Online PTC sites which pays really
Recent Posts
U.S. bombers fly through China’s new defence zone
Two days after China announced the establishment of an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) to bolster its claims over parts of the disputed East China Sea, the United States dispatched two B-52 bombers to fly through the contested area, according to a report on Tuesday.
Chinese authorities did not make contact with the two B-52 bombers, which flew out of the Anderson Air Force Base in Guam as part of an earlier planned exercise and crossed over into the zone, flying above the disputed East China Sea islands that are at the heart of a territorial dispute between China and Japan.
U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that the planes departed from Guam at around 5.30 am IST on Tuesday morning. The Chinese government announced that starting Saturday morning, it would track and monitor all aircraft that enter the ADIZ. Aircraft that failed to notify Chinese authorities of their flight plans could face interception from air defence forces.
China’s move to set up an ADIZ, which extends beyond its territorial airspace over parts of the East China Sea, including the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands, and up to 130 km of Japan’s territorial airspace, brought angry responses from Japan, which has blasted the move as a provocation.
U.S. officials have also expressed deep concern over the move, suggesting it would fuel tensions between China and Japan. U.S. aircraft, they have stressed, will not adhere to China's newly announced demands.
On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry hit out at the U.S. for making “irresponsible accusations”. Chinese officials have defended the move, saying that other countries, including the U.S. and Japan, have already established similar zones beyond their territorial airspace to track aircraft for security purposes.
China’s ADIZ overlaps with the air defence zone that Japan has already set up in the East China Sea, which also extends over the disputed islands and up to 130 km of Chinese airspace.
The timing of Beijing’s move, analysts said, may raise the likelihood of confrontations between the two countries, which have, in recent months, stepped up efforts to enforce their claims both on water and in the air.
Naval vessels from both countries have had run-ins near the islands, while Japan has threatened to shoot down Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have been deployed in the region and has scrambled fighter-jets in response, to enforce its claims.
Giant dinosaur that rivalled T-rex discovered
A giant new predatory dinosaur that roamed the Earth about 100 million years ago and even rivalled the mighty tyrannosaurus rex has been discovered.
The new species of carnivorous dinosaur — one of the three largest ever discovered in North America — lived alongside and competed with small-bodied tyrannosaurs.
The species, called Siats meekerorum, was the apex predator of its time, and kept tyrannosaurs from assuming top predator roles for millions of years.
Siats is a species of carcharodontosaur, a group of giant meat-eaters that includes some of the largest predatory dinosaurs ever discovered.
Siats is only the second carcharodontosaur ever discovered in North America; Acrocanthosaurus, discovered in 1950, was the first.
“It’s been 63 years since a predator of this size has been named from North America,” said Lindsay Zanno, a North Carolina State University paleontologist.
Zanno and colleague Peter Makovicky, from Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, discovered the partial skeleton of the new predator in Utah’s Cedar Mountain Formation in 2008.
The recovered specimen belonged to an individual that would have been more than 30 feet long and weighed at least four tons. Despite its giant size, these bones are from a juvenile.
Zanno and Makovicky theorise that an adult Siats might have reached the size of Acrocanthosaurus, meaning the two species vie for the second largest predator ever discovered in North America.
Tyrannosaurus rex, which holds first place, came along 30 million years later and weighed in at more than twice that amount.
Siats terrorised what is now Utah during the Late Cretaceous period — 100 to 66 million years ago.
“Carcharodontosaurs reigned for much longer in North America than we expected,” said Zanno.
In fact, Siats fills a gap of more than 30 million years in the fossil record, during which time the top predator role changed hands from carcharodontosaurs in the Early Cretaceous to tyrannosaurs in the Late Cretaceous.
The lack of fossils left paleontologists unsure about when this change happened and if tyrannosaurs outcompeted carcharodontosaurs, or were simply able to assume apex predator roles following carcharodontosaur extinction.
It is now clear that Siats’ large size would have prevented smaller tyrannosaurs from taking their place atop the food chain.
