Escape Game : A New Point-and-click Game You Might Not Have Played

Time passed quickly, soon we will have to face the final exam so this is going to be the last article I write for the writing class this  semester. Today, I want to introduce my favorite online game which is called "Escape the room" or "Escape game".  It's a type of point-and-click adventure game which requires players to escape from imprisonment by exploiting their surroundings. All you have to do is finding clues and trying to escape away from the room.

Most escape games are subdivided into two categories, with plots or no plots. 

For the games with specify plot settings, there are a storyline and more than 1 switch scenes in the games. Players will have to focus on the storyline since the clues are hid in not only the scenes but also the plots.



Dr. Stanley's House 1: 7 keys
(Stanley博士的家1:七把鑰匙)

Dr. Stanley's House 2: 6 stones (Stanley博士的家2:六顆石頭)





When it comes to escape games, there are a lot of names most escape fans think of right away and Dr. Stanley's House is the game that you won't want to miss. It's created by a Chinese named James Li in 2005. The game has a great storyline, art, and puzzles. It's hard to believe that the whole game was made by one person only.

In the game, you're play a role of James, a detective who is invited by Dr. Stanley for a visit to his house. But he find a series of strange things happen as he entering the house: Dr. Stanley's disappeared, all the doors in the house are locked, and someone is hiding and targeting you all the time. You then find Dr. Stanley in the house, but he's acting weird and asking for your help. After discovering the thing that is hid in the house you start to wonder, what's the big secret of Stanley?

here are the links:

Dr. Stanley's House 1 / Dr. Stanley's House 2 

You are invited to Dr. Stanley's house

Stanley is hiding some big secret...

You must find for the keys and clues in Dr. Stanley's House 1

Now is the time for the no plots settings games. This kind of no storyline settings is the prototype of all the escapes games. It's usually shorter than the one I had mentioned in the previous paragraph and has no sequel since it doesn't have any other characters and narrative form in the game.

The Submachine Series

The Submachine Series is a escape game series created by Mateusz Skutnik. It is one of the most successful and well-known escape game series in the world. There are 10 episodes in the main Submachine series but they don't really have concrete storyline. It just simply sets up a situation and locks you in the room. The design of art and puzzle in this game is the most complicated one I have ever seen.

The scenes in the Submachine games:

If you are looking forward to trying some other games, I will strongly suggest you the Samsara Room, You Find Yourself in a Room, Alice is Dead 1 2 3, etc. However, there are still many great escape games in my lists, and if you still want to know more about it please leave a comment to let me know.

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Tips For Making Magazine Layout

I know everyone are working hard to complete the magazine project recently, and it is not so easy to come up with ideas from the magazine cover design and format. So today, I'm going to tell everyone some tips and the software that can help you deal with your layout design quickly.

1.Take Good Pictures For The Magazine

What's the definition of a good picture for the magazine cover? It's mean to take pictures that are focus on one topic only. Therefore, try to remove other things away and keep only the dish you want to take picture on the table. This will help to save enough space for the title and subtitles, otherwise your cover page will look like a mess after you adding words on it.

Don't use this kind of photos for cover design because they are messy and hard to read

Beside keeping your photos clean and simple, color contrast is also an important element in photography. The food's and the background's colors play an important role in the layout since high color contrast not only can highlight the dish but also provide better readability.

Color contrast make the color of the cake richer and the subtitles better readability

2.Using Pinterest to save ideas

To design a magazine layout, first of all, you need to decide and 
unify the style of your magazine. In this case, all you need is Pinterest. It's a web that provides platform allowing users to upload release their pictures, designs or art works. If you never heard of Pinterest before, take a look at it here. 

3. Search For A Specific Term

Search for a specific term can help you find for the information faster and easier on Pinterest. This is the page you will see if you search for "food magazine" :

Click on a certain one and it will show you how a professional designs a magazine layout from the cover, content, article to the back cover page.

There are thousands of different layout styles in the Pinterest's gallery so you can start the magazine design by choosing the one which you like the most and following its layout.

3. Find a graphics editor (e.g. Photoshop)

You need a good graphics editor to make a good magazine. In my opinion, I suggest using Photoshop Adobe. First of all, you don't need to buy or download it, there is an online Photoshop editor which you can find on the internet here. Second, since it's widely used around the world, there are a lot of photoshop tutorials on the internet you can search for, so I sure it will not be a big problem to use it.

So these are some tips I have learned from my own experience. Thanks for reading. I hope it will be helpful to you!

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5 Risks that We Must Be Careful Of While Using the Internet

We all know that internet is helpful and convenient. It offers information, news, knowledge and etc. But sometime internet can be a dark and dangerous place for users. Some may use it as a tool to hurt others and some may have the Internet Addiction Disorder unconsciously. So today I'm going to introduce you 4 common risks we might have to look out while using the internet.

