Singularity

A Technology Magazine

Buying a PC: We Figure It Out So You Don’t Have To Pg. 10

For Whom the Cell Tolls Pg. 5

Are Graphics a Game Changer?

Pg. 14 DIY: Back in Batch Pg. 7 Windows vs. Mac: The Greatest Battle of All Time Pg. 9

Table of Contents Photo Credit: By PlayStation Europe

Photo Credit: By ejbsf on Flickr.com

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5

For Whom The Cell Tolls

7

DIY: Back in Batch

9

Windows vs. Mac: The Greatest PC Battle of All Times

10

Buying a PC

14

Graphics: A Game Changer

16

Changing The World

18

Photoshop Tutorials

Photo Credit: By John Walton

Photo Credit: By Wimox on Flickr.com

Authors of Singularity John Walton is a student at the Liberal Arts Science Academy. He is a straight C++ student. He is the Dovahkiin of the Linux and C++ Realm. He shouts with code, shoots arrows of metasploit attacks, and uses a shield of ettercap. He forges in the depths of the Geany development environment, creating works worthy of the white hat dragons. In an effort to destroy the script kiddie trolls, he has begun a war that is fueled by custom linux distros made from pure anti spam matter.

Ethan Williams is a human freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy that tries really hard to make good grades. He writes in JAVA from time to time, but he isn’t very good at it (yet). He likes to write and draw, and loves science fiction and science fact. He is excited about the potential of technology, and where it may get us in the future. He also enjoys athletic activities such as Tennis and Martial Arts.

Ashwin Gupta is a student at The Liberal Arts and Science Academy who strives to improve his understanding of technology and innovative ideas. He enjoys programming and both, the mechanical and software aspects of technology and computers. He is currently learning how to program in Java and Python.

His interests also lie in mechanics and he is a member of his high school robotics team. He is also interested in many other subjects like the various forms of Science.

As a pastime he also enjoys playing soccer.

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Letter from the Editor Hello reader, Welcome to the first issue of Singularity. We are the writers, editors, and developers of Singularity. We strive to bring new and interesting views on technology to all of our audience through the form of all the most interesting and newsworthy material we can find. By reading our magazine, we hope you are well informed on the wonderful occurrences in the technological world, and hope you can make connections between our society and technology. If you walk away with more appreciation for just how far we have come, and how far we can go, we are doing our job correctly.

Our magazine went through many phases. Originally, we wanted a Science and Technology magazine, but we couldn’t find any sources for interviews if we were going to do a science magazine. It turned into a technology magazine, because one scientific article in a field of technological insights would have been odd. We apologise if you were expecting a science magazine; it couldn’t be helped. Of course, science and technology are closely related, so there might be some science related things. But do not expect us to focus on it.

We concentrated on articles that everyday readers could relate to their own daily. From first steps in programming to how we use cell phones in our lives, to graphics improvements in gaming, we hope that we can provide more clarity when on the topic of our use of technology in society. In an age where technology has such a large part in the world, it is important to understand just what the tools you use every day can do, or what they can be used (or misused) to do.

Thanks, The Singularity Staff

Photo credit: By fury on i-moc.com

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For Whom the Cell Tolls Cell Phones in our Lives

C

One day, while quietly checking his homework at the beginning of class, Louis Pedro’s, a high school freshman’s, cell phone exploded into musical notes. The teacher stormed over, angry at his disruption of the class’ silence, as he

frantically tried to silence the phone, embarrassed and bewildered by his cell phone’s betrayal. She snatched his cell phone away, and he had to pay the school penalty, or 15 dollars after school, to get his device back.

“My alarm that was not disabled for weekdays went off,” said LP. “Apparently, 5

minutes later I would have had to go to the office.”