“The huge size difference certainly suggests that tyrannosaurs were held in check by carcharodontosaurs, and only evolved into enormous apex predators after the carcharodontosaurs disappeared,” said Makovicky.
“Contemporary tyrannosaurs would have been no more than a nuisance to Siats, like jackals at a lion kill. It wasn’t until carcharodontosaurs bowed out that the stage could be set for the evolution of T-rex,” Zanno added.
Way to make Money Online
Just Try These websites..... assured payments......
1.
___________________________________________________________________
2.
____________________________________________________________________
3.
____________________________________________________________________
4.
_____________________________________________________________________
5.
1.
___________________________________________________________________
2.
____________________________________________________________________
3.
____________________________________________________________________
4.
_____________________________________________________________________
5.
UK teen becomes youngest donor of stem cells to non-relative
Victoria Rathmill, from Macclesfield in England, decided to donate after a family friend was found to have leukaemia.
"It's been extremely overwhelming - I'm just a girl from Macclesfield, so this has all been quite a lot of attention, which I'm not used to. Loads of people at school have been asking me about it," she said.
In October 2012, Britain became the first country to lower the age limit at which people can donate stem cells from 18 to 16, 'The Times' reported.
After volunteers from Anthony Nolan, a UK charity, gave a talk at Victoria's school she decided to sign up for their register.
Anthony Nolan maintains a stem cell register that enables leukaemia patients who need a stem cell, bone marrow or cord blood transplant to find a match.
Usually, it takes an average of six years between someone joining the bone marrow register and a match being found.
But in Victoria's case it was just six months before a match was found and she received the call shortly after turning 17.
Victoria has donated twice because the patient was larger than she is and required more cells.
Victoria will not be told the identity of the recipient of her donation for two years but is keen that they should eventually meet.
Robots let doctors 'beam' into remote US hospitals
Remote presence robots are allowing physicians to "beam" themselves into a growing number of U.S. hospitals to diagnose patients and offer medical advice during emergencies.
Some hospitals in California and other states are using telepresence robots to expand access to medical specialists, especially in rural areas where there's a shortage of doctors.
These mobile video-conferencing machines move on wheels and typically stand about 5 feet (1.4 meters), with a large screen that projects a doctor's face. They feature cameras, microphones and speakers that allow physicians and patients to see and talk to each other.
Dignity Health, which runs Arizona, California and Nevada hospitals, began using the telemedicine machines five years ago to diagnose patients suspected of suffering strokes—when every minute is crucial to prevent serious brain damage.
The San Francisco-based health care provider now uses the telemedicine robots in emergency rooms and intensive-care units at about 20 California hospitals, giving them access to specialists in areas such as neurology, cardiology, neonatology, pediatrics and mental health.
"Regardless of where the patient is located, we can be at their bedside in several minutes," said Dr. Alan Shatzel, medical director of the Mercy Telehealth Network. "Literally, we compress time and space with this technology. No longer does distance affect a person's ability to access the best care possible.
Dignity Health is one of several hospital chains that recently began using RP-VITA, which was jointly developed by InTouch Health and iRobot Corp. It's approved for hospital use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"Hospitals are now using this type of technology in order to leverage the specialists that they have even better and more efficiently," said Dr. Yulun Wang, CEO of Santa Barbara-based InTouch Health.
Nearly 1,000 hospitals in the U.S. and abroad have installed InTouch telemedicine devices, including about 50 RP-VITA robots launched in May, according to company officials. The company rents out the RP-VITA for $5,000 per month.
When a doctor is needed at a remote hospital location, he can log into the RP-VITA on-site by using a computer, laptop or iPad. The robot has an auto-drive function that allows it to navigate its way to the patient's room, using sensors to avoid bumping into things or people.
Once inside the hospital room, the doctor can see, hear and speak to the patient, and have access to clinical data and medical images. The physician can't touch the patient, but there is always a nurse or medical assistant on-site to assist.
On a recent morning, Dr. Asad Chaudhary, a stroke specialist at Dignity Health, beamed into a robot at the neuro-intensive care unit at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael to evaluate Linda Frisk, a patient who recently had a stroke.
