TI Connect Adds 64-Bit, Windows 7 Support
Posted by Duncan on 7 November 2009, 07:19 GMT

Texas Instruments quietly (very quietly) told the world that they have a new version of TI Connect available for download. It looks like you'll need to download both TI Connect 1.6 and the 1.6.1 patch to get full functionality.

The new version supports 64-bit Windows, as well as Windows Vista and Windows 7. The previous lack of support has caused headaches for many users of TI-Connect with 64-bit systems. There should now be nothing stopping you from upgrading to a modern OS!

TI DMCA Situation Update
Posted by Michael on 30 October 2009, 03:20 GMT

First, the good news: TI has completely ignored the EFF's letter and the October 26 deadline, so Brandon's post and Duncan's post are back online. This is great news, although arguably the better situation would have been for TI to sue and lose in the court system, where legal precedent would be established.

The bad news: Because it ignored the letter, TI has bizarrely continued to send improper DMCA takedown notices to websites, including a second notice to Duncan for his other webpage also listing the signing keys! The EFF has posted a news update calling out TI for its behavior. Duncan has filed a DMCA Section 512 counternotice in response to this DMCA abuse.

Update (November 4): For those who haven't yet seen, there is now a news story in the IEEE Spectrum magazine, profiling Brandon and the current situation.

Shift for the 83+/84+
Posted by Travis on 27 October 2009, 10:26 GMT

A little while back Alex Marcolina released an interesting TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus game that won the ASM/hybrid category in last summer's Omnimaga programming contest. This puzzle platformer is a clone of a Macromedia Flash game named SHIFT. The object is to reach the exit door in each puzzle, collecting keys and dodging pits of spikes first as necessary--except many areas appear to be inaccessible. The trick is to "shift", which flips the level upside down, at strategic points.

A level editor is provided so that players can create new challenges once they master the built-in levels.

ticalc.org Staff Meet Up in Seattle
Posted by Nikky on 19 October 2009, 02:56 GMT

A ticalc.org meet up is not entirely unknown, but on October 18th, 2009, 5 of the individual staff members currently listed as "current" meet up for much discussion and rejoicing in Seattle, Washington. While we would like to take credit for arranging this meet up far in advance, it actually seems that four of us actually live within 15 miles of each other and never actually realized this fact until approximately 48 hours ago.

In proof that twitter can be useful on occasion, our illustrious Reviews Editor noticed that the Editor-In-Chief would be in town for a SQL conference. Quickly seizing the initiative and realizing that there were quite a lot of us already in the Seattle area, a meeting was arranged. After discussion regarding all sorts of extremely relevant topics (including a proposal to declare Seattle as "calculator capital of the world") and consumption of various amounts of beer, we parted company and returned back to our lives. However, despite the best efforts of Magnus, a picture was taken as proof of our amazing planning skills. Additional meetings in the future may be on the agenda!