Cell phones have wormed their way into most peoples lives; according to the

Huffington Post, about 86 percent of people in the world, or 6 billion people, own a cell phone, and according to the Pew Internet Project, 85 percent of Americans in 2012 own at least one mobile phone. Pew Research states that 74 percent of Americans in ownership of say they have used their handheld device in an emergency, gaining valuable help. Cell phones are fast and convenient, some of the newer brands allowing users to do things like gaming, filming, and emailing, along with normal calling and texting. But how far is the modern society willing to integrate these

Photo by Joi, Flickr.com

devices into our lives? Even with the advantages of modern cell phones, there are circumstances where cellphones are inappropriate, even unacceptable, as in LP’s situation.

Among the most famous of cell phone stories is the theater caller, someone who takes a call in the middle of a performance or a movie. Most people agree that a theater call is the height of rudeness, said a study by the US edition of Guardian. Complaints have also risen from people taking cell phones out in the middle of a conversation, to text, or more rarely, to take a call.

“I think that use of a cell-phone in face-to-face conversation is rude,” Janet Williams, a cell phone user, said, “Your attention should be with the person you are talking to. Only if you think it is an emergency, should you interrupt your conversation, and attend to your phone.” And irritation at cell phone usage does not stop at the one on one conversation level.

In America, one of the top countries in cell phone use according to Pew Internet, 81 percentage of people report occasional irritation by loud and annoying cellphone users conducting calls in public places. As more and more people begin to use cell phones over email and landlines, the misuse of cell phones grows in proportion.

Conversations, working environments, and public places can be disrupted by incoming calls, and most people don’t even know they are being rude when they take calls.

It has become something of a common faux pas.

According to teenagers interviewed, where cell phone use is most prevalent at 95 percent ownership rates in America according to the Pew Internet Project, there is discontent with the use of a cell phone during inappropriate situations. “Some situations [taking a call] could be appropriate,” David Worman, a high school freshman, said. “If it’s an emergency. I think it would be disrespectful either way,” he said, “but I think it’s a very bad idea.”

According to these cell phone users, a general code is followed when talking face to face, and it is rude to use cell phones in face-to-face conversations. According to teachers, many teenagers use cell phones in school; on one hand, it is a valuable resource for research in class if the classroom has no computers, but if misused, it can be a large disturbance in class.

Look familiar? To most people, it is.

“Cell phones should be turned off during class, so they do not interrupt the teachers or the students, because you need to concentrate on your schoolwork,” Williams said. “I think that checking them whenever the teacher allows you to have a break and indicates that it is OK to check during classes or at lunch is fine.”

Texting sounds, notifications, and texting itself are extremely annoying to teachers notes a Family Education article, since during lectures and work time, where the classroom is quiet, students can still forget to turn off their cell phones or put them on silent. However, a poll from that same article stated that 84 percent of people in America believe cell phone usage in the classroom should be allowed but limited.

“When they are working on individual activities, they can listen to music,” said Jacob Stephens, a teacher at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy high school (LASA). “Sometimes, if they need to look up information, I let them use it. I don’t want students using [cell phones] to communicate in class.” He firmly agrees with the current school policy of LASA on cell phones, however, which is that cell phones need to be turned off in class, but that the ultimate decision is left to the teacher in the classroom. “I really think the current policy is really good.

It gives teachers the flexibility to implement it the best way for the students in their classes,” he said.

Entire books, articles, and many blog posts are dedicated to raging about misuse of cell phones, such as The Jerk With The Cell Phone: A Survival Guide For The Rest Of Us by Barbara Pachter and Susan Magee, or The most annoying things you do with your phone that you should quit (or at least be aware of) article by Thorin Klososki, and people are still uncomfortable with others taking out cell phones at times they deem incorrect, such as face-to-face conversation. Most research and opinions point to a general lack of tolerance when concerned with cell phones, however there are many with more open minds, such as Mr. Stephens. Over time, humanity may become more tolerant of their cell phone using neighbors.

For now, research seems to agree with LP, that “in places where respect is required, they are unacceptable.”

By Ethan Williams

Photo from flickr: User ejbSF

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DIY: Back in Batch An Introductory Course to Programming

David Worman is a 14 year old scripter who writes batch, a simple scripting language. Scripting is a form of programming that is much more basic. Batch allows people to make programs or simple text based games due to its simple commands, ease of use, and availability. If one have Windows, they have batch.

