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Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Linux, Open Source

Off the clock: Unknown Horizons is a free, open-source RTS for Settlers fans


It's Sunday, and we're off the clock. Time for a little open-source RTS fun with Unknown Horizons! Though it claims to be a clone of the Anno series by Sunflowers/Ubisoft, you will probably associate this game more with the Settlers games -- a very popular, age-old series of 2D real-time simulation games.

The premise from their own website: 'The player starts with a ship somewhere amid an archipelago. The goal of the game is to found some cities on the islands and to earn money.' Such a simple concept. But as we all know -- the simple games are often the best and last the test of time.

And, believe it or not, defying most open-source expectations, Unknown Horizons actually plays rather well. If you don't mind hammering away at a very, very nascent user interface, this is a great game to have running in the background while you browse your favorite after-hours websites.

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Filed under: Mozilla, Browsers

WebGL support makes first appearance in latest Firefox 3.7 nightly builds


Google Chrome and other WebKit-based browsers aren't the only ones getting improved 3D graphics handling capabilities. As of September 18th, Firefox trunk builds include support for WebGL.

Developer Vladimir Vukićević refers to the project as "essentially a way of accessing OpenGL from within the browser, through the HTML5 canvas tag." Together with the recent leaps in Javascript performance, it's hoped that WebGL can a whole new - pardon the pun - dimension to our experience of 3D graphics on the web.

Progress is coming quickly, but there are still plenty of issues to address before WebGL support is ready for prime time. Vukićević cites security and portability issues with shaders, as well as the problem of what to do on platforms where OpenGL is not available. He also promises some simple demos that will arrive in the near future. If you've seen some already, we'd love to hear about them in the comments! Apart from the Webkit globes, cube, and teapot, that is.

The Minfield (currently Firefox 3.7) builds are available from the Mozilla FTP. To enable WebGL support, head to about:config and change the webgl.enabled_for_all_sites value from false to true (double-clicking the value will change it).

Filed under: Developer, Games, Browsers

WebGL: bringing native 3D graphics to your browser

One of the most-anticipated features HTML5 promises for the web is the canvas tag, which allows for dynamic rendering of 2D images. If you can use HTML to draw a 2D image, can native 3D graphics be far behind?

The WebGL project is making that a reality by combining the canvas element, a bit of JavaScript, and the OpenGL 3D drawing engine. OpenGL has been around for years, and you might know it because of its use in many popular desktop video games - if this project is a success, you could be playing 3D games in your browser.

WebGL isn't that far along, though, It's just started turning up in developer builds of Webkit -the engine behind Safari and Google Chrome - and isn't even enabled by default in the nightly builds yet. Webkit is just the first test, too. It's only one segment part of the market, that doesn't include IE and Firefox. For native 3D games to really take off on the web, they'd have to be supported for a much larger percentage of web users. Google, Mozilla and Opera are all on board for the WebGL working group, but Microsoft hasn't said anything. MS doesn't have a history of playing nicely with web standards, but they might be forced to offer some support if everyone else is doing it.

If you want to see WebGL in action, check out the video after the jump.

[via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Google, Googleholic

Googleholic for August 8th 2006

googleholicIn this issue of Googleholic we'ss cover:
  • Google Talk WiFi phone
  • Google and AP
  • Military Secrets
  • GoogDesk
  • Google Digital Music
Dive into Googleholic...

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Filed under: Business, Design, Developer, Apple, Google, Open Source

OpenGL welcomes Google, Apple and Dell

khronos group openglGoogle, Apple and Dell are among a recent group of companies that have joined the Khronos Group, a developer of the OpenGL graphics standard.

The Khronos Group is funded by members to create open standard royalty free API's that allow playback of dynamic media across a wide array of platforms and devices. Khronos members are from a broad spectrum in the industry, and include many companies from operating system vendors, system and handset OEM's, game developers, application developers, and wireless carriers.

Through their new membership, Google, Apple and Dell will be helping to create new standards, and new market opportunities for the graphic and dynamic media industries.

[via sda asia]

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Mozilla, Open Source

uBrowser: Web browsing in 3D

uBrowserWhat would you do if you could stick your web browser on a virtual 3D surface and spin it around in real time? Probably scratch you head and ask "but what is it good for?" Well, that's what you get with uBrowser, head-scratching included. In truth it's basically a tech demo that showcases Mozilla's Gecko web page rendering engine married to OpenGL. It's not really good for anything, but it is fun to stick your favorite web site on a sphere or a waving flag and turn it this way and that. Since it's based on LibXUL, it's a fully functional web browser, which means you can click on links, check your Gmail, and even play flash games. And it's also open source, so despite what I just said it probably is useful for developer-types.

Filed under: Windows, Open Source

OGLE: The OpenGL Extractor

OGLE

OGLE, which stands for OpenGL Extractor, is an app from Eyebeam R&D that captures 3D models from any OpenGL app. It's like a screen capture program that works in 3D. Its makers have used it with SecondLife, World of Warcraft, and Google Earth to export 3D models of characters, creatures, and entire cities. They've even used it to create real, physical models of WoW characters. which is pretty brilliant if you ask me. Click through to the OGLE site for much more information, screenshots, and the free Windows download.

[Via Boing Boing]

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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