We would lie if we were to claim that the Apple TV is a perfect console, because that’s not true. While it does have its share of problems, no one can deny that it also has a lot of potential. The developers are working hard to improve it and bring it to current standards in terms of functionality and available content, but there are certain shortcomings about it that may tick off some people.
The App Store discovery doesn’t work as it should and give the fact that you cannot link applications on the web doesn’t help boost the ATV’s popularly either. However, in the past 2 weeks we went on a download spree and got to play a wide range of games on the ATV. If you’re an Apple TV gamer and want to know more about the best titles you should check out, then you’re in the right place. Below we’ll take a better look at the Best apple TV games that we think every Apple TV owners should play. Let’s check them out!
1. Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising
Space shooters seem to be enjoying a lot of success on the Apple TV and Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising is certainly a title that deserves your attention. The game is fun to play, has great art and we believe that its shortcomings in the voiceover department can be overlooked. Why? Well, because the developers just gave us first look at how the Siri Remote may be used in the development of future Apple TV games.
In terms of control, it’s limited and your ship will automatically attack enemy ships. Using the motion controls is fun and exploring the vast space is an experience in itself given the great graphics. If you’re into space shooters and want to play a slick title that perfectly fits the genre, then you may want to give Manticore Rising a shot.
2. Oceanhorn
Do you love The Legend of Zelda and think it’s an amazing game? Well, we also think the same. Even more, we want to let you know about Oceanhorn which is a sort of Zelda clone. What we love about this title, aside from its resemblance to Zelda, are the top notch graphics. These actually give you a glimpse of the ATV’s capability as a gaming console for less derivative games. Overall, the game is really fun to play, yet it’s not a masterpiece by any means. However, it does prove that titles such as it may be a convincing leap to a bigger screen.
3. Alto’s Adventure
If you have an iPad or an iPhone, chances are that you may have already played Alto’s Adventure. This is a very fun and interesting game to say the least. Not only that, but it features smooth animations, stark colors, amazing environments, and minimal artwork. All of these combined result in a world that captivates you and makes you want to play more. As you’ll zip down the slopes, all you have to do is jump. You can also hold the button to perform backflips, so playing the game is very simple. If you’re into very simple games that you can play either on the subway or at home while having a cup of tea, then Alto’s Adventure is a title you should certainly not miss.
4. Bean Dreams
Bean Dreams is probably one of the funniest games we’ve ever played on the Apple TV. In the game you’ll play as a Mexican bean that simply can’t stop itself from jumping. This means that you just need to use your thumb to move the character right or left. When playing it on the Apple TV, you can either use a controller or the Siri Remote to enjoy it. Overall, Bean Dreams resembles Mario a lot and it’s a fresh take on the game that we think you’ll love. We’ve also had a lot more fun playing it with the Siri Remote rather than a third party controller, but your mileage may vary.
5. Skylanders: Superchargers
If you never thought that cramming a 10 GB game on a console is impossible, then you’re wrong. Skylanders Superchargers managed to do just that and you can now play it on the Apple TV. What makes this game special is the fact that it uses the app thinning technique on the tvOS to stream various parts of the game on the fly. Better yet, since it also features iCloud Saves, you can literally play this game anytime and anywhere as long as you’re connected to the internet.
If you want to play the game, you also have the option to purchase a 75-dollar starter pack, a vehicle, 2 figurines, and a controller. If you don’t want that, then rest assured. You can have just as much fun by opting for the in-app purchases. Have fun!
Did you see and like the first John Wick film from 2014? If so, close this browser window quickly and urgently—X out the window; shut your laptop lid; destroy your tablet with a single, perfectly placed bullet; or even stab your smartphone with a pencil—then use a burner phone to order a ticket for the sequel with haste.
For the rest of you or for those less smitten with the first entry in the revenge-action series, I will do my best to implore you to see this film without spoiling its bloody majesty. John Wick Ch. 2 is a dizzying, enjoyable mess of guns, cars, knives, more guns, and martial arts, but it’s also an incredible example of how an action-film director can position so many disparate elements—scenery, cast, tension, pacing, and cinematography—to make filmmaking excellence look so easy.
They pull Wick back in
Wick’s gotten himself into yet another jam.
Bad news for the ravers at this party.
Ruby Rose stands out as a mute hitman who taunts Wick for much of the film.