“Batch is pretty straightforward and easy to learn,” Worman said.

Batch is useful and very simple, making it a good language to start out with. Without basic languages like batch, lua, or shell scripts, nobody would have as advanced games as the current. The way these simple programming languages have changed the course of gaming and computers can be seen as changing the course of gaming. Games such as Zork can be made with these languages.

This is the file explorer bar if you were wondering: Image By John Walton

The script should look something like this: cd C:\Program Files Then type “dir” in a new line and that will display the content of the folder when the script is run. Then using the “echo” command tell the user how to move files, which is done with the “move” command. Simply tell them the syntax “move (file to be moved) (location to be moved to)”. Then type “cmd” this will allow for the user to input commands. Save the file as a .bat and run it, it will look like this:

“Batch is simply a way of saving a series of commands to be run either interactively or silently through the command.com parser, which is itself a leftover from Windows NT, a shell that extends the functions of the DOS kernel,” part time scripter Michael Aldridge said.

The DOS kernel is what Windows was originally based off of and the command.com parser is often refered to as command prompt. With .bat files the writer saves commands that the command.com parser runs to execute a program.

Image By John Walton

Now to get into the actual writing of the file.

“Batch can easily make text-based applications,” Worman said.

To get into making a simple game, or any application, one first has to know where to write the script and how to make text appear. To write the script, open the start menu and search “Notepad”, then open it. To make something appear write “echo (text to appear here)” and then to keep it from instantly closing write “pause” on a new line. Then save it as (name).bat and run it. It will display the text that it was instructed it to.

To go to a folder to check it or move files, batch can make it easier. Its very simple to make a batch file that first opens a folder, shows you the contents and then tells the user how to move a file and different places to move it to.

First find the folder that is desired to open to, then write “cd” and then after it click the top bar of the file explorer and get the local address of the file copied and pasted into the script.

The way to remove the annoying location declaration at the beginning of the command line is by adding “@echo off” as the first line of your script.

Finally, input, the real hard part, first labels, to make a label type “:label1” in your script. Everything below that will be label1 until a new label is declared. This is good for making games. To get user input type: set /P id=Input: %=% and then to check it type “if %id% == 1 goto :label1”. The “id” can be changed to anything in either, and the 1 can be change to a string. If the user types 1 they will goto label1.

Example code: @echo off :LABEL0 set /P id=Input: %=% if %id% == 1 goto :LABEL1 if %id% == 2 goto :LABEL2 :LABEL1 pause exit :LABEL2 echo Hi pause exit

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Also to do more commands for the script, open command prompt and then type “help”, and scroll through the commands. Play around with it a bit.

It is possible to get viruses from batch scripts, so one should never run any unless they know what they are doing. If one does end up running a batch script that they didn’t know about then they should try to use an antivirus program to fix it. If not then go to a computer expert. The equivalent of a batch script for Macs is the shell script a .sh file.

“As with any piece of software, you shouldn’t run it unless you know what it does.” Aldridge said, “A good friend of mine once said ‘I don’t trust programs I didn’t write.’

That is good advice, and well founded too. It is somewhat a common belief in the linux community that if you blindly execute scripts, you deserve whatever malicious side-effects they may have. The same holds true for windows: if you don’t know what it does, you probably shouldn’t run it.”

By John Walton

Image By John Walton This is Zork 1 running in a command prompt window, this is based off of .com files with a .bat file run format. Zork was very instrumental in advancing video games and was considered one of the better games of the time.

Image By John Walton

This is an example of input in a batch script. Input is used in almost every application and is very useful to know..

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Software Wars: Windows vs. Mac A Look At The Best Software For You

Deciding on which computer or software is a hard decision, especially since the war for best computer software has never been more intense. Since computer software features are often associated with the computers themselves, knowing which software is better for you is crucial in buying computers. According to Technologizer Editor Harry McCracken, the two largest software producers, Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s Mac OS X are currently battling over customers. Realizing that they can’t attract all the customers, they have chosen to specialize in certain categories while still trying to improve as much as possible overall. Getting software that best fits you would improve your experience with your computer.

