Tag: en

Board Game Review – Tokaido [EN]

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yes-no-tokaidoContinuing Yes-No rubric lets talk about various aspects of recently acquired Tokaido game. As i mentioned already, i have played it a lot “online”. And a few days ago i have played it live for the first time with colleagues. As this game is amongst my most favourite games, it won’t have especially big negatives. Particularly about the game flow. So i would be nitpicking about components quality and other small details 🙂

Like:

  • As mentioned already turn order mechanism which designer Antoine Bauza uses often. One who is last on a road, goes first. If other players went far ahead, you may do 2-3 turns in a row, collect additional points, and later jump over them and take some good spot ahead. I like this balancing act between slow movement forward and an attempt to take best spots faster than the others.
  • Many paths to victory. There are a lot of opportunities to collect points and all of them are equal. And the winner is often one, who doesn’t follow one path, but gathers points bit by bit everywhere. Many additional roles, one of which you select in the beginning, add to versatility. They add additional traits, which allow to select a particular strategy. And finally, achievements cards allows acquiring additional points for completing various things during the game.
  • Two players variant. The art of the game could be in this place, because it is beautiful. Nethertheless i choose the 2 players variant. For a long time i have played Tokaido with 3-5 players only, thinking that 2 players variant won’t offer anything interesting and there will be less space for competition. But, as you have to move a neutral player’s figure time to time when playing with two, it opens other player’s blocking possibilities unseen in a regular game 🙂 Playing with three or more if you want to block another player, you have to do this with your own figure and maybe lose points from another spot. Here you can use unneeded little fellow for blocking, and do something useful for yourself. However, you need to remember that this variant can harm your relationship with another player, if you are both reckless players 🙂

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Latest purchase – Tokaido [LT-EN]

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[LT] Iš mūsų skyriaus išeinančiam kolegai nusprendėm padovanot stalo žaidimą atminimui ir kadangi aš daugiausiai apie juos žinau (žaidimus) išsirinkau Tokaido. Nes ir žaidimo dėžė ir jis pats atrodo labai patraukliai, o žaidimo eiga tiks ir šeimai ir rimtiems žaidėjams. Kitas kolega turėjo šį žaidimą nusipirkt. Ir pasirodė, kad jam šiuo metu taikoma 30% nuolaida vienoje stalo žaidimų parduotuvėje (Hobbyshop). Man pačiam šis žaidimas labai patinka, dažnai žaidžiu jį online Boardgamerena puslapyje. Norėjau turėt ir jo fizinę kopiją, bet sulaikydavo gana didelė  kaina. Dabar gi sumedžiojau kopiją ir sau 🙂 Tiesa, jį greitai išgraibstydavo su tokia nuolaida ir teko užklausinėt skirtingose šio tinklo parduotuvėse, kol pavyko rezervuoti sau žaidimą.

Tokaido vaizduoja kelionę iš Kioto į Edo. Pakeliui žaidėjai bando surinkti skirtingų kortų rinkinius ir taip gauti taškus. Karts nuo karto reikia apsilankyti kavinėje ir nusipirkti valgyt. Todėl reikia labai gerai apskaičiuoti savo finansus, nes kitaip galima prarast daug papildomų taškų. Žaidime naudojama įdomi žaidėjų eilės mechanika, kuri sutinkama ir kituose šio dizainerio žaidimuose (Antoine Bauza) – žaidėjas esantis toliausiai kelyje nuo galutinio tikslo eina pirmas. Read More

In a world of Open Source [EN]

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ir.org-front-smMy friendship with Open Source started during my studies in the university. Then i’ve found out that lots of commercial software products have their free equivalents which are not worse (and sometimes even better). I’ve found out about Open Source afterwards, also about various licenses types of this, you can say, worldwide movement, found out about Linux (free, open source operating system). Even my bachelor’s degree work was related to this thing. Because my work’s advisor was a huge fan of this stuff, used Linux operating systems and other open source programs. I won’t tell about my work’s results, there was not much practical use of it, more like a theoretical introduction about programs localization for Lithuanian language.