1. Lack Of Face To Face Communication

When Internet communication gradually replace talking directly, our personal relationships with friends and family will totally be changed. It is believed that some people who prefer online chatting than talking face to face because it somehow separates them from the real world.

2.Insomnia

Statistics have show how exactly does internet use lead to sleep disturbance. Some may even found it's hard to sleep without surfing the internet for a while. For the teenagers, who are still at the age of development, insomnia will not only affect their mental health but also their physical growth. Therefore, try to turn off your Internet early tonight and build up a good habit of sleeping early to stay away of many health problems. 

3.Wrong Information

 We all know searching for information on the internet is very convenient since there are many data you can find and use. But most of the information on the internet are not credible enough and sometime are wrong. So the internet sometime will breed the rapid spread of the wrong information and make it more difficult to find the right information. 

4.Spam and Internet Fraud


There are bunch of email messages you don't even know where they come from will require you to click on a link. But instead of leading you to the real login https: site, the link will redirect you to a fake website such as advertisements, pornography, online games and etc. You then be forced to enter your ID and password and your computer information will suddenly be intercepted by the scammers, who later hack and access your account.

5.Cyber Bullying

Cyber bullying is basically a term to describe the bullying using the Internet. It can be considered as one of the evilest negative effects of Internet. Celebrities or artists are often the victims of cyber bullying. This type of harassment or bullying is safer and easier than physical bullying for there is still not many concrete law to control the problems. Victims of cyber bullying may feel insulted or embarrassed because of the wicked comments or opinions.

Recently, there are online pirates and hackers claim to hack into NASA, icloud , NSA and other organizations if their managers don't pay them huge sums of money. That so you even if the internet is useful, it can also be very dangerous. Therefore, try to find your balance between the internet and the real world to avoid the 5 problems above.

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Brainprint, the Strongest Password in the World

Have you ever heard of "brainprint"? 

It is a brand new system which uses EEG (electroencephalograph) technology to track brain metrics relevant to cognitive performance. Binghamton University has found that brainprint system can identify people with 100% accuracy based on the results and they then prove that if the system can identify your brain's reaction to certain words, it could be used to replace passwords in the near future. 

the illustration of brainprint

What Can We Do With "Brainprint"?

A brainprint can be recorded while you're looking at a series of images that are designed to elicit unique responses from person to person. And since everyone will have different feeling about the images individual, the EEG system would record the brain activity in response to the stimulus and setting the password after you had seen a hundred of those pictures. 

With the system, according to Binghamton University's new study, you might not need to remember those complicated e-mail, communication software and bank account passwords any longer when the way your brain responds to certain words could be used to replace passwords.

Brainprint process video:

High-security sites

The most attractive points in brainprint technology are they can be cancelled (the person can easily do another EEG test and record it again), cannot be imitated or stolen by malicious software as the way a finger or retina can.

“If someone’s fingerprint is stolen, that person can’t just grow a new finger to replace the compromised fingerprint — the fingerprint for that person is compromised forever. Fingerprints are ‘non-cancellable.’ Brainprints, on the other hand, are potentially cancellable. So, in the unlikely event that attackers were actually able to steal a brainprint from an authorized user, the authorized user could then ‘reset’ their brainprint,” psychology faculty member of the Binghamton University, Sarah Laszlo explained.

psychology faculty member of the Binghamton University, Sarah Laszlo

In conclusion, the brainprint technology is used for recording each person brain activity and turn the result into passwords that nobody else in the world could imitate or steal. It is considered to be worldwide used in the future because of it high-security feature. With this technology, we don't have to worry about our accounts might be hacked anymore.

Thanks for reading. Hope you've enjoyed it!

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Future Smartphones Trends

The evolution of phones has been swift and smartphones are changing everyday. It is moving so fast that even the technology frontiers can hardly tell which is the latest smartphone in the moment. But what should we expect to see in the development of smartphones in the next five to ten years? Here are some features for smartphones that may become the focal points for development in the near future.



1. Flexible Screens

I think everyone has already heard of it. Flexible screens are using electronic paper technology to make bendable displays which allow the smartphone to bear external force. And since it all makes of plastic, it has better durability compared with ordinary phones.In other words, this smartphone display reduces the chance your screen being smashed when you drop it.

Status: Available
2.Transparent Screens

Transparent screens are challenging the technology to make a phone with a transparent multi-touch display which allow users to see through the smart-glass. For that, the display quality is paramount. Since it is made of glass or crystal, it is considered to be lighter and thinner than ordinary phones. However, at this point, the display is still in development.

Status: Unavailable


3.Skin-touch Screens

This technology gave born to the non-display smartphones. It is already on the market and usually known as "the Cicret Bracelet". And since it is designed to be a wristband, you can wear it on the non-watch hand and the technology will transform the users skin into touchscreens.