Being familiar and happy with your software usually can make or break your opinion on a computer. That’s why knowing whether you want an operating system that is better for film editing or gaming is important. The graphic below demonstrates what people’s opinions are towards the different softwares. The survey from Techblog was taken by 100 people who include engineers, computer technicians, frequent computer users, and gamers. The variety of people show that this isn’t a biased survey.

The results are very reliable because people have their reasons for their choice says Wisegeek. When the statistics show that Mac OS X is a better software for movie editing, it is mainly because of Apple’s iLife Suite that comes standard on the operating system. This suite is quality software and has many more available features compared to the Windows alternate of Windows Media Player.

The Windows Operating System on the other hand is considered better for gaming purposes because of multiple reasons. The number of video game players on Windows is considerably more than on Mac OS X. The same goes for the number of games. The release date of a game is usually later and the cost is usually higher on Mac OS X.

Most categories fall into one platform as the better option. It’s up to you to find the best option for you and make the decision on the computer and software. Before deciding, take a look at what other people have to say.

50%

The battle for best everyday software is neck and neck.

50%

Both softwares are good for programming.

100%

All survey takers agreed that Macs are far more secure and safe.

Photo Credit: Etiole.com

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94%

A huge majority of people think that Windows is better

87%

96%

Most people think that Windows is worth more for your money than Macs.

91%

Macs win for longest lasting computers and computer reliability.

Almost everyone agrees that Windows are easier to upgrade than

82%

Mac by far wins for best for movie editing and digital manipulation.

By John Walton

Buying a PC

When you are really busy and can’t take the time to research computer on your own, Singularity is here to help. We have a few models of computers to reccomend to you.

Image by: alienware.com This is an Alienware X51 desktop computer, starting at $699 with minimum hardware.

High Performance Computers

High performance computers are very useful for CPU intensive purposes, video editing, games with good graphics, and science simulations.

These computers are very useful for many other applications and are best for people who are willing to spend a good amount of money for the best performance.

Alienware computers are some of the higher end computers and as an extra they light up. These computers are pricey though, so be sure you have at least $1000 to spend on your computer.

Razer computers are also up with Alienware, but they are still starting out in the computer business. Before they began making computers they were in the peripherals business.

Their computers are around $2000.

You can also buy some higher end computers from other companies. Like the ASUS G75 which can be bought used from $1000, it is a laptop though. Laptops will always cost more because they include a monitor, keyboard, and all the parts are compact.

Image by: razerzone.com This is a Razer Blade laptop, starting at $2499 new, $1999 used.

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cheapest that you can buy the newest model is about $500.

Business Computers

Business computers are made for working using spreadsheet programs, word processing programs, and slideshow programs. These computers do not need a large amount of processing power, but often need to be easy to transport.

The EEE pc was a very common netbook made for transportability. It is very easy to modify and costs around $250 used.

Dell computers often are good choices, the Dell Inspiron series seems particularly popular, they are a fair price, a good quality, and are effective for their purpose. The

Image by: tuxi.ripabe.net This is a Inspiron 1505n laptop, often used for business.

Image by: photozou.jp This is an EEE pc staring at around $250 used.

Personal Computers

These computers are mainly used to browse the web or email. Often these are around the same price as the business computers

Macs are good for everything a regular computer is good for, their screen might be higher quality, and some have good battery life, but those are the only better features. If you are a graphics nut, use a Mac.

Toshiba is a good company for personal computers as they are very good for lasting a long time and have good wireless cards.

Image by: viewology.net This is a Macbook Pro for around $900-$1000 used depending on quality.

Google Chromebooks are very good for web based usage, they are meant to be on the internet. And use chrome for everything.

Image by: google.com Google Chromebook is about $200-$500 depending on whether it is used and the quality.

Image by: toshiba.com This is a Toshiba Portege, it is around $500-$700.

