Technology

Toxicity is a huge problem in online video games. Some of the most well-known toxic online gaming communities include League of Legends, Dota and your favorite console shooters. While console shooters have generally included voice chat and a range of “your mom” insults screamed by the 13 year olds on the other end of the line, PC games typically include text chat, and a clearly visible record of every toxic statement.

Over the holiday break, I had a chance to play a number of different games. Among these games, I tried out a few PC ports of primarily console-focused games, and I was reminded of some things that frustrate me when I have my “PC Gamer” hat on. Without calling out any particular developer or publisher, I’d like to take this change to suggest a few recommendations for PC ports that I wish every developer would follow.

I recently received my Jetson TK1 Development Board, which I’m evaluating for potential use in an embedded systems course next Spring. This board is attractive to me because it has a high-end quad core ARM A15 processor as well as a high-end mobile GPU with support for the latest OpenGL and CUDA development environments. This post is going to serve as a way for me to record the things needed to set up the device in the first place, and hopefully more posts will follow as I manage to develop some examples on the board that will hopefully turn into lab assignments for the class.

I bought my first iPhone 2 years ago in October of 2011. I got the 5th iPhone then, the one called the iPhone 4S (or force for short). Two years have passed and I was eligible for a subsidized upgrade on the 7th iPhone, which they call iPhone 5S (is that SS or 55?). I decided I wanted to get the new upgrade, so I went ahead and ordered one online just after midnight when they went on sale.