With his face projected on the robot screen, Chaudhary asked Frisk to smile, open and close her eyes, make a fist and lift her arms and legs—common prompts to test a patient's neurological functioning.
"If you develop any weakness, any numbness, any problem with your speech or anything else, let us know right away," Chaudhary told Frisk before the robot turned around and left the room.
"It's just like being with the patient in the room," Chaudhary said. "Of course, nothing can replace seeing these patients in person, but it's the next best thing."
Frisk, 60, who was flown into the hospital for treatment, said she was surprised when she first saw the robot, but quickly got used to the doctor's virtual presence.
"You feel like he was right there," said Frisk, who lives near Merced. "Although I am a little spoiled and like to see him in person."
Android comes under EU scanner
Google is already under investigation of European Commission for alleged anti-competitive behaviour in the search engine market.
Regarding the Android issue, European Commission vice president Joaquin Almunia said the case is at an early stage and a decision on launching a formal investigation is yet to be taken.
"We have not yet formalised the concerns. We are looking at the way the Android ecosystem deals with different elements that can be considered as anti-competitive rules," Almunia told PTI here.
Android is one of the widely used smartphone operating platforms.
Going by estimates from global research firm Gartner, Android accounted for more than 80% share in the smartphone operating system market during the third quarter of 2013.
The competition division of the European Commission -- the executive arm of European Union(EU) -- is looking into the case. EU is a grouping of around 28 countries.
Meanwhile, consultation process is progressing with regard to the Commission's probe into allegations of Google indulging in anti-competitive ways in the internet search engine market.
"It is on-going and we are at the end of second round of consultations," Almunia told reporters.
With respect to this case, the Commission is expected to take a final view in the coming months after taking into consideration the outcome of the consultation process, views and responses from stakeholders and Google, he added.
"It is a very difficult investigation because this is the first time that from an anti-trust point of view we are dealing with search engine sector...," he said.
India's Competition Commission is also probing alleged unfair practices by Google in the internet search engine market.
Man kills wife to marry another woman
A man was arrested for killing his first wife to marry another woman, police said Sunday.
Rahul, 24, was nabbed from his residence in Ghaziabad's Loni Saturday night following the murder of his first wife Khushbu, 22, whose headless and decomposed body was recovered from a rented house in east Delhi's Karawal Nagar Saturday.
The accused, an employee with a private company in Gurgaon, told police he killed Khushbu Nov 19 night and went to his village where he married a woman, Pinki, Nov 20.
"He also revealed that he married the victim in April against the wishes of his family members," said a police officer.
"Following pressure from his family members, he agreed to remarry but did not tell Khushbu about it," said the officer.
Khushbu's body was recovered after foul smell emanated from the rented house and neighbours informed police.
Neighbours also said Rahul left home Nov 20 morning telling them his wife had gone to her parents' home and he was going there to give her some clothes.
Kidnapped official rescued, four abductors killed - India
A senior Meghalaya official, abducted by tribal Rabha rebels, was rescued Sunday while security forces killed four of his abductors in Assam's Goalpara district.
Dilip Dutta Medhi, sericulture development officer of Resubelpara in Meghalaya, was rescued in the Buglamary area from Rabha National Liberation Front (RNLF) kidnappers, Goalpara district police chief Nitul Gogoi told IANS by phone.
Security forces gunned down four kidnappers in the ensuing gun battle. Police recovered one carbine, one pistol and two hand grenades from the dead men.
"We will send the Meghalaya official to his relatives," the police official said.
Medhi along with his peon was kidnapped by the RNLF rebel group Nov 14 from Chotomatia area, bordering Assam's Goalpara district and Meghalaya's North Garo Hills district, when he was going to Guwahati to meet his family.
The rebels had released the peon.
The RNLF rebel group operates largely in the Rabha tribe-inhabited areas of Assam's Goalpara district, and certain areas of Meghalaya's North Garo Hills districts.
Earlier, Medhi's family appealed to the kidnappers for his release.
"We are on the way to Dudhnoi police station to bring him back," Rajesh Talukdar, brother-in-law of Medhi, said.
Infant Galaxies Merge Near 'Cosmic Dawn'
Astronomers using the combined power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile and NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have discovered a far-flung trio of primitive galaxies nestled inside an enormous blob of primordial gas nearly 13 billion light-years from Earth. It's possible the trio will eventually merge into a single galaxy similar to our own Milky Way.
"This exceedingly rare triple system, seen when the universe was only 800 million years old, provides important insights into the earliest stages of galaxy formation during a period known as 'cosmic dawn,' when the universe was first bathed in starlight,” said Richard Ellis of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, a member of the research team.
Researchers first detected this object, which appeared to be a giant bubble of hot, ionized gas, in 2009. Dubbed Himiko (after a legendary queen of ancient Japan), it is nearly 10 times larger than typical galaxies of that era and comparable in size to our own Milky Way. Subsequent infrared observations with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope provided more clues about the object's mass, suggesting Himiko might represent a single galaxy, which would make it uncharacteristically massive for that period of the early universe.
“The new observations revealed that, rather than a single galaxy, Himiko harbors three distinct, bright sources, whose intense star formation is heating and ionizing this giant cloud of gas,” said Masami Ouchi, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo who led the international team of astronomers from Japan and the United States.
New data from ALMA, Hubble and Spitzer also led astronomers to speculate that Himiko could be made up almost entirely of primordial gas, a mixture of the light elements hydrogen and helium, which were created in the Big Bang event that gave birth to our universe. If correct, this would be a landmark discovery signaling the detection of a primordial galaxy seen during its formation.
-NASA
How butterflies stay dry
So much for rain slickers. Slightly bumpy surfaces, like those of butterfly wings, repel water better than completely smooth surfaces do,researchers report November 20 in Nature.
James Bird of Boston University and colleagues dripped water onto silicon wafers with different textures and filmed the droplets’ splashes. Drops of water striking smooth surfaces flattened into a Frisbee shape before bouncing away. But droplets hitting ridged wafers flared into a splatter that skimmed surfaces only briefly before rebounding.
Ribbed textures force droplets to skip off surfaces quickly, cutting the contact time between water and wafer, the authors found. The results help explain why the veined wings of Morpho butterflies are so good at staying dry.
SURFACE SPLASH Water droplets take longer to rebound from a smooth surface (top) than one with raised ribs (bottom). This ridged texture reduces the length of time that water touches a surface, helping it stay dry. The first clip shows the droplets moving at normal speed. The second clip shows the video at a quarter of its original speed.
Experiments in pasta
Tonight, like almost every other night, I had the distinct pleasure of dining with my daughter. Perched in her hippopotamus highchair, Baby V feasted on beef stew, avocado, sharp cheddar cheese and a blueberry pancake. For dessert, she got a strand of linguine.
As far as I can tell, nothing is dearer to Baby V’s heart than linguine. Tonight when she spotted the noodle, her eyes electrified with laser focus, her face turned serious and she started to emit urgent “mmmm” noises. When she got it in her hands, it was all business. First, she held the strand in both hands and pulled hard enough to create nice tension but not so hard as to break it. Then, she moved the noodle to her left hand and shook it over the side of her high chair. Next, it was over to the right hand for the same shakey-shakey on the other side. After the noodle had orbited around her, it was time to get it in the mouth.
She carefully threaded the linguine so that it nestled behind her top and bottom teeth, affording her the opportunity to pull each side as she pleased, kind of like she was flossing. This went on successfully for quite some time. Finally, her new teeth (four on top and two on bottom) compromised the noodle’s integrity and it broke.
Baby V played that noodle for all it was worth. And it’s not just noodles that capture her fancy. It’s watching the key go into the front door, smelling fresh olive oil, seeing herself in the mirror, bouncing on her granddaddy’s knee, peering inside the sudsy washing machine, feeling crunchy leaves on her bare feet. Ordinary, everyday things delight her 9-month-old senses in a way that adults have long forgotten about.
As I watched her make her linguine discoveries like the little scientist she is, I’m reminded of some research I wrote about pre-Baby V (which is hard to even contemplate) that suggests babies and children are capable of sophisticated statistical reasoning. This particular brand of thinking, called Bayesian statistics, is a powerful way to make predictions about the world. Bayesian statistics work because they rely in part on a person’s prior beliefs.
Like most other adults, I’ve amassed a huge collection of prior beliefs. I am certain that my key will unlock my door tomorrow, for instance, because that’s what always happens. I don’t even entertain the idea that the key wouldn’t work.
Baby V, in contrast, is just starting to collect data about the world. She has some ideas about how things should go, but they’re not as solid as mine. She is in full-on discovery mode, and needs to scrutinize my key going into the lock every time, study the rumbling washing machine and figure out her reflection in the mirror. Every new experience is a way for her to accumulate more evidence about her world. Washing machines are noisy. Dry leaves are prickly. Dogs are sometimes wet and sometimes dry.
Far from being dull fact-finding missions, these explorations are exhilarating for Baby V. And for me. There’s nothing better than watching that girl shake her linguine.
BY LAURA SANDERS
300: Rise of an Empire - releasing in 2014
Overview
Release Date: 7 March, 2014
Genre: Action, Drama
Cast: Eva Green , Lena Headey , Rodrigo Santoro , Hans Matheson, Sullivan Stapleton ...View More
Summary: The film centers on Themistocles and Artemisia I of Caria, as well as Xerxes I of Persia. The Battle of Artemisium was a naval engagement, concurrent with the battle of Thermopylae, and was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 BC, in the straits between the mainland and the northern tip of the island of Euboea (modern Evvia). The film will probably also focus, in part, on the Battle of Salamis, in which Artemisia played a major role, as well as possibly the Battle of Marathon. Salamis (home of the mythical hero Ajax) fought once the Persian Empire had advanced into southern Greece and occupied Athens. The film will also cover some of the backstory of Xerxes, and will explain how he became "the god King".
Genre: Action, Drama
Cast: Eva Green , Lena Headey , Rodrigo Santoro , Hans Matheson, Sullivan Stapleton ...View More
Summary: The film centers on Themistocles and Artemisia I of Caria, as well as Xerxes I of Persia. The Battle of Artemisium was a naval engagement, concurrent with the battle of Thermopylae, and was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 BC, in the straits between the mainland and the northern tip of the island of Euboea (modern Evvia). The film will probably also focus, in part, on the Battle of Salamis, in which Artemisia played a major role, as well as possibly the Battle of Marathon. Salamis (home of the mythical hero Ajax) fought once the Persian Empire had advanced into southern Greece and occupied Athens. The film will also cover some of the backstory of Xerxes, and will explain how he became "the god King".
Deafheaven: Sunbather - Album review
Sunbather
Artist: Deafheaven
Label: Deathwish
Rate: 8.2/10Deafheaven is a pretty polarizing band, and for every person gushing about the transcendental nature of its new full-length, Sunbather, there’s a metal purist dismissing the group as another “hipster” act like Liturgy, and then going back to listening to something far more authentic (i.e. from Sweden). The problem with this particular distinction is that it’s based on an inherently flawed perception of a band that has far more in common with screamo acts like Envy than, say, Entombed.
This should be pretty evident from the album’s opener, “Dream House,” a nine-minute announcement that’s as emotionally resonant as an Explosions In The Sky song, but filled with enough blast beats and skull-rattling screams to keep it from ever ending up on the soundtrack for a series like Friday Night Lights. The trick is that the track—and Sunbather as a whole, for that matter—is teeming with enough surprising moments that it manages to avoid redundancy, one of the major pitfalls of bands in this genre. Whenever there’s a pause in the pandemonium, it’s impossible to know if the sonic trajectory is about to rise to the heavens or hit the ground, shattering everywhere.
If Sunbather (which is made up of seven seamless tracks that collectively last an hour) has a mission statement, it’s the title track, which opens with a shoegazing wall of noise before segueing into a half-time groove. Then, after being lulled into a dreamy state of relaxation, the double bass kicks back in and, all of the sudden, the listener is thrust back into a world of carefully controlled destruction. Deafheaven’s masterful control of these dynamics—loud and soft, fast and slow, metallic and melodious—are exactly why the band is so divisive; the trade-off being that those traits also make 14-minute opuses like “Vertigo” so engaging.
Deafheaven’s music isn’t about making things as heavy as possible. Instead, its approach is akin to a painter understanding that much of art’s beauty lies in the blank space on the canvas that makes the flashes of color that much more awe-inspiring. Deafheaven achieves this by slotting the deceptively simple and distortion-free segue “Irresistible” and the ambient, Godspeed You! Black Emperor-esque “Windows” into the madness. On their own, both of these tracks would sound out of place, but in context they keep Sunbather from sounding like multiple variations on the same musical formula, regardless of how awe-inspiring those variations might be.
Will the hype surrounding the album attract fair-weather fans that listen to it for weeks and then move on to the next buzzed-about band? Maybe, but that’s missing the point. What’s undeniable is that moments from Sunbather will resonate long after the pointless babble has died down, proving that sometimes the greatest beauty can only be found in the face of chaos.
FIFA 2014 Game review
Rate: 8/10
While the next-gen versions of FIFA 14 retain most of the features of their current-generation siblings, the gulf in technology is immediately apparent once the teams take to the pitch. Dozens of subtle additions to the way players and fans react to each other make it a much more authentic experience. For instance, whenever a ball goes out of play, players and ball boys scurry to fetch it. Every now and again a second ball is accidentally thrown onto the pitch and must be returned before the referee will allow play to continue. The gormless doppelgangers that littered the stands in previous games have been replaced with detailed and varied fans that sway to the beat of the on-pitch action. Supporters at local derbies become embroiled in bitter chanting battles, and cup game underdogs shriek for the full time whistle. Stadium seats may lie empty if the opposition isn't worth the ticket price, while away team goals will silence any cheering home fans. This isn't the first time a football game has attempted to capture the magic of the stadium experience, but FIFA 14 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is the first where I've genuinely felt the presence of a 12th man.
The 11 on the pitch have been given new life, too. Though the game controls similarly to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, there's a noticeable increase in the variety of animations and fluidity of motion. The entire experience is a lot less mechanical. The ball no longer sticks to your feet, so jostling for control and shielding possession are far more interesting. This freedom of movement also allows you to intercept passes and put pressure on individual players more effectively, so changes in possession occur more often. An interesting by-product of this increased jostling is that referees are more lenient. The familiar whistle blows after blocking off players or roughing them out of possession aren't here. And though sometimes it can seem the referees have thrown away the rulebook, the pace of the match benefits overall. While past games in the series have more accurately mimicked the offensive back-and-forth of a game of basketball, possession in FIFA 14 is a lot less predictable.
The PlayStation 4 version of FIFA 14 comes with a multitude of other improvements. Impressively fast load times mean you barely have enough time to complete the loading screen skill games. The increase in resolution and graphical fidelity is apparent throughout. Better detail allows you to notice player balance and ball spin like never before, while jerseys ruffle and grass clippings are kicked up when players strike at goal. You can also press in the DualShock 4's touchpad, or the Xbox One's back button to switch control to the goalkeeper. It's not a very useful addition, but at the very least, it serves as an alternative to hammering Y to rush the goalie out in one-on-one situations.
Off the pitch, FIFA 14 has a variety of modes which will be familiar to anyone who has played the series recently, but sadly, several of them have not made the cut between console generations. You can still play friendlies or take control of an individual player in Be a Pro. Career mode lets you manage a variety of teams or start a career as a player. Ultimate Team returns for fans of building their very own fantasy sides. Skill games and the practise mode are back, Pro Clubs allows you to create an online team with friends, and single-player or co-op seasons are available via Seasons mode.
However, there are some disappointing omissions. Tournament mode is nowhere to be seen, which means the many leagues and cups that make up world football are not playable independently. So if you want to enter the World Cup, take your team to the top of the Premier League, or compete in the Copa del Rey, your only choice is to invest hours into Career mode.
Latin American soccer fans will be disappointed to hear that Mario Kempes and Fernando Palomo's commentary is not in the next-gen version either. Unranked online friendlies have also been taken out, as has the ability to allow guests to play online with you. All in all, this means the local co-op play experience has been rather handicapped. It's a disappointing blot on an otherwise outstanding product.
Regardless, this is the quintessential version of FIFA 14. It brings a level of authenticity never before seen in the genre and sets new standards for player control and stadium atmosphere. Too often have we seen football games flounder in the transition to new consoles, but FIFA 14 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is a step above it's peers. Whether you're scoring in front of a screaming Kop or eking out an unlikely cup victory, FIFA 14 produces special moments that will live in your memory long after you've put the controller down.
How to Make Windows 8 Look Like Win 7 on PC
Windows 8's blah reception from many computer users may have been due at least in part to a peculiar trait that we humans have, and that's our obsession with improvement.
Improving our lot has been a fixation throughout virtually all of human history, so it shouldn't come as any great surprise that Microsoft couldn't help itself when it became time to update its OS -- an OS that we had all learned to use expertly over the last 20 years or so.
That obsession, along with a need to keep about 100,000 employees occupied, resulted in Windows 8's improvements over Windows 7 -- the strange omission of the Start button and the hiding of the Windows Desktop, that icon-studded screen we used to launch into.
Well, if you don't like improvement, are simply a Luddite or just fondly miss the Windows Desktop, you can take matters into your own hands. Here's how to start Windows 8.1 into Desktop mode -- bypassing the new, improved tile-based look -- plus a couple of other tricks.
Step 1: Make a backup of your personal files by swiping in from the right edge of the screen and choosing Search. Enter the term File History Settings and then click on the results and follow the instructions to perform the backup.
Tip: You'll need an external drive, like a USB memory drive.
Step 2: Touch or click on the Store tile on the Start page.
Step 3: Choose the free Windows 8.1 Update and select Download. Allow the update to proceed and complete. Then restart the PC and sign in.
Configure the Desktop Startup
Step 1: Launch the Desktop from the Start page by clicking on the tile labeled Desktop.
Step 2: Right-click on the Taskbar.
Tip: The Taskbar is the solid-colored strip below the wallpaper.
Step 3: Choose Properties and then the Navigation tab in the resulting box.
Step 4: Scroll down to the dialog, "When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the Desktop instead of Start," and check the checkbox. Click on OK.
The next time you restart your computer, the Start tile-based page will be skipped, and you'll launch into a Windows 7-style desktop instead. Hooray for the Luddites.
Tip: While you're on the Desktop page, check out the new-in-Windows 8.1 Windows icon in the bottom-left corner. It's a Start button of sorts, and clicking on it alternates you between the tile-infested Start page and the lovable classic Desktop page.
Launching Into the App Page
Adding insult to injury in the Windows 8 environment, you may have noticed that the Start page -- the one with all of the newfangled tiles -- doesn't include all of the apps that you've painstakingly searched for and downloaded.
The full listing of apps are in a page called Apps, not Start. You can get to the Apps page by clicking on the new-in-Windows 8.1 Down arrow in the bottom-left corner of the Windows 8.1 Start page if you want to see that page.
Here's how to launch straight into Apps from Desktop, bypassing Start.
Step 1: Launch the Desktop from the Start page by clicking on the tile labeled Desktop.
Step 2: Right-click on the Taskbar.
Step 3: Choose Properties and then the Navigation tab in the resulting box.
Step 4: Scroll down to the dialog, "Show the Apps view automatically when I go to Start," and check the checkbox. Click on OK.
The next time you click on the Windows icon in the bottom left corner of the Desktop, you'll go to Apps instead of Start. Now that's an improvement.
Waving goodbye to Winamp, paying respects to Nullsoft
If you downloaded a song in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you most likely did it with Winamp. This week, the world said goodbye to the legendary media player with plenty of nostalgia, but for me, Winamp's death means the end of a very personal era. Here are some of my memories of working at Nullsoft, the company that created it.
When I first started there in 2001, I wasn't sure what I was getting into. America Online had just bought the company, and Nullsoft employees weren't thrilled with the prospect of being told what to do by a large company with a lot of rules. Many of us were young and full of "piss off" energy.
Nullsoft's story started way before I arrived. In 1996, Winamp -- short for "Windows Amplifier" -- was created and released by computer programmer Justin Frankel. He went on to start his company Nullsoft (a parody of Microsoft's name) a year later.
Nullsoft's snarky attitude was obvious from the start with its mascot -- a llama named Mike who came with his own tagline: "Winamp, it really whips the llama's ass!" (a line inspired by the schizophrenic singer-songwriter Wesley Willis). The motto rang true, considering it kicked the asses of any other media play on the market.
Mariachi bands interrupted meetings. Staff wore inflatable Sumo wresting outfits for the hell of it. The ultimate video game area sat in the middle of the room.
Fifteen million people downloaded Winamp in a little over a year after its release. It allowed users to not only easily play music on their computers complete with playlists, an equalizer, and Pink Floyd light-show-worthy visualizations, it also inspired fans to make their own player skins to share with others.
In 1999, AOL bought Nullsoft and everything changed. While working under AOL, Frankel (along with fellow computer programmer and Nullsoft co-founder Tom Pepper) released Gnutella, an open-source peer-to-peer file-sharing network that competed with Napster in both popularity and controversy, due to a very miffed AOL.
According to an archived Rolling Stone interview from 2004 with Frankel aptly entitled "The World's Most Dangerous Geek":
AOL ordered him to take the program down immediately, and the company put out a statement calling Gnutella an 'unauthorized freelance project.' But Gnutella, unlike Napster, couldn't be stopped. More than 10,000 people had downloaded the beta software that first day, and intrepid hackers had gone to work to reverse-engineer it and throw it into the hands of the open-source community, laying the foundation for BearShare, Morpheus, LimeWire, and other file-trading wares.
Gnutella was now impossible to shut down, and so was Frankel, though AOL tried to keep him on a short leash by forcing Frankel to get his blog posts preapproved. That backfired too. He uploaded an MP3 search engine for the masses, and AOL took it down within hours. Frankel uploaded a program called AIMazing, which replaced AOL's Instant Messenger banner ads with a musical heartbeat. AOL was not amused. Even The Wall Street Journal published a story in 2000 called "AOL's loose cannon: Justin Frankel."
So when I was hired at Nullsoft in 2001, tensions were high between the Nullsoft staff and AOL upper management. I was hired to be the editor of Winamp.com to most likely make sure nothing went "wrong" with the site. The Nullsoft team -- who called themselves "legitimate nihilistic media terrorists as history will no doubt canonize us" -- were under a microscope. But Nullsoft didn't need a babysitter, it needed a cheerleader.
The group I worked with understood the concept of working hard and playing hard. Mariachi bands interrupted meetings. Staff wore inflatable Sumo wresting outfits for the hell of it. The ultimate video game area sat in the middle of the room. Everyone there was dedicated to creating the best version of Winamp possible.
Fans flocked to Winamp.com over the years not only to download the latest player and find their favorite fan-made player skins (often created to honor favorite TV shows such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or stylized to reflect love for bands like Nine Inch Nails) but also to connect with the Nullsoft creators themselves. Our forums thrived. The site featured news and personalities of our employees with themed months celebrating everything from ninjas to prom. We all wrote public blogs linked to the site. We had a voice. We had fun.
"I got hired to explain 'wasabi' to the world; that 'plugin' architectures needed to change into 'component' architectures; that 'skinning' meant something far more amazing than simply 'replacing bitmaps' on things; and a wonderful skins and development community 'flourished,'" former Nullsoft employee and self-proclaimed "Hot Green Mustard Evangelist" Mig Gerard wrote in his Nullsoft job description on LinkedIn.
HP eyes