Status: Available


4.Hologram Phone

Technically, this is the most complex and difficult technique to achieve. It promised bringing your photos, films, games or even video chats in your phone to life in 3D. With this new holographic tech, you can manipulate holographic 3D images to really "pop out" of your phone. However, there's still a big problem to deal with it : the quality of the screen looks terrible.

Status: Unavailable


Thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed!

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3D Printing - It Is Not A Player, It Is A Game Changer

Printing has long been recognized as one of the most important invention of all time, especially the laser printing and digital printing. And now, a new printing technologies which is claimed to be triggering the beginning of the third industrial revolution after the steam engine (James Watt) and electric light (Thomas Edison) have been carried out and already released to market.

You can use the 3D printer to print out exactly the object you want under the computer control

What is 3D Printing?

The solid imaging process known as 3D Printing was invented by Chuck Hull (Charles W. Hull). This technology allows us to print out a three-dimensional object with any shapes, colors or geometry. It creates an object by producing layers of material are formed under computer control.

As first, we can only use plastic to be the material of the 3D printer because there is few materials which are plasticity and cheap enough to become widely used. But the materials available for 3D printing are becoming more expanding beyond border time by time. The most often discussed 3D printing materials are molecules for medicine and human cells.

Plastic is commonly used in 3D printing

Stem cells(left) and metal(right) are also used in 3D printing

It Is A Game Changer For Everyone 

Now, since you have gained some understanding of this technology, you may start to wonder “so what’s the differences between the 3D printing technology and others’ new technologies?” “Ya it sounds cool, but is it good enough to be compared with steam engine and electric light?” In that case, I’m going to introduce the possible applications of this technology to make you reach a deeper understanding of it.

1.Fashion industry

As long as you have the design diagrams, 3D printer is able to produce flexible filaments which can be used to replace cotton material. 

3D printed dress with complex pattern

2.Construction Industry

Compared with manual, the biggest strength of the 3D printing technology is that it can produce product with nearly 100 percent accuracy and significantly reduce the error rate.

The Gaudi's Sagrada Familia model made by 3D printing

And if the machine is big enough, it can even build a real building with just a mouseclick! The 3D printed house technology is considered to be universal used around the world in the future.

Watch how it "printed" a house in 24 hours:

3. Healthcare Industry

Madhumitha Rangesa, TechVision Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan said that 3D-printed tissues for drug testing will help save eliminate costly animal testing and use of synthetic tissues.

I have to say it is a little creepy to find out this technology can also print a human body parts...

I will not show the pictures but you can't find for it in the internet by searching "3D printed body parts".

3D printed human organs:

To sum up, 3D printing technology is useful for saving a lot of time and its high accuracy. Everything you may have think is impossible to achieve seem to be a piece of cake for the 3D printer. Since there are still about 10 more 3D printing applications of different fields, you can find more details and information here.

Thanks for reading!

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Futuristic Universal Toys With Sentient Robots

Hi everyone, today I'm going to introduce to you a toy robot which called "Cozmo". Owing to the advances in new technology, smartphone, PC and others electronic products have become more and more popular. People requirements to the everyday used's quality is becoming more and more stricter, so did for toys. Therefore, the electronics industry started to develop children's toy market by releasing a new kind of toy robots called the "sentient robots" or "self-aware robots".

What's The Sentient Robots?

Sentient robots(self-aware robots) are the robots which have passed the self-awareness test and be proved that own human-like personalities. They can think and learn without any operations. Most of all, they are considered to have their own emotion and feelings.

Please read the article for more information: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22730302-700-robot-homes-in-on-consciousness-by-passing-self-awareness-test/

Cozmo

Cozmo is the latest real-life toy robot which was invented by an American company, the Anki. Although he was small, Cozmo has bigger brain than any others toy robots you have even seen on the market. Moreover, he has a bigger personality which provides real emotions in response to the environment overtime. He gets curious easily and doesn't just learn but plots and plans. With a one-of-a-kind personality and funny actions, Cozmo quickly becomes popular among the American families.

I made some gifs from the youtube clips to show you Cozmo's funny moments:

Cozmo is curious, he likes to searches for adventures,

but somehow, he always know how to keep himself away from dangers.

He loves to play game, too.

and sometimes he is just too competitive XD

As a robot, he doesn't like to obey commands at all

Cozmo had already launched into the market since 2016 October and the price is $179.99. You can search for it on the internet or the Anki's official website.

Official website links: https://anki.com/en-us/cozmo

Wall-E(left) and Eve(right)

It is said that Cozmo is inspired and resembles the Eve character in the animated film Wall-E. But somehow it keeps reminding me of M-O, another character in the film.

M-O(left) and Wall-E(right)

Thanks for reading! 

Leave a comment to let me know if there's some more information your want to know about Cozmo.

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