Rubik's Cube

I like puzzles... and i happen to own several Rubik's cubes [at right: 2x2x2, 3x3x3 and the demoniac 4x4x4 (5x5x5 is hard to find...)]

Today i took the day to think a bit of solving approaches to the 3x3x3, the method i first learn was the layer by layer method, the first 2 layers and the top cross are pretty intuitive for me, i found the algorithms to solve them by myself, the top corners are easy but since i have a bad memory i can't memorize all the algorithms (like +50) that allow the a nice optimization.  So i researched for a new method, i found Lars Petrus method to be quite funny to apply, it requires some understanding of the cube, at least to solve the 2x3x3 (first 2 layers) but if applied the top cross will automatically be done and it isn't required to go into that 4 corners twist algorithms application.

I can't tell if the method is faster or not since i can do the cube under 90s (if i don't get too unlucky) with my old approach, this one requires a bit more of look ahead, but is funny how the top cross is automatically created (this is due to a parity trick in algorithm).

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Now a question for the readers, you don't need to be a cube expert: Do you think it is easier to solve a 4x4x4 cube with different colors on the sides or with different images?

My answer is with different colors, at least with my method. I don't own a cube with images, but by trying to make patterns on the 4x4x4 i found out that it is really hard to make stuff on the place we want, so in a image all cubies have a specific place giving the same trouble.

That was big...

Just some random (funny) fact, this was the message that you would (will - hmm, better don't ask how) get when you've finish Lemmings for Atari Lynx:

Link (7442 bytes .TXT)

Yep... they took almost 7,4Kb of perfectly good space and used it to something that can be called one of the longest game over screens ever made (maybe not, but at that time there weren't many games with such big end), well, it was some way of developers reward player... ...a weired way...

5800 XpressMusic - Review

Yep, i buyed the first S60 touch device by nokia... i've been using it for a couple days, so lets talk about the goods and the bads: The goods:

• The screen is perhaps the best screen i ever saw in a mobile device, a little smaller than iphone but with increased resolution, it has an awesome constrast and bright (i use it with bright on lower settings).
• The battery looks like it gives what it promises, i used it for 2 days on a intensive kinda way and it is still kicking
• The performance doesn't make it the fastest device, i won't recomend it for 3d games, but it is quite fast on most of the tasks, reproducing video with 640x368@25fps without trouble.
• Connectivity tests were flawlessly, Wi-Fi wizard configuration is quite intuitive, bluetooth sincronization with hands-free headset was easy, trully a nice experience on this point, helping all this browser is really good rendering pages very similar to desktop way, flash lite 3.0 is a nice think as it supports flash 8 videos and animations.
• The GPS works quite well ... Nokia Maps and Google Maps (google maps works really well on this device!) provide a nice interface and worked quite smoothly.
• Multimedia features are quite nice, video, music, radio and images are presented/rendered nicely, the interface on these aplications was quite well made.

The bads:

• The interface while fast (except for auto-rotate in internet browser) it's not the most intuitive thing, sometimes you need to tap to select and to tap again to confirm, requiring a double tap, this usually happens in dropdown-like menus. There are also some gliches in browser and with mini-QWERTY keyboard (not that bad). Also in landscape mode the top bar of the browser (equivalent to the title bar and status bar of the desktop merged) is freaking huge the could save that area to the page and provide a bar identical to the one in portrait mode...
• Lacks pre-loaded software, you can however download a bunch of free stuff in a aplication very similar to app store, some are trully free like QuickOffice (only for read documents not to edit), others are trials... the worst thing is that Adobe Reader 2.5 LE is TRIAL!!! I mean with all that bunch of pdf's that exist on the internet a pdf reader is quite handy but to not make it free when non-touch versions are free is freaking bad...
• OS is not that open as most of people may think by look at nokia foruns, installing some applications may prove near to impossible (certificates are a pain), adding to that, the tools provided to development are beta or bug filled. The device is still 'green' require a some extra time to enable development of aplications worth the effort.

In the end is a nice device, lacks a bit in software support, but i read that firmware updates are arriving to correct some stuff (available in Asia). During the usage of this device i found some nice stuff that you may like if you have one of these:

• Game Boy Color Emulator MeBoy - A freaking good java aplication that works pretty well with the touch interface provided by the phone to java aplications.
• Google Maps -You know what this is ...
• Handbreak - You WILL need this to watch your videos on the phone, SUPER is also a nice alternative.
• Well .... this - I didn't tested all of them... lol

That's all ... enjoy ^__^

Lumines Mobile

Enough with programming, let's talk about games, one of my favorites is the Lumines, i do have the mobile version, that is in game play very similar to other versions (basically just lacks some musics and the time bar doesn't change speed within the same music) This game is very similar to tetris, but adds some tricks that make it one of the best arcade games ever invented. Mobile version has several modes: Arcade (with easy, medium and hard), Challenge ( beat 999.999 points), vs. CPU (the last guy is quite hard), Single Skin (one music, one skin - gets boring after a while), Time Attack (make more in less time), Puzzle (make some shapes on screen - mobile version has only a few), Shuffle (pretty much challenge but in a random fashion). I also made a version for TI-89 (a long, LONG time ago - i kept it on one of my backups), is kinda simple and lacks a menu... but works... Now... about hi-scores >:D ... i wonder if someone who has this game can beat mine:

• I have gold in all arcade levels... so i'll just skip the score of arcade (heck that would made the list quite long)
• I have the 999.999 in challenge mode (several times actually - in PSP/PS2 this would have an extra 9)
• I have 81 Blocks in 90 secs, 132 in 180, 230 in 300 and 432 in 600 for time attack mode... this is the mode i play now that i beat the game.

I think this will make a nice challenge for the ones who have the game on mobile phone (or even in PSP or PS2) and finished it already... I think this is my last post this year, soo ... happy new year! ;p