Eve Online Voice Chat!

Eve Online is just about to get better. CCP Games and Vivox announced at E3 that subscribers of the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) EVE Online will soon have real-time, in-game voice communication as the result of a technology integration agreement between the two companies. This feature was also rewarded with the Stratics "Most Innovative" Award. Here's what Stratics had to say about it:

In recent years we haven’t seen many award-worthy innovations in the massively multiplayer online gaming genre, but this year that all changed when we saw what CCP was working on. The first is a feature which has been widely talked about, but hasn’t been implemented properly – or has been a scrapped feature for many titles: in-game voice chat. We had the opportunity to test the voice chat ourselves and there’s nothing more to say than the fact that it is crystal clear. CCP is taking things even a step further by testing the EVE Online client on PDA’s. That’s right. EVE Online might be coming to your handheld device – that’s pretty darn cool if you ask us.

I guess that with this feature on the way, there's no more doubts about Eve being the Best MMOG so far. If you're not convinced check out these links:

• Eve Online Free 14 Days Trial
• Eve Online Homepage
• Eve Online Trailers (all created from in-game recordings)
  

Two thumbs up for the icelanders at CCP and the best game made so far.

Blank&Jones – Relax (Edition 2)

For all of you who seek the best of chillout music, here's the answer: Blank&Jones – Relax (Edition2). Blank & Jones offer up a soothing collection of ambient Balearic tunes and low-tempo chillout tracks with the second edition of their "Relax" series. Spread out over two discs, disc one (called "Sun") seems more focused on pure leisure,while the second "Moon" disc offers some slightly more uptempo tunes while still maintaining a calming mood overall.

The vocals are amazing. "Revealed" with Steve Kilbey is one of the "standout's" of the set. Another one is the Elles De Graaf -fronted "Closer To Me" with its laidback shuffling beat and chiming synths or the vintage 70s.

Naturally "Relax: Edition Two" is more appropriate for and intended for leisurely moments like lounging over drinks with friends or winding down after a night out rather than for peak hour club play and as such provides a warmly charming aural journey ideal for such times.

Crazy Rabbit

What out for the crazy rabbit!! He doesn't know the difference between mouse-pointer and carrot no more. Approach rabbit with mouse pointer only very carefully & slowly. You have been warned. Check out the crazy bunny. 

Ergo Proxy OST

Ergo Proxy original soundtrack "Opus1"  was just released. The music is the one featured in the episodes aired so far. Although it's mostly instrumental the soundtrack is very well made and makes a good audition. It also features Radioheads Paranoid Android from acclaimed album OK Computer. The ripped version is available on the Net in high quality 320 cbr mp3 or lossless FLAC versions. A search at TokyoToshokan for "ergo" should list the OST torrents. Great series, great soundtrack.

Ergo Proxy

This has to be the best animated series that I've seen in a long time. The animation is produced by the director of Witch Hunter Robin, and scripted by Dai Sato (who also worked on Ghost In The Shell : Stand Alone Complex). It's hard to go too far wrong with talent like that and the trailer looks amazing. So far the series is up to episode 11 out of 26. The graphics are first class, the story gets you from the first scene and doesn't let go. This animation is a "must see" even if you are not a big anime fan. Here a short intro into the complex and so beautifull plot of the series:

In a world where humans and androids, known as autoreivs, live in relative peace, there exists a domed city named "Romdeau". Under the implementation of complete management control, it is a paradise where feelings are literally discarded, and the governing council dictates the way of life the citizens should live. But this utopian landscape is soon broken by a series of mystifying murders. Real Mayar, a female inspector from the Citizen Information Bureau, along with her autoreiv partner Iggy, are tasked to solve the murder cases. She is soon attacked by a creature drawn to her which is neither human nor android, and learns about the mysterious phenomena called "Awakening", an event which draws her further into the case…and to the world beyond the limits of Romdeau.

The episodes can be found on torrent site like TokyoToshokan as high quality HDTV ripps.

Flatlife

In Flatlife, hanging a painting on the wall becomes a quite hazardous operation, houses of cards seem subject to Murphy's Law, doing the laundry requires special skills in the field of ethology, and watching TV turns out to be a life-threatening activity. The movie won the Prix de jury (Jury Award) at Cannes Film Festival 2004 and was nominated for the Golden Palm in the short movies category. It's quite funny, as you will notice. It also features a panda.

» Download movie (Quicktime MOV) 

Who’s your daddy?

Now honestly, who loves you more then your mommy? That's something we all agree upon. But there's one more question… Wanna know which one and its answer? Just watch this videoclip of a band called Kennedy (the song is called Your Mama), it must be the funniest seen latelly.

» View clip (Quicktime MOV)

Flash Drums

An impressive demonstration of Flash & music skills by TokyoPlastic. It takes a bit of time to load but it's worth the waiting. View the animation here.

Cowboy Bebop

I just stumbled upon an quite old (considering it was released in 1998) anime series: Cowboy Bebop. I heard many good things about this anime and must say they are all true. The anime is awesome, from story to grafics. The whole series has a unique look & feel with retro funky music mixed with spaceships & digital technology. Each of the 26 episodes of the series is packed with action, catchy phrases and humor. Of course, plot twists & surprises are not forgotten. You can get the digitally remastered DVD version of the episodes via torrents, and believe me it's worth every byte downloaded. To avoid spoilers, here's a short intro to the series:

The year 2071 A.D. Driven out of their terrestrial eden, humanity chose the stars as the final frontier. With the section-by-section collapse of the former nations a mixed jumble of races and peoples came. They spread to the stars, taking with them the now confused concepts of freedom, violence, illegality and love, where new rules and a new generation of outlaws came into being.
Meet Spike and Jet, a drifter and a retired cyborg cop who have started a bounty hunting operation. In the converted ship The Bebop, Spike and Jet search the galaxy for criminals with bounties on their heads. They meet a lot of unusual characters, including the unusually intelligent dog, Ein, and the voluptuous and vexing femme fatale, Faye Valentine.

PHP5 Benchmark

Byster.net blog, "Web Related Talks", features a PHP5 benchmark. The tests were run on PHP 5.0.5 and show quite interesting results. The most segnificant results are the one from the regular expression test, where preg_match() proved to be 4.7 times faster then eregi(). Also, file_get_contents() function, which is not so commonly used, in favor of file(), seems to be 2.26 times faster then file().
Click here to view all the detailed test results.
Other tests (for Apache & mySQL), as well as a comparision with PHP 4 are also available on the blog.