Winged Boar Pub

Movie Hacking Vs. Real Hacking

Publican — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:17:22 +0000

New DLC for Civilization V Coming Soon

Publican — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:06:44 +0000

Civilization fans have no doubt heard, 2K Games is releasing an expansion pack titled Gods & Kings for Civilization V for PC. But what about the Civilization V Mac gamers? Aspyr surprised me. They claim it is going to be soon after the PC release that they will release for the Mac. The expansion is slated for release late Spring 2012 for the PC so you can expect the Mac version to come out shortly afterwards.

Details for the DLC are as such via 2K Games:

Tons of New Stuff. I know I just mentioned it, but I want to draw attention to just how many new things we’ve got here: 27 new units, 13 new buildings, 9 new wonders, and 9 new playable civilizations. Among the new civilizations are the Netherlands (William I, Prince of Orange), the Celts (Boudicca), and the Mayans (Pacal the Great).

Religion. That’s right; quite possibly the most requested major addition to the game is coming in the Gods & Kings expansion. Using the new “Faith” resource, you’ll be able to found your own religion and grow it from a simple Pantheon of the Gods to a world-spanning fully-customized religion.

Reworked Combat System. The expansion has a reworked combat system along with an AI that places more emphasis on balanced army composition. Among the changes to the combat system is the addition of melee naval units, which will force you to really rethink the way you execute your naval assaults.

Enhanced Diplomacy, with Espionage. In addition to being able to establish embassies with your rival civilizations, spies will now be an important part of how you conduct your foreign affairs. Surveilling foreign cities, stealing advanced techs, and garnering influence with city-states are some of the things you’ll be able to do with this new powerful mechanic.

New City-States. With religion being added to the game, it only made sense to introduce Religious city-states which will interact with your religion in special ways. In addition, Mercantile city-states will be attractive for those of you who love to grow your civilization’s treasury. All city-states will use the greatly expanded quest system, making city-states more dynamic and diplomatic victories more challenging, while decreasing the importance of gold when dealing with city-states.

New Scenarios. Three new scenarios will be coming in Civilization V: Gods & Kings. Experience the fall of Rome, explore the medieval era, and my personal favorite: a unique scenario in a Victorian science-fiction setting.

Disable SafeSleep (Hibernation) Mac OS X

Publican — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:20:39 +0000

To turn off Safe Sleep, enter the following code in the Terminal and then press enter:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

To delete the Safe Sleep image, enter this and then press enter:

sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage

And, if you want to turn Safe Sleep back on again, enter this and then press enter:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3

Fatal Error: No Free Memory for XSDT

Publican — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:46:06 +0000

Windows cannot boot with Fatal Error: No Free Memory for XSDT

Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac
Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac

Symptoms

Windows cannot start showing black screen with the error message:

Cause

Slic loader application that was previously installed on your Windows system doesn’t support WAET functionality. WAET stands for Windows ACPI Emulated Device Table. It is an optimization tool for virtualized guest OS from Microsoft. WAET support will be introduced in future version of Parallels Desktop for Mac.

Resolution

Meanwhile you can disable WAET support in Parallels Desktop for Mac:

1. Go to Parallels Desktop Configuration –> Hardware –> Boot Order and find Boot Flags field:

2. Copy/paste the following line there:

kernel.waet.enable=0

3. Save the changes and start your virtual machine.

Run Password Reset Utility in OS X 10.7 (Lion) Restore Partition

Publican — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 02:36:59 +0000

With prior versions of OS X, Apple included a “Reset Password” Utility that you could use to reset forgotten passwords for accounts on the system. But in the recovery options Lion, this is missing from the “Utilities” menu where it used to be. While the program is no longer available through the Utilities menu, it is included on the recovery system and can be used, but you will have to open it by alternative means. Open Terminal from the Utilities menu. Type:

resetPassword

And press enter. The Reset Utility will now open up, but do not close the Terminal window or the program will be killed as well. Select your hard drive and then user and type in your new password and hint. Quit everything and restart.

Windows Logo Redesign

Publican — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:25:01 +0000

Gone is the wave and multi-colors in the iconic trademark. Some say it’s a flag. However described, it is is simpler now. Their branding has changed much through the years , but I am liking the new, cleaner look.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 Announced

Publican — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:09:01 +0000

What no rumors working overtime to whet our appetites? A very low key announcement that the next release of Mac OS X, sorry that’s just OS X now, will be Mountain Lion. 10.8. If you’ve paid the yearly subscription of $99 to be in the Mac Developer Program, then you can download the Developer’s Preview for “free”.

Looks to be more iOS influence, but this time, acceptable. More gestures, but the main changes appear to be to the apps. iCal is now Calendar. Address Book is now Contacts. iChat and FaceTime meld into Messages, which you can download the beta here, it does remove the iChat app from your computer, so if you depend on it you might want to hold off. Reminders separates itself as a To-Do manager from iCal and Notes follows in suit from Mail. They have added security options for App installation with Gatekeeper. And the one I really am excited about is AirPlay, wireless display mirroring to your TV via the AppleTV. Notification Center makes its debut on the Mac OS, will the big cat loose to Growl (tried to think of a witty pun, but no dice). Many other improvements throughout the OS.

More Intel machines are getting left behind. Details are not, well, detailed as of yet. But here is what is known:

64-Bit Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better.
Advanced GPU chipset required.
64-Bit Kernal Bootable.
Internet connection required to download 10.8.

You can check your 64-bit support by opening a Terminal window and typing uname -a and then hit return, resulting in:

xuser@T-800:$ Darwin Kernel Version 11.2.0: Tue Aug 9 20:54:00 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1699.24.8~1/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

If returns x86_64 than your Mac is booting into a 64 bit kernel.

The models that don’t look like they make the cut are most models before 2008 and / or sluggish GPU’s:

Any model with Intel GMA 950 or x3100 integrated graphics and ATI Radeon X1600.
MacBooks before 2008.
Mac Minis before 2007.
iMacs before 2007
Original MacBook Air

Overall I like the improvements and the additions they are releasing.

Road Rage

Publican — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:24:44 +0000

I am excited to get to the store to pick this one up. Writer and graphic novelist Joe Hill teamed up with his father, Stephen King, for the first time on a story that pays homage to Richard Matheson’s classic tale, Duel. IDW presents the comic-book tellings of both stories in Road Rage. First up, is the tale by King and Hill, “Throttle!” Adapted by Chris Ryall and art by Nelson Daniel, Throttle tells the tale of a motorcycle gang pursued by an unseen assailant in a big rig!

Boeing Signs Record Deal With Lion Air

Publican — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:46:35 +0000

Chicago-based Boeing Co. said on Tuesday it signed its largest ever commercial airplane order with Indonesia’s Lion Air in a deal worth $22.4 billion. Boeing said Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest carrier by passenger volume, has ordered 230 airplanes, including 201 737 MAXs and 29 next-generation 737-900 ERs. Lion Air will also acquire purchase rights for an additional 150 airplanes, Boeing said.The announcement was made in a statement at the Singapore airshow.

Via Reuters

De-authorize All iTunes Computers

Publican — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:31:19 +0000

If you find you have reached 5 authorizations, you can reset your authorization count by clicking Deauthorize All in the Account Information screen.

Click iTunes Store in the menu on the left side of iTunes.
If you’re not signed in to the store, click the Account button, then enter your account name and password.
Click the Account button again (your ID appears on the button), enter your password, and then click View Account.
In the Account Information window, click Deauthorize All.

Note: You may only use this feature once per year. The Deauthorize All button will not appear if you have fewer than 5 authorized computers, or if you have used this option within the last 12 months.