I'm typing this on my iPad Air. So far, big thumbs up. i had an iPad 3 which is what I used most morning s and evenings to post and respond here. The air has two major improvements over the 3. First, it's noticeably lighter which makes holding it much easier. Second, they shrunk the sides of it which makes it easier to reach the keyboard. I'm able to yep probably around 50 word per minute on the Air versus maybe 30 on the iPad 3. if you have an old...
My old friend Steven Den Beste wrote this awhile back: Let's talk about the Third Amendment for a moment. Remember that one? Probably not; in this day and age it's something of a Constitutional joke. "No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law." Remember now? The Bill of Rights which passed Congress had twelve clauses, and ten of them were almost immediately ratified by...
I’m on as Draginol. My love this game for so many reasons. If you’re in it, friend me, it’s so much better when you are playing with friends. For me, being “into” guns really adds to the enjoyment. I am playing mostly as an engineer and I’ve upgraded to the ACW-R (Adaptive Combat Rifle) which, it turns out, I have in “real life” (though in real life it’s semi-automatic of course). But it’s really cool to play the game with a weapon you actually own. The ...
I brought in frames of honey and extracted the honey from them. I then took the depleted frames back outside and soon discovered that the bees had followed me home.
Deadly Foes update released! v1.4 Stardock is proud to announce the release of v1.4 of Legendary Heroes, the expansion to Fallen Enchantress. Version 1.4 adds dozens of significant enhancements to the game including but not limited to: The original Fallen Enchantress scenario has been added A host of new summoning spells Enhanced AI for handling the new summoning spells Significant improvements to late-game performance for multi-core PC players Rebalancing of m...
Stardock’s Launch8 is a program that should, imo, have been part of Windows 8 in the first place. On every other mobile device you have some sort of persistent quick launch bar that makes it easy to get to the things you use all the time. Not only does Launch8 had this persistent, easy to use launcher to the bottom of the Windows 8 Start screen, it integrates the usability features first introduced into Windows 7 such as Jump-lists (Which should matter more than ever on a t...
I love Stardock. I really do. But I’ve been seeing someone else for the past year or so… I don’t know exactly how it started. But I was talking to friends of mine in the industry and we’ve all been frustrated with the direction of 3D game engines. The hardware has been there for awhile that would allow us to have some amazing looking visuals and performance for strategy and role playing games but the software just wasn’t there. They’ve been focusing on first person shoo...
I was playing Galactic Civilizations II last night. I hadn’t played it in a very long time and was stunned by just how much…awesome it has in it. That awesomeness didn’t come from the original design. It came from years and years of iteration and frankly, labors of love. The problem I see with Legendary Heroes is that it’s really hard to do iteration like that. After all, it’s technically Elemental: Fallen Enchantress – Legendary Heroes. It’s a mouth full. No one ...
This past year we’ve been working to make the Windows 8 desktop more productive with Start8 and ModernMix . Now, for users who live and play in the Windows 8 Metro environment, we have a new app coming: Launch8. Launch8 adds a quick launch bar to the Windows 8 Start screen that is persistent as the user scrolls (as seen on iOS and Android). Launch8 on the bottom Launch8 set to be at the top Launch8 will automatically be added to all active Obje...
Today is the 20th anniversary of Stardock’s incorporation. Having my own company was never my intention. It sort of just happened. What started in my dorm room has, over the past 20 years, expanded into an exciting but sometimes maddening adventure. Twenty years ago I was a college student at Western Michigan University studying to become an electrical engineer. My mom and I had moved to Michigan when I was four years old, and she had taught me the importance of working and saving fr...
Keep a close eye on the Stardock sites tomorrow… Tomorrow, Stardock turns 20! Tomorrow. Tomorrow. October 15, 2013.
I found this fairly dry looking site that goes over all kinds of interesting financial stats: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com It’s non-partisan (it’s non political, it’s a glorified spread sheet). But it’s interesting to look at snap shots of what the federal government spents its money on. Starting in 1800.. Pretty boring still… .. and next… The 16th...
In recent discussions, it's become clear that many people aren't really that familiar with the US constitution. This is a shame because it's actually not very long. The constitution is broken into two parts. The first part lists the explicit powers the government has. The second part are the amendments, two of which are designed to make it bloody clear that only the explicitly named powers listed are things the federal government can do. The recently passed AC...
It can be quite a challenge to work at the same place for 20 years. I think that’s doubly true if you’ve never worked anywhere else. That said, looking back, I haven’t really worked at the same place for 20 years. I’ve actually worked at 5 places, all called Stardock and all very different. Stardock Primoridal “This really seems exciting!” –College Student Brad Wardell, 1993 This was back when it was just me. The year was 1993. The closest thing I...
In the evening as the parents were going to bed, the drowsy four-year-old appeared at their bedroom door with a question: "Can I take that magic telephone and put it under my pillow tonight?" That was the moment when the Nokia executive understood that his company was in trouble. http://pulse.me/s/rL4vl