finally, my wife upgraded her Diablo 3 license!

My wife upgraded her Diablo 3 guest pass / starter edition to standard edition license! wooot! She was able to run the Act1 Leoric before we slept and re-run again in the morning after the upgrade. Awesome right?

She can play beside she can beat me anytime with DOTA.

Anyway she's using Demon Hunter and it looks awesome. Thank God my laptop runs Diablo 3 smoothly so we can play in parallel hehehe. I remember when we first introduce the Diablo 2 game to my big sister, she can got addicted and never let me play to my computer for a day.

Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 thoughts...

Ok, I love my windows phone 7.5, please don't hate me for giving my opinion.

Windows Phone 8 will not be a hit but I don't see any reason why would not make them gain market share. More and more people already recognizing its value and uniqueness over iPhone and Androids.

Well Windows 8 is another story... I hate metro on my desktop to be honest. It's like windows vista all over again but this time it's worst.

Hero always comes late, just installed Diablo III

Just installed Diablo 3 last night.... thanks to my loving wife for the approval!



Same character name and class from World's of Warcraft: Lagur, Wizard.

I just had few headaches while installing and almost want to give up and go to sleep.

Laggy Galaxy S3 vs. Kiddie-screen iPhone 4S vs. Beautiful Lumia 900

Tried to be open here and not being bias (lol). I read the content and posts of Yuga's Galaxy S3 vs. iPhone 4S vs. Lumia 900

You will see some posts like...
"Samsung Galaxy SIII is a clear winner here"
"Overall, Samsung Galaxy S3 is a great phone!"

What a day... (1st time blogging thru windows phone)

Yesterday it was a hot sunny weather, then this mid noon it was raining like there's no tomorrow.

I was stuck in Edsa for almost 2hrs due to heavy traffic with heavy rains.... And it really sucks as I'm like driving in 1st gear for about 30min!!!

Tatto 4G Flash / Huawei E357... is really a 4G?

Based on the internet I learned that:
- HSDPA (3.5G) = up to 14mb dl
- HSPA+ (4G) = up to 21mb dl

If my knowledge is right E357/4G Flash is actually 3.5G unlike the E353/Smart Rocket which is 4G! Which I think make sense because of e357/4G Flash's cheaper price.

So that's it... Globe's fail marketing on 4G naming -- at least for me. Also I don't think unlocking will make e357 to access HSPA+/4G.

Game genres that I good or suck at...

Good:



What I think I'm comfortable saying that I'm really good at FPS games. I started playing Doom 1 when I was a kid then followed by Doom 2 and Quake series. Other slow pace FPS games followed are just another ordinary game to me.



Quake 2/3 is a very fast pace, acrobatic, strategic game and my favorite game of all time. I bought/tried countless premium mouse and keyboard just to experience better aiming and reflexes. I believe that I can adapt to any FPS games (eg. CS/COD/BF) fast by only modifying keyboard controls and mouse sensitivity that are patterned from my Quake3 settings.

XNA Game Engine Update - Multiplayer support!

I finally done working with multiplayer support for my game engine. The really challenge for me is to have a NetLobby class that must be generic across the projects and encapsulates all common functionalities in handling network lobby sessions especially in dealing with UDP or non-reliable connection to make it more reliable.

I've wrote a lot of network code for games for the past years in C++ and I must say that my NetLobby code is really neat, simple but complete. I should have done something like this years ago!

Diablo 3 torrent file

My premonition on May 14...

Diablo.3.Offline-SKiDROW-[tracker.BTARENA.org].torrent
Seeders: 10,233
Leechers: 412,685

Lol... I'm bored.

A very productive week..

...for my game engine, that is.

I was recently motivated and able to finish most of the issues and some remaining features that needs to be added. Here's my update so far:

- Persistent data storage for save games
- Trial and Full mode
- Game interruption handling
- Ad banner placement

My Game Dev Experience as a Hobby

I got this blogging idea while reading tipidpc forum about game development as someone shared his experience and updates to the forum. I want to reply and share on his post but decided to blog instead.

Anyway since I saw someone use Irrlicht, I remember back in the days I made an mmorpg engine and use irrlicht3d for my test client apps. I actually use this prototype to apply for Anino Entertainment and Flipside Games. Got no luck as they actually looking for a game / renderer opengl direct3d guy that time.



With the failure of getting a gamedev job and using Irrlicht code design, they inspired me to start studying Direct3d and write my own first engine (which Irrlicht design still adapted in my XNA engine).

WDTV Live Streaming (WDTV LIVE2)

I'm using WDTV Live Streaming (WDTV LIVE2) bought last 2 weeks in the US... I must say it's a lot better than my WDTV Gen1 and WDTV Live by far!

Already got 2 firmware updates while using it for weeks and it looks like there's plenty of stuff they need to enhance... though I haven't experience any problems at all.