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Computers Accessories

Computer accesories are common for users to get, such as mice, keyboards, and wifi extenders. Here are a few suggestions.

Mice are often used on laptops rather than the silly touchpad that is originally on the laptop. Microsoft mice are cheap and good for travel. Razer mice are more expensive and good for gaming. Razer is around $60 while Microsoft is around $20.

Keyboards are mainly for desktops and you can get some really cool ones. There are laser keyboards ($100 on most websites), there are regular keyboards($10-$20 depending on quality), and then gaming keyboards (ranging from $30-$60).

This is a cantenna for extending wifi connection, $74.

Wifi extenders are no as common as many other Image by: simplewifi.com accesories, but can be just as useful, if not more. You can use your wifi from down the block and use more wifi networks than you could normally. Cantennas and grid dishes are good for 3-8 miles depending on the quality of then antenna.

Image by: GemMoth @ Flickr.com This is the Razer Death Adder mouse, it is around $70 more or less depending on where you buy it from.

Image by: justin_vidamo @ Flickr.com This is an alienware keyboard that has its lights on. With the right software you can use this keyboard on any computer.

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Are Good Graphics Really A Good Thing?

An ATI HD4850 with a Musashi Cooler out of a computer. This was a powerful graphics card but is almost out of date now.

Fourteen-year-old Alex Martinez was sitting in front of his computer waiting for Diablo III to download, the new game that everyone would be playing.

A few minutes into the download he discovered his computer didn’t meet the minimum requirements for the game and was forced to abort the download.

“Finding out that I couldn’t play the game sucked,” said Martinez. “I can only play about 60 percent of the games I would like to.”

The Effects of Improved Videogame Graphics

Martinez isn’t the only teenager who is unable to play video games their friends can. Teenagers all over the world are having the same problem as Martinez. This is mainly due to the graphics industry improving so much that videogames are having a much higher minimum graphics requirement than normal. On top of this, the cost to upgrade or replace parts isn’t cheap.

In fact, it has been rising in the past few years. All these factors add up and restrict teenagers, such as Martinez, from being able to play the video games they would like to.

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“The cost of upgrading your computer is very expensive and being a high school student it isn’t easy to pay for new parts or a new computer and my current graphics card restricts me from playing various graphics intensive games,” Martinez said.

The Initiatives of Graphics Companies

The graphics industry isn’t ignoring this problem but people feel they aren’t doing enough. Graphics companies are mainly focusing on improving their graphics as much as possible with as little of an increase in the cost of graphics. This isn’t what many people want right now.

“I would like graphics companies to focus on lowering the cost of new parts rather than substantially improving graphics so that people like me can still afford good parts,” Martinez said.

Normally, graphics companies would change their motives to match that of their customers but not everyone agrees with Martinez.

“It depends on how much money you

Photo Credit: By Wimox on Flickr.com

are willing to spend and I don’t worry about the cost of new parts for my computer,” said Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) High school student Keegan Anderson.

According to LASA Computer Science teacher Jacob Stephens, the cost of new products isn’t the issue and he thinks that the current cost of new parts are well priced and are will be stable in the near future.

“I don’t think the problem is the cost of new parts because companies improve on their products every year and sell the product for the same price,” said Stephens. “Take this iPad for example, every year Apple improves the product but keeps the cost of it the same every year.”

To find a middle of the road opinion graphics companies chose the view of people like Stephens and that is why the majority of graphics cards are in that same price range. A small difference doesn’t matter very much because people like Martinez will still buy their products even if they have to

squeeze in a little extra money. This is because they think that what they are buying is definitely worth it.

The Future of Videogame

Graphics

“I think it is worth it because you don’t replace these parts too often and you get a lot out of it. These graphics cards improve your gaming performance and let you have a lot more fun,” Martinez said.

Here is where another problem arises.

No one really knows what the future for graphics really is and if they want to make a serious commitment to a certain product then they don’t know if they will get a better product two weeks from now.

This seems to be the opinion of most teenagers who enjoy playing video games.

“Improved graphics helps me by looking better and being more aesthetic. I usually have a lot more fun with games that look stunning,” LASA student Justin Embrey said.