Quite a few actors from the first film return, particularly another welcome appearance by Lance Reddick.
John Wick, played by Keanu Reeves, opens this sequel with one thing on his mind: tying up a loose end. The original film documented Wick, a retired, legendary hitman, returning to his murderous roots after having his civilian life turned upside down by Russian mobsters. That film also spent a decent amount of time building up Wick’s desire for revenge (and his ability to kill pretty much anything he wants to). With that out of the way, Wick 2 wastes no time punching its foot on the action accelerator.
After wrapping up that earlier quest and enjoying a brief moment of solace, Wick finds himself in an entirely different pickle, all thanks to an Italian man named Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio). Turns out when Wick wanted to retire a few years back, he called in a pretty dark favor from D’Antonio, and this leaves our hero with one more debt to clear. “I didn’t want to do this,” D’Antonio insists, but he’s clearly desperate—as proven by his quick shift from a casual conversation over espresso to whipping out a grenade launcher.
Thus, Wick embarks on a journey that is similar to its predecessor—but only in the fact that Wick is on a mission to kill a specific target (and anybody who dares get in his way). What’s intriguing here is that the feel of this murderous journey is changed so drastically by his motivation: paying a debt, instead of exacting revenge. Reeves milks this distinction pretty successfully and without necessarily saying all that much, since Wick isn’t exactly a chatty guy. His tone, word choice, and interactions with fellow hitmen and other underworld “allies” play out very differently when Wick is driven by something other than blind rage. The distinction adds a surprising weight to the proceedings.
Nowhere is this more evident than when Wick faces off against another hitman named Cassian (Common). The two clearly have a history, though it remains largely unexplained, and their respectfully adversarial relationship is a major highlight throughout the film. Common’s charisma and steely-eyed demeanor shine in equal parts in this role, and it’s tense and fun to watch him play off of Reeves—especially when they want to, but cannot, trade blows. I’m still reeling from their most climactic moment.
Like John Wick before it, Ch. 2 benefits from a stellar ensemble cast, with some known characters returning in satisfying ways and other brand-new ones filling in some very interesting gaps about Wick’s past as a hitman. (One of these allies, who hands Wick a freakin’ Kimber .45 ACP, will be particularly satisfying for anybody who’s watched Reeves’ career for a long time.) Whether Wick is visiting a sommelier who happens to stock “vintage” guns or seeking help from a network of underground soldiers, he always seems to run into an actor at the top of his or her game.
Santiago looks a little freaked out right now. Wonder why?
But, yes, you’ve come here for the action.
Wick 2 continues the first film’s tradition of longer shots, opting to avoid jarring cuts and edits wherever possible. Once more, director and longtime stunt supervisor Chad Stahelski lets incredible action setpieces play out with the only emphasis coming naturally from how fists, feet, and bullets fly. Unlike his stunt work in The Matrix, Stahelski doesn’t use wires or slowdown tricks to augment his chaotic scenes.
Think of it this way: John Wick does things in real time that The Matrix‘s Neo needed to freeze time to pull off. That held true last film, and it’s only more intense this go-round. I noticed a few fights in which the camera was zoomed tightly to Reeves, so that I couldn’t see how slowly his enemies approached him from the opposite side of the camera, but I was too mesmerized by his martial arts mastery and accurate gun fire to care. Wick has a knack for finding headshots with the greatest of ease—and Stahelski makes sure the camera is pointed in such a way that everything looks perfectly aimed and triggered. Reeves also spends a lot of the film injured, which makes his Rambo-like invincibility easier to root for. Somehow he’s able to sell that pain while flipping foes over his shoulders and individually snapping many of their necks and limbs.
A couple of scenes fall into a cookie-cutter category of “open floor, everybody gets shot” sequences, but most benefit from dramatic lighting and beautiful framing. Whether Wick is tearing through a goth-metal concert at a Roman palace or trying to survive a perilous walk through subway platforms, he and his bloody antics are always framed in succulent fashion. (Don’t even get me started on the final battle, which plays out like a Euro-trash funhouse of violent comeuppance.)
Wick Ch. 2 is a rare kind of sequel—one that doesn’t render its predecessor redundant, but that answers the question of why the series should keep going. As fun as the 2014 movie was, it only feels like an appetizer compared to Ch. 2‘s main course: a medium-rare ribeye. It’s juicy, it’s tender, and it’s bloody—and it’s a welcome cinematic escape.
You need a media center solution, and you’ve heard about Kodi. Is it suitable, and can you install it on your Raspberry Pi? And once you’ve done that, how do you turn it into a world-beating home media center? We’ll show you how.
Hardware for Your Raspberry Pi Media Center
You won’t need much to get started with your Kodi + Raspberry Pi media center. But if you’d like to enhance the experience, there are a few things you can add to the basic setup.
Basic Setup
You might already have a Raspberry Pi. Alternatively, you might be about to buy one. At a minimum, you’ll need:
Raspberry Pi Model B+ or later.
Optional USB Wi-Fi dongle for pre-Raspberry Pi 3 devices.
HDMI cable.
2A USB power adaptor, or specific Raspberry Pi power supply.
Not Just Raspbian: 10 Linux Distros Your Pi Can Run You’re presumably running the latest version of Raspbian on your Raspberry Pi. But is it the best Linux distro for the device? Could there be an alternative that you might find suits you better? Read More
) you can manually install Kodi with ease via the command line.
Once this is done, you’ll need to make a config file edit to ensure that the media center software automatically loads whenever you boot your Raspberry Pi.
sudo nano /etc/default/kodi
Change the ENABLED setting to 1:
ENABLED=1
Press Ctrl + Z to exit, making sure you save the change.
Otherwise, you can run Kodi with a mouse click from the desktop, or with a single command in the terminal:
kodi
You’re good to go!
Install a Media Center Operating System
More preferable, however, might be the option to have a dedicated Raspberry Pi running an already-optimized version of Kodi. This way, it will automatically boot into the media center software without any fiddling around with text files.
You have two main options here: OpenElec and OSMC.
To use OpenElec, you can either download the operating system from openelec.tv or use the NOOBS software to select it from a list (see below). OSMC can also be installed via NOOBS, or you can download it from www.osmc.tv.
Manual installation will require you to first format your microSD card, then copy the unzipped download to the card using dedicated SD card writing software. We’ll assume you’re using Windows for this, so you’ll need to download SD Card Formatter from the SD Association, and Win32DiskImager from SourceForge.
With your SD card inserted into your PC’s card reader, run the SD Card Formatter, select the correct drive letter (confirm this in Windows Explorer) and select Option. Here, choose Full (Erase) and On, then OK. With this done, click Format.
Once the SD card is formatted, exit SD Card Formatter and load Win32DiskImager. Again, select the correct drive letter, then browse to the downloaded image file (from the OSMC website, or from the OpenElec website). Click Write to commence and wait until completion.
Your SD card can then be removed and inserted into your Raspberry Pi. Next time you boot, Kodi will be ready to use!
50 Kodi Keyboard Shortcuts You Really Need to Know If you’ve discovered Kodi you probably couldn’t live without it now. However, if you’re tired of controlling Kodi through a remote control app, you can use these keyboard shortcuts instead. Read More
should work on the Raspberry Pi. If you’re using a Raspberry Pi 3 with built in Bluetooth, or have a compatible Bluetooth USB dongle for the device, a Bluetooth keyboard will also be useful.
You have another choice though: several mobile apps are available for iOS and Android, which can control your media center over the network. We’d recommend those produced by Kodi on either platform. On iOS look for Official Kodi Remote in the App Store, whereas on Android find Kore by the XBMC Foundation.
Once installed, these apps will auto-detect your Kodi installation, as long as they’re connected to the same home network as your Raspberry Pi.
You also have various options for additional hardware that you can add to your Raspberry Pi Kodi media center. These include adding a sound module, or even an IR receiver for use with a physical remote control.
Raspberry Pi Kodi Media Center to the Next Level
At this point, you’ve got everything you need to enjoy your Kodi media center. But you can take things further. With the right hardware and peripherals, you can make your compact Raspberry Pi media center the envy of your friends and family.
rather than a B+ or Raspberry Pi 2. There have been many iterations of the little computer since its 2012 launch, but in short, if you’re using the Pi 3 (or later), you will get superior performance from Kodi, OSMC, or OpenElec.
Use Ethernet, Not Wi-Fi
We’ve recommended using the Raspberry Pi 3, but this is really for performance reasons rather than anything else. As the Raspberry Pi 3 ships with a built-in wireless dongle (and Bluetooth too) you might be tempted to use this. If your Pi is situated close the router, and you have a strong signal, then this should be OK, but for the best results — particularly when streaming HD content — you should be relying on an Ethernet cable. This might mean employing powerline adaptors, but the important thing here is to get the best possible picture and sound quality, so use whatever works.
Sound
By default, you’ll get sound via HDMI, and if you have an AV receiver, it should be getting a surround sound digital signal through the HDMI where available in your media. If for some reason you’re stuck using the 3.5mm stereo socket, you may find the audio quality is unacceptable. To improve this, you’ll need some sort of external sound module. Various USB-compatible options are available but on the whole these are unreliable or inconsistent. Instead, you should look at the HAT-standard HiFiBerry range.
IR Remote
We mentioned above how a remote control mobile app can be with any Kodi device, but if you’re more inclined towards dedicated remote hardware, you’ll need an IR receiver on your Raspberry Pi.
Several of these are available, either USB or something that connects directly to the Raspberry Pi board. They all ship with a remote control included, enabling you to easily navigate your Kodi home theater. Note that for regular searches and adding third party repositories, however, you’ll need something with a keyboard or at least a keypad.
Finally, you need to be aware of the add-ons that are available for Kodi, and which ones you’ll use. With such a vast selection of add-ons to choose from (official and third-party) you should stick to a narrow collection of options. The more add-ons you choose from, the more will need updating, and this will slow down your Kodi experience.
While there isn’t currently a functional Amazon Instant Video/Prime add-on, you should be able to find options for other popular services like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Spotify, and even BBC iPlayer (though you’ll a VPN The Best VPN Services
The Best VPN Services We’ve compiled a list of what we consider to be the best Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providers, grouped by premium, free, and torrent-friendly. Read More
for that outside of the U.K.). Niche add-ons can be found too: TED Talks, YouTube channels, podcasts and far more can be found in the add-on repository. It’s best to research what you want first, lest you end up spending too much time browsing the endless lists.
Build Your Own Raspberry Pi Home Media Center Today
We won’t pretend that putting this together is easy, but it is certainly straightforward and achievable within an hour. Once Kodi is setup in your living room or bedroom, you’ll be able to enjoy the vast selection of add-ons provided for your entertainment, and with a few hardware enhancements, your little Raspberry Pi will be able to produce results comparable to media center hardware costing ten times the price!
Do you use a Raspberry Pi to run Kodi? What do you think of it? What do you see as its strengths and weaknesses? Tell us in the comments.
“What a bunch of intolerant, hateful, bigoted, hypocrites, claiming moral superiority to me and you while burning, stoning and beating the very thing they claim to up-hold. Keep messing with the silent majority and you will learn what intolerance really feels like as we crush your hate with our fists.” ~ Anonymous
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Michael Ramirez, combines an encyclopedic knowledge of the news with a captivating drawing style to create consistently outstanding editorial cartoons on Ammoland Shooting Sports News. Share this page and help spread our pro gun, conservative message with humor. Visit : http://ift.tt/2b5QCXQ
MySQL 8 features invisible indexes. But what good is an index if you can see it? br>
Is It Really Invisible
You probably know by now that indexes can really speed up data searches. And many of you have mastered the use of EXPLAIN to see if the optimizer is using an index for your query. Which means you should know that sometimes for some queries an index does not help.
mysql> CREATE TABLE t2 ( -> i INT NOT NULL, -> j INT NOT NULL, -> UNIQUE j_idx (j) -> ) ENGINE = InnoDB; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)
mysql> explain select j from t2 where j>2; +----+-------------+-------+------------+-------+---------------+-------+---------+------+------+----------+--------------------------+ | id | select_type | table | partitions | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | filtered | Extra | +----+-------------+-------+------------+-------+---------------+-------+---------+------+------+----------+--------------------------+ | 1 | SIMPLE | t2 | NULL | range | j_idx | j_idx | 4 | NULL | 3 | 100.00 | Using where; Using index | +----+-------------+-------+------------+-------+---------------+-------+---------+------+------+----------+--------------------------+ 1 row in set, 1 warning (0.00 sec)
mysql>
So a simple select of j with values over 2 uses j_idx. br>
Hocus pocus – Your Index is now Invisible
But what if we are not sure if that index is really helping? Deleting an index for testing (and then rebuilding) can be a time consuming task. With MySQL 8 you simple make the index invisible.
mysql> alter table t2 alter index j_idx invisible; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec) Records: 0 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
mysql> explain select j from t2 where j>2; +----+-------------+-------+------------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+----------+-------------+ | id | select_type | table | partitions | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | filtered | Extra | +----+-------------+-------+------------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+----------+-------------+ | 1 | SIMPLE | t2 | NULL | ALL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 4 | 33.33 | Using where | +----+-------------+-------+------------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+----------+-------------+ 1 row in set, 1 warning (0.00 sec)
mysql>
In this overly simple example it is easy to see that the query is not using a key, does not know of any possible keys, and had to read more rows to answer the query. So the j_idx query was helping for this case. You can also know if this is true by looking for errors occuring for queries that include index hints that refer to the invisible index, Performance Schema data shows an increase in workload for affected queries, or suddenly the query starts appearing in the slow query log.
Not for Primary keys
Any key can be made invisible except implicit or explicit primary keys. And it is storage engine neutral from MySQL 8.0.1 onward but 8.0.0 can only works with InnoDB. Please read the manual for more detail.
Presto-Change-o
But how do you reverse the invisibility?
mysql> alter table t2 alter index j_idx visible; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) Records: 0 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
Stack Overflow is filled with thousands of questions and answers, and many of those are book recommendations from programmers with many different levels of skill. Dev-Books collects together the most recommended books.
If you’re curious, the overall top recommended book is Working Effectively with Legacy Code, with Design Pattern: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Softwarecoming in second. While the titles for these are as dry as the Atacama Desert, the content should still be quality. You can sort books by tags, like JavaScript, C, Graphics, and whatever else. This obviously isn’t the end-all of book recommendations, but it’s certainly a good place to start if you’re just getting into coding or looking to beef up your knowledge.
Mat at Arms: Reforged and guest host Mark Dacascos – the Crying Freeman! – promote For Honor by making one of the swords featured in the game. This time, the show focused on the work that goes into making a sword’s collar, hand guard and handle.
Smart doorbells can snap a photo of whoever rings the bell, making it so you can screen all those visitors you get throughout the day. Over on Instrutables, Naran shows you how to build one with a Raspberry Pi.
The project here uses the Pi alongside an old webcam, breadboard, and a button. There’s also an optional door-opening push button and Philips Hue integration if you’re interested. Otherwise, you’ll basically set up the Pi using a special operating system called Prota, wire everything together, then hook the system into Telegram to send you the photos. You’ll find everything you need and the guide over at Instructables.
Feeling in the mood to do a little remixing of classic pieces of art? You’re in luck: the Metropolitan Museum of Art has just made hundreds of thousands of pieces available under the Creative Commons Zero license, meaning they can be used pretty much however you see fit. Read More
Self-driving cars require self-driving car software, and Udacity’s helping to feed that need with its nanodegree program in the field. Now, the online education company is also making available its self-driving car simulator via open source license, allowing anyone with a working knowledge of Unity to gab the assets, load its preexisting scenes and create their own tracks for virtual testing.
If you weren’t already aware, a lot of the ‘education’ of self-driving vehicle software happens in virtual environments, since it’s still relatively expensive to build an actual self-driving test vehicle, and a bit complicated on the regulatory side to find somewhere willing to let you test in real-world conditions – plus you have to prove you can do so with a reasonable expectation of safety. That’s a steep hurdle for tinkerers working independently, and for companies just starting out.
Udacity committed to building an open source autonomous car as part of its effort to offer its self-driving car nanodegree program, which will use code written by hundreds of its students from around the world (which will be available publicly via open source license). The company shared more details around this plan last September, when it revealed that it’s using one of the 2016 Lincoln MKZs that are popular among self-driving software and component companies because a third-party is selling them ready to roll for autonomous conversion.
Open sourcing its self-driving car simulator is an extension of this existing open approach, but one that provides even more base-level tools to the community working on this big, complex problem. Other simulation tools, including Grand Theft Auto V, have proven worthwhile virtual environments for dry runs of autonomous software, but more tools in the mix is always welcome, especially when this one comes from the company founded by former Google self-driving car project lead Sebastian Thrun.