Bit by bit i have get rid of almost every commercial program at home and replaced them with free analogues. And when i came to my first workplace i was given a task to install an internal instant messaging system, and of course, better if free of cost 🙂 So that’s was the start of my now older than 10 years acquaintance with Ignite Realtime. To be true, at first it was a free system (instant messaging server – Jive Messenger) distributed by a commercial company Jive Software. Already then an active users community started to build up around this and other free products of a company. Company’s representatives themselves (there were just two men in the company at first) also collaborated and embraced ideas of free open source software. Their business direction changed later and the current free products became not relevant to them. So the source codes of programs has been made public (became Open Source) and handed over to community, so they could continue improving it. Also, for many years now Jive is providing community a place for a site, tools for registering bugs, installers production, collaboration. Read More

It’s your turn! [EN]

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bgamesgrandsAlmost 5 years ago i’ve watched a review of a board game on the Internet. It seemed interesting, so i started looking for more videos. I’ve also found a few shops selling board games. One week later i’ve bought very simple, little card game (“Saboteur”). Tried it with my father and brother. Then i brought it to office and showed to my colleagues. And so it began 🙂 I’ve started buying more games, looking on the Internet about which games are considered the best, about newly released. Once per week after the working hours we were playing with my colleagues one or two games. Although, a few years later it all calmed down a bit (work, families, kids). But then a few new colleagues came to our unit and we recalled our tradition, so once in a while we organize gaming evenings. Also trying to interest co-workers from other units.

Even when our gaming group was broken up for some time, i haven’t lost interest in the modern board games industry. From the very beginning i liked Tom Vasel’s channel about games on the Youtube page – The Dice Tower. I try to watch every his video (game reviews, top’s, game plays, videos from games conferences). Also i have quickly found a site, which is the main portal for all board game fans – www.boardgamegeek.com. You can find information about a particular game, discuss it in the forums with other gamers from all over the world, rate games in the catalog. I always try to rate on this page every new game i’ve played, add to the list of games in my profile if i purchase new one (a link into my collection (without the expansions)). Read More

Tell me, tell me, MS Office [EN]

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excel-2016Newest version of Microsoft Office has been released yesterday – 2016. The look has changed a bit, added a bunch of new features. But! One thing first jumps into your eyes when you launch one of the Office 2016 applications. It’s “Tell me” search field, which sits above the tools ribbon. It seems, such a simple thing, but when you try it, you realize that it’s really useful and was needed for a long time. No matter how hard Microsoft tried to advertise new “ribbon” user interface since the Office 2007 release, people are still having hard time finding in there tools they need. And now you can just enter into the search field what you want to do (e.g. “insert table”) and you will be provided with the corresponding tools and selections. Simple and.. genius? 🙂 Of course, one who have used Office with such help will have a hard time doing anything when he sits in front of an older Office version. Still, just this one new feature is making me consider upgrading to this version in the office. We have a subscription contract for Office allowing us to freely install newest version after all.

Windows 10 Review [EN]

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yes-no-win10Yes-No is a category in which I will list 3 traits and characteristics I like and dislike about a particular matter. Will start with already mentioned in the last post new Windows version. It is contrasting enough to be liked and hated.

 

 

Like:

  • Return of Start Menu. I understand that Microsoft tried to do something innovative with Windows 8. But the absence of good old known Start menu in a new Windows version was a very negative thing for simple users. Even for me, working for a long time in IT field and often trying out new stuff, it was a bit uncomfortable and inconvenient, when you had to catch screen corners with a mouse cursor or press Win button. I often paused for a bit after pushing the mouse cursor to the Start button and thought how should i do, what i need to do. In other words, this wasn’t a natural usage. Maybe i needed to get used to it, but in truth, i didn’t even wanted to get used. It’s no surprise that third-party programs providing Start menu replacement have become very popular. Though Windows 10 menu is not perfect, and is not a Windows 7 menu comeback for sure, but it is a step for Microsoft into people’s needs and habits understanding.
  • Virtual desktops function, which can be accessed with the Task View button (or on the Alt+Tab screen). Programs providing such possibility in Windows environment have existed for a long time. But you had to download them, install and run. And with Windows 10 this is part of the system, which is there already and always for your disposal, and besides is very simple and elegant. Not a new thing for sure (Linux systems have this for a long time), but handy.
  • Windows placement help (“windows snapping”). It may be odd, that this is one of the important improvements. But i can’t count how many times i have used Windows 7 Aero Snap function for a quick placement of two windows one besides other. And Windows 10 improves even more this, rather simple, but very useful function. Indeed i thought sometimes, that it would be convenient to automatically place more windows together. Now it is possible to place no only 2, but 4. And even Apple in its new Mac OS X version is introducing similar option 🙂

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windows 8+2? windows 10 [EN]

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One OS for every deviceWindows 10 topic is getting lots of buzz in the IT world currently. This freshly arrived new version of Windows operating system symbolizes a new step in Microsoft history. Even though, this could’ve been another Windows 8 update (e.g. Windows 8.2), but it seems that Microsoft tries to shy away from that version, which haven’t reached wide popularity, also skipping the 9. This way they want to emphasize Windows 10 importance in the new idealogy “windows as a service”. Although this principle looks suspicious so far. Maybe there going to be monthly or yearly fee introduced at some point? But after watching Windows 10 presentations it becomes clear that the biggest company’s goal is to attract developers and users into the application store (“Windows Store”) which is expected to generate a revenue. Of course there is no abandoning of OS selling to hardware manufacturers market. Free upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 is valid only for one year (for now, who knows whether it will be extended, if this move justifies itself). When buying a new computer, OS cost will be already included. Also big companies still be paying yearly fees for the ability to use any OS version they need, along with Windows 10 (“Software Assurance” program). The thing that free upgrade was offered and the offering and distrubution method shows that Microsoft is hoping for the biggest and fastest impact. Windows 10 campaign was interesting and even a bit aggressive, when it wasn’t limited to events and ads only. Windows 10 users received a message to their computers with an offer to upgrade, and it looks like many did agree. Based on Microsoft data Windows 10 spread after the final release is really huge. Of course, the question is how many people were surprised to see a significant change on their computers’ screens after “some update”. Well, not as significant as in the Windows 8 case. Microsoft admitted after all that not just mobile users exist and that many requires a desktop and.. yes – Start menu. Microsoft’s privacy policy settings in the new Windows versions were widely discussed. On one hand, this is natural to be able to provide a user the most personalized experience (“Corana” assistant, which is learning your habits, so it could help you better; typing errors fixing tool). Also they want to provide the same experience in all user’s devices. That’s why usage information is sent to Microsoft servers, along with other telemetry information about the system state, usage patterns, etc. Some are too paranoid making huge deal out of it. The others close their eyes on this. Personally, i do not consider Microsoft being an embodiment of evil, but i question the need to send this information, if i’m not using all these services. Also this can be a question of security and trust in the manufacturer in the case of companies. Read More

sudo start

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[LT] Taigi, po daugiau nei 8 metų, kai turiu šį domeną, nutariau kažką su juo padaryt. Nes iki šiol naudojau jį tik asmeniniam paštui ir kaip talpyklą. Idėja pradėt blog’ą buvo kilusi seniai, bet vis neprisiruošdavau tuo užsiimt. Kol kas neturiu konkrečių minčių apie ką būtent rašysiu. Tikriausiai po truputį apie viską. Planuoju kiekvieną įrašą skelbt lietuvių ir anglų kalbomis, jei netingėsiu 🙂

 

[EN] So, after more than 8 years of having this domain, i’ve decided to do something with it. So far i was using it for my personal email and file hosting. An idea to start a blog has come to me long ago, but i couldn’t make myself finally do it. Not sure what i will write about. Probably a little bit about everything. I plan to post in both Lithuanian and English, if i won’t be too lazy 🙂