Pricing their products at a cheaper price can give their company an edge over other companies especially if they can come out with new cheap products faster than other companies can.

“The main reason why companies want to keep their products as cheap as possible is to gain as much leverage

Picture Here

“It is hard to commit to buying a certain product if I don’t know when a brand new item will come out,” Martinez said.

It is hard to be sure about what the future of graphics will be on a day to day scale but the biggest long term goal is to get graphics as realistic as life and to have the user experience all aspects of the character.

without lowering the price many people like Martinez feel as if their wishes are being left out. If graphics really becomes as realistic as described above then people will want to be able to play these games even more forcing them to spend a substantial amount of money, time, and livelihood.

“I definitely think good graphics and video games are worth the cost but it still isn’t easy to pay for all of the equipment and parts,” said Martinez.

“The cost of new parts and equipment is worth not having the feeling of not being able to play a game I enjoy. I do think the goal for the graphics industry should be to lower the cost as much as possible though.”

“I think the future of videogames is virtual graphics,” Stephens said.

Stephens has experienced the new technology first hand in its development stages.

“I was at UT one summer for a training course in Artificial Intelligence and we were testing out a new virtual program,” said Stephens. “ We would wear a pair of goggles and when worn we could see a whole new virtual world. It was amazing to see how people and their brains reacted to this new technology. People would even stop to touch a virtual wall and then realize that there was actually nothing there. I was amazed at how realistic the virtual world looked when I wore the goggles.”

A picture from Battlefield 3 using its new game engine that is capable of displaying much better graphics than its predecessor.

Photo Credit: By psygeist on Flickr.com

over other companies as possible and to attract a lot of customers,” Stephens said.

technology are progressing rapidly but

A picture showing how graphics have changed from Pong to Crysis 2.

Photo Credit for Pong Picture : By Trevor Pritchard on Flickr. com Photo Credit for Crysis 2 Picture: By PlayStation Europe

By Ashwin Gupta

If this is the future, the cost of new products would increase even further and leave people like Martinez out in the dust. The improvements in Pg. 19

Gamers and programmers all over the world have thought up brilliant ideas while playing their favorite games, but it is only recently that

There is a lot one can do in a game. There is even more one can do if mods (a gamer’s term for modifying they have actually been able to edit the content within the game’s source code) are used. With game through programs provided by the recent advances, “mods” are now a regular occurance in developers of the games themselves. the gaming world.

Changing the World

Using these tools, a modder can do almost anything with a game, as long as they have the knowledge to do so. Entire communities have sprung up around gaming. One of the most popular and well known is DayZ, a mod created using the game Arma 2. The original game was a realistic shooter, but, in the hands of the mod developers, it was turned into a zombie invasion MMO that millions play daily.

To mod, a programmer could choose from any number of tools: one may wish to use the most basic of tools, say an Eclipse JAVA program or even a notepad editor, or possibly an easier to use program created by the game developers, like Skyrim’s Creation Kit.

Modding a game can mean anything from changing the graphics to changing the gameplay and story. Experienced groups have even made entirely new worlds for players to visit.

There are many different types of modders, however, Michael Barre is a programmer at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy Highschool, and he mods a game called Minecraft. Minecraft has some of the largest modding communities of any game. He works in modding communities to make some mods, however,

sometimes he makes mods himself.

Here are some questions and answers from an interview of Michael: Q) What is the extent of what you can do in modding?

A) I can only mod Minecraft. There’s not much I can’t do in it. I can’t do advanced graphical alterations, but with the help of publicly available projects, I can change/add more or less anything.

Q) What mods have you created? For what games? What is the largest scale mod you have done?

A) I’ve created several mods for minecraft. The biggest one I made on my own is a mod that adds ninjas to Minecraft. The biggest mod I have contributed to is a mod that adds pokemon to Minecraft.

Q) Are there many games that can be modded? Or have modding software by the developer?

A) I believe most games can be modded. The levels of difficulty in modding and installing the mods varies, but most games do not have modding software from the game developers.

