One day I had a desire to open four windows in four different instances of Google Chrome. So I looked for a solution. It turned out to be pretty easy in Windows. You create a text file with the path to either an application or an URL (in my case, both) and name it either “.bat” or “.cmd” without the quotes and save it in your documents folder. Double click to make sure it works. If it doesn’t, you might have the location/path written out incorrectly. If it is a program you wish to open the easiest way to do this is to right click on the programs shortcut or Icon, select properties, and copy the path directly. Add this to the file and that’s it. Add another path or URL to this file and test.
If you wish to launch this file from your desktop you can place the file on the desktop, but it might be better if you just created a shortcut. This way you can change the shortcut’s icon to whatever you like as opposed to having it look like a simple system file. And if you are a fan of “quick launch” as I am, you can place it there.
If you just add URLs to your .bat or .cmd file, when you double click the file this will launch the pages in your preferred browser. If you use any if the modern browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome) these pages will open as tabs. I’m not sure you could ever get Internet Explorer or Firefox to open multiple instances for these pages. You can, however. achieve this in Chrome. The key is to make sure the program is evoked before the URL and that it gets an instruction.
start “page1” “C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” “http://your.page.com” –new-window
The next entry would look like
start “page2” “C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” ” http://your.page.com” –new-window
This is a different syntax that that used to evoke Internex Explorer. In IE it would look like this
Windows 7 comes with a nifty little tool to manage your Displays. If you run dual monitors like I do, there might be times when you want to run only one monitor. If I run Dual Monitors while playing Battlefield 3, I have flickering which I’m sure is the result of my card overheating. I really don’t want to dismantle my computer in order to mod in a new fan, so I thought it would be easier to not have my GeForce GTX 560 work so hard. Normally I would enter the Nvidia Settings Manager and shut off the monitor there, but what a hastle. So I searched the INTERNET and found this solution. Mind you it does not work for XP or Vista.
Go to your desktop, right click a blank space. Select “New’ and then select “Shortcut”. Cut and paste the following into the box:
C:\Windows\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe
and click “Next” and “Finish“. And there you go. Drag this shortcut to your Quick Launch bar and it will be right there when you need it. and for those times when you might not be able to see your quick launch bar, the keyboard command is Windows Key+p.
These methods bring up the display switch. If you wish to add specific shortcuts you can, ie, one for shutting the extra monitor off and one for tuning it back on. Add /internal to the command line to shut off the second monitor. Create a new Shortcut or copy the existing shortcut and add /extend to the command instead of /internal.
(And if you own a projector or wish to clone your monitors instead of running them independently, you can add /external to the shortcut or /clone instead of one of the other commands.)
I waited in line for Battlefield 3 at about 10:15 on Monday at our local GameStop for it’s midnight, October 25th release. At 48 years old, I was not the oldest there. I got home at 12:14. The store was full. They did a good job in distributing. They gave out nothing but posters though. And as a 48 year old man, I’ve got Zero use for posters.
I started installing at about 12:20 Tuesday Morning. There were hitches. The Sunday before I bought a new video card, an Nvidia GTX 560 1 gig gddr5. I’ve never spent that much money on a card before. $214.99 at Fry’s Electronics. I had immediately updated the drivers. Now there are two imortant new developements EA Games have introduced here. One: Origin, it takes the place of Steam, and second: It uses a website to access the game, battlelog.com. There are a few things you need to do to get the game going. And that update to my video card drivers was not update enough. So I had to update beta drivers.
With everything done, time to dive into multiplayer.
The Frostbite2 Engine is amazing. The sounds and sights are crisp. It’s a great improvement from BF2 and 2124. I immediately try my hand at sniping. I am initiated into the game by being pounded in a concrete build by a tank. The sound, and temporary deafness was perfect, not to mention the huge chunks of concrete missing from the building. The damage to the buildings is a great touch. Another great touch is the bullet drop while sniping. If firing over long ranges you better get to know your weapon.
It seems most servers are only running a few maps and some are not up for very long. I’m not sure if it’s because of who is operating the servers or if it’s the game. Some of these maps are very expansive and they are beautiful. In Caspian Border the distant forest is on fire. It’s very convincing. I think this game has the best illumination of any game I’ve seen. I’ve been to outdoor spaces that look like these spaces. When I first started playing COD Black Ops after MW2 I thought Black Ops was great. But now, I can’t even remember Black Ops and I just played it a few days ago. I had just fallen in love with the M14 and then Battlefield 3 came along.
I have been eagerly awaiting it for weeks, saying I thought it was going to be one of the best games of all time. I pre ordered it and then found out that an Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT with a gig of DDR3 was not enough spunk. I panicked. And hatched a scheme to sell some gold to pay for the card, and while it would have worked, I would have taken over a 50% loss of the value. I could have received 90% of the value if I went with my metal supplier (I make jewelry) but I would have had to have waited for a month. Not acceptable. Luckily enough I have a friend who needs wedding rings made so I was able to get a down payment on the rings allowing me to get the new card. Now my wife wasn’t too happy about this. I don’t blame her. Usually the money we make is our money and not mine to spend on frivolities such as computer parts. And it was rather selfish of me, I admit.
If effect, the game almost cost me $300. Is it worth it? I think so. Time will tell. What will make it worth it will be support, both from EA, Dice and the players. My friends have been having a bit of difficulty setting up. I’m not sure how long playing in public will interest them. It’s the only game I’m going to be able to get until Christmas.
The game has been out on the West coast of the US for 2 days and 4.5 hours and already I’ve played for 11 hours and 43 min and I am Rank 8, Lance Corporal 3 Star. I saw a Rank 27 this morning and can only imagine this person is on a major bender, playing in a disaster of a room with 5Hour Energy cans everywhere, headphones in the dark and no one to love. If I don’t watch out, his could be me.
I’m a late bloomer in a field of cell phone users. I’ve used a TracFone for about two years. And I used text a few times and got the thing to send pictures to my Yahoo email address. Oh, I played Tetris on it. We usually just purchased 60 min cards, but doubled for life.
We’ve been taking credit cards for over 13 years with the same merchant service account. They would catch us off guard every year with a $100 annual fee, at the time when we could least afford it: May. But recently, in the last two years, they have made us go to an outside company to certify as PCI DSS Compliant. This cost $175. If we failed to reach certification we would be charged $35 per month until we were. That is on top of our $40 per month and the % for each sale. This year I forgot about PCI DSS and was charged for it.
We attended our first event of the year. There a vendor friend of mine said “here, look at this”. He pulled out his android phone and a little white square that plugged into his headphone jack. He said it swipes credit cards and that there are no fees. It only costs 2.75% unless the phone is not connected to the 3G network, in which case it’s 3.5% plus $.15 per transaction. For more information goto https://squareup.com. So I realized that for a bit more money I could have a better phone, take credit cards, and enter into the modern age. So I researched cell carriers and Android phones, settled on a Certified Pre-Owned Samsung Fascinate. Got an even better deal because I had the Internet rep help me on chat the whole time. Gave me an extra $25 bucks off the phone. After the phone was ordered I killed our Merchant service account and signed up with Square. And I waited for our phone to get here.
FedEx delivered it Monday. I spent Monday and Tuesday getting it ready for life with us. And I say, I haven’t bothered to turn on WiFi access in our home because I prefer to be hard wired. Yet as I listen to Pacific.FM or Pandora over the phone while driving to the store I realize I have now fulfilled a dream. This Unlimited Data thing is awesome.
One small note, I would have loved to have rooted this phone but the TOS of Square does not allow it.