Some New-ish AutoCAD News

One, there's the news that you can submit your ideas to the AutoCAD Design Team. They are looking to start a new experimental website to gather more of your ideas and rank them by your voting. You can suggest ideas to change existing features as well, and view/vote on other ideas. This is a great way to build the AutoCAD brand in my opinion. There are some things that I've encountered some designers kinda irk about, so I can't see this failing. Here's a quote:

“Your suggestions help make AutoCAD (Mac & Windows) better, so let us know what would make AutoCAD easier to use, more enjoyable and help you be more productive.

The Design team might drop in from time to time to get inspired, and we may use the data submitted to help drive customer activities such as focus groups at our offices, AUGI CAD Camps,and events at Autodesk University.

If you'd rather more of a conversational approach check out the AutoCAD discussion groups at http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD/ct-p/8


The AUGI wish list forum is another great place to submit your ideas and vote on them http://augi.com/community/autocad/aut­ocad-wishlist/”

So there you go.

Next article...

I looked up an article regarding free DWG viewers. The first one is pretty cool. It's a Windows-only desktop application called AutoCAD TrueView. AThe first thing that I noticed was that not only could you view 2D and 3D DWG files but there were layer features, visual styles, measurements and print/plot of the full application. Another awesome aspect of this viewer is that along with AutoCAD 2012, you can also read DWG files from the early eighties, as a matter of fact, you can convert the files to work with other versions~!! According to the Between the Lines, the viewer also allows for one to create DWF and PDF files. Though it's 270mb, it's extremely powerful considering the promises.

For the mobile fans, don't feel left out. There's an app for you as well.

The application is called AutoCAD WS, a web/mobile-based DWG viewer with collaboration and markup. According to Between the Lines, not only can you run this application with any desktop with a browser supporting Flash, it is also available on mobile application on Apple and Android devices. All this requires in an internet browser (Chrome, Safari, Explorer, Firefox with flash). This also supports offline synching so you can take your drawing even when you don't have an internet connection. This app supports 2D DWG, real-time collaboration, AutoCAD integration, and unlimited file storage (AWESOME). In addition to editing and sharing in real-time with DWG files and you can also upload other file types like ZIP, Doc, and PDF as file storage.

(thanks goes to Between the Lines)

I know many colleagues who love to use AutoCAD, so I'll mention this to them!

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Yet Another Odd (as in cool) Tech Story To Discuss

So, after my Valve post, I looked up some other news. This bit of news is a day late, but it's still something I've been kinda waiting for.


Google Adding Search By Voice, Pictures

San Francisco (CNN) -- The plain Google search box will soon be able to handle more than taps on a keyboard. 

Google is bringing features pioneered on smartphones, like voice and image search, to its flagship product, the company said at a news conference here on Tuesday.

The speech-recognition tool began showing up as a microphone button on the right-hand side of the Google.com search box for some visitors on Tuesday. It will only be available on Google's Chrome Web browser for now, but Google executives say they hope other software makers implement the technology to support the feature.

Like on Android or the Google application for the iPhone, people can click the mic icon on Google.com, and say a phrase or question into their computer microphone.

The speech technology attempts to account for accents and context in order to transcribe the recording into text. This produced mixed results in my testing, speaking in plain English or with a faux Cockney accent.

The image-search feature will start rolling out in the next few days, said Johanna Wright, a Google search director. "Every picture has a story, and we want to help you discover that story," she said.

Image Search can, say, look at a family vacation photo and figure out where it was shot, or help explain images that become Internet memes, such as Lolcats. The recognition technology applies a bunch of Google's proprietary algorithms to photos, but facial recognition isn't one of them, executives said in an interview with reporters.

People using newer Web browsers will be able to drag an image file from the desktop onto the search box. Additional features are available to those who install the Google Toolbar in Firefox.

Google Instant, the immediate suggestions offered when a user is typing into the search box, will debut on Google's image-search section "in the coming weeks," said Google exec Amit Singhal.

To complement Google's quest for high-speed Web surfing, the company plans to roll out a feature called Instant Pages. It will sometimes load the top search result on your computer before you click on the link, so that the page pops up instantly once you do.

The feature will only be available in Chrome, starting with the beta version 

of the software later this week.

That many of Tuesday's announcements will initially only be available in Chrome limits their reach. In May, Google controlled 65.5% of the U.S. Web search market, according to comScore, but Chrome only had 12.5% of browser usage -- far behind Internet Explorer

and Firefox -- said research firm Net Applications.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/06/14/google.voice.search/index.html?hpt=te_r1

So, it took very little to get me interested in this article. So Google is essentially going to bring what smartphones already had (voice recognition) and add it to Google Chrome. This function is going to be fun to use, especially considering I primarily use Chrome. Voice Search will only be on Chrome for the time being, because obviously other software makers haven't implemented this yet. One question that has risen from this issue is whether or not British (more specifically English) accents will be recognizable with this new feature.