Using Nano (Linux) to mod a game Photo By : John Walton

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This Minecraft mod changes the textures in the world Photo By : Photopedia, Pierre Baillet

Q) What is the largest scale mod you have seen? In what game?

A) The largest single mod I have seen is either the aether mod for Minecraft, hack slash mine for Minecraft, or pixelmon for minecraft. I’ve never used mods in any other game besides Minecraft. The largest collection of mods I have ever seen is the technic pack for Minecraft.

content for their favorite games. If gamers ever want to get mods for their games, they can simply search for their game’s mods online, and they will trip over mods, modding support, and free downloads to improve their gaming experience.

Photo By : Stanford A popular programming tool, Eclipse is versatile and relatively easy to use.

Q) Can you make money from mods? Have you?

A) Yes. There are a couple different ways. Depending on the terms of service of the game being modded, you can sometime sell mods. Also you can ask the community that is using the mod for donations. Finally you can use a service like adf.ly for your download links. I have used adf.ly and I’ve made about $40 with it, so modding isn’t something you could do as a career in a practical sense.

Although it is difficult for mod developers to get large amounts of money from their work, as Michael said, many still keep it as a hobby. More and more, games have been engaging the consumer community to create new content for themselves in the game, from small level editors to full modding support. If a programmer wished to begin a modding career (or hobby), they are just a few clicks away from creating their own

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Masters of Magic The Art of Digital Manipulation

In recent years, digital manipulation has become a popular and familiar technique. Long gone are the days where you can believe everything you see. According to Beauty Redefined, 87 percent of beauty magazine images are digitally manipulated. The problem with this is that technology has reached a point where it has shaped your point of view. A good example of this are beauty magazines. For people who read beauty magazines and have kept their view of “the perfect body” as these models, their view of the perfect body is incorrect and may even be impossible to achieve. Usually they can look just like you but with a lot of manipulation. The technology to do so is so freely available and easy to use that anyone can use it, including you. After this short tutorial you will see how easy it is to make an image look better.

To see how easy it is manipulate images we are going to create a basic car advertisement. First we are going to open 1 up Photoshop and import or copy and paste a picture of a grassy background.

Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

Next we are going to copy and paste or insert a picture of a car. We will be manipulating this car until it looks completely different. Right now the car looks like it’s floating on the grass.

2

Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

To make the car seem more natural we can use the stamp tool which is available in your tool bar. The stamp tool will be used to make the grass appear on top of the car’s wheels, which makes it look more realistic. To use the stamp tool just select the area of the grass you want to on top of the wheels and then click to place it on the wheels.

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Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

Now we want to make the grass a little bit darker to be a different color from the grass. We are going to use the brightness and contrast tool to do this. You can change the settings to whatever you would like but I just changed the brightness to -50 to get enough of the darker effect.

4

Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

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The next step is the most visual and makes the car change an entire color. This is done using the color replacement tool. You simply select what color you want and use apply it on the car layer. I changed mine to a sporty blue.

5

Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

This time we are going to make the picture even darker by increasing the vibrance and saturation to +100. The effect makes the blue in the car not pop out as much but still get a lot of attention.

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Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

Now it’s time to make the bottom half of the grass a little darker to act as a shadow for the grass. I did this by using the burn tool which is again found in the tool bar. The burn tool is a simple tool that usually darkens or burns certain parts of your image area.

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Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

Here we start adding in the text. Since this is a car advertisement for the Nissan X20 I added those words in. I just centered the words using Trajan Pro in size 48.

Trajan Pro is a serif font with a lot of kerning.

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Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

Here we add the rest of the of the text and are done with the product. We add a smaller line underneath that line saying “Now Available in Singularity Blue”. I did this in System font at size 23. A small but bolded font works well because you want it noticeable but less noticeable than the actual headline.

All of this shows how easy it was to make a basic car advertisement. Think about how much better professionals could do and next time you change your view on something because on an image, think about how much the image has actually been manipulated to make it look so perfect.

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Photo Credit: By Ashwin Gupta

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