Personally, I would love if there was a search based on tone. There are some songs I hear sampled (mashup fan, here), and I can't get my finger on the title, nor can I get the lyrics. In that case, I only have what I hum, and if I could search via hum or something, it'd be cool stuff.

The Voice Search wasn't the only new thing that Google was introducing. The successful company revealed at a media event, that they will add new things on the image side of Google. Search by Images will allow for users to search for images when we either point at an URL on a web-based image or we take an image from our own finder window or what have you, and drag it down to the image box. For example, if I have an image of the Waterfalls sculpture, and place it on the Search by Images box, I will then see search results regarding Lloyd Frank Wright's famous piece of architecture.

Google Instant, which arrived last year, if I recall, was that kooky function in Google search that allowed for automatic recommendations right as you type. Well, Google has come through with an improvement over this. You see, even though you had automatic search recommendations, you still had to wait a while before the top image downloads. Google Instant fixes this problem, so that you can get a quicker load speed for your screen.

Overall, this is some stuff I'll be keeping a close eye on in the coming months, especially info regarding Voice Search.

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Steam (Now With F2Ps)

I'll be honest, I've been a tad bored as of late. Moreso, I'm in a bit of an "artists' block". I can't seem to come up with something good at the moment, so I'll post some news I found.

Valve Introduces Free-To-Play Games To Steam

Digital distribution outlet Steam has introduced free-to-play games to the service. The PC games platform, which is operated by Portal and Half-Life maker Valve, has kicked off proceedings with five “F2P” titles.


Those include Global Agenda, a massively multiplayer RPG about oppressive government bods on a frankly depressing 2155 Earth,Champions Online, a superhero-themed MMO from Cryptic, and Alliance of Valiant Arms, a shooty-bang-bang FPS set in war-torn Europe.

There’s also Spiral Knights, a co-op blaster with real-time changes to the clockwork world around you, and Forsaken World, a fantasy MMO that couldn’t look more like World of Warcraft if it tried.

All of the games are completely free to download and play. If you want, however, you can spend pennies and dollars here and there for “microtransactions,” buying virtual doodads, bonus costumes, experience bonuses and other features. It utilizes the same payment system that Valve uses to sell you ludicrously overpriced hats in Team Fortress 2.

Starting Wednesday, Steam will host a “F2P game of the day” event throughout the week, where each game will get a dedicated day with exclusive in-game content for players who try out the new titles.Spiral Knights is the first game to get a special day.

Free-to-play or freemium games have proved enormously popular in some Asia markets, where crazy levels of piracy make full-price titles almost impossible to sell. In the past few years, they’ve made their way to the West in the form of Facebook titles like FarmVille.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/06/free-steam-games/


So there's the article. I find this interesting, because well, I have a Steam account, and so does my brother. We both have always loved the publisher Valve for their Half Life series, and we continue loving the other series (Team Fortress 2, Portal, Left 4 Dead) too. Valve is one of the very few companies that I know of that acts as a developer and a publisher, which is kinda cool, I guess.


Their Steam service is essentially a digital distribution, digital rights management and multiplayer platform. Even though the site was created by Valve, there are big-name publishers who hold large catalogues, including 2k Games, Activision, Bethesda Softworks, Capcom, Eidos Interactive, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, ID Software, LucasArts, Namco Networks America Inc., Rockstar Games, SEGA, Sony Online, Square Enix, THQ, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros.


That's a pretty impressive lineup of publishers to choose from. I guess it was expected, but I was not expecting a Valve website to work hand-in-hand with other publishers. That's a thumbs-up in my book, because it gives the site a good outlook, while leaving the consumers happy with their insane Christmas deals. You can also download DLC (downloadable content) for your games and mods (stuff like outlandish weapons and levels).


There's also Steamworks, which according to my research, is a free development and publishing site. It pretty much allows developers to let their game work with the Unreal 2 engine, and experience the benefits of being a part of the Steam family of games. For example, let's say you developed a game. With Steamworks,  you can allow for matchmaking, anti-cheat technology, mictrotransactions (in-game economy), and a spot on the website. According to the site, It's distribution on your terms. I can't argue, since obviously, I haven't made a game yet.


Back to the story. I have noticed in the past that there were free games before. But not games that you would tag as Free-To-Play (F2P). They would normally be games like Half-Life: Lost Coast, Alien Swarm, or Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. You catch my drift, they're normally spin-off titles of other games, which is fine, but with F2P games, well, they are initaly titles like Spiral Knights, which unless I am misinformed, was not a spin-off to anything. Wait, neither was Alien Swarm. AARGH.


Still, I dig F2Ps (A.V.A looks awesome), and this can only be good news coming from a platform that allows indie gaming, and now F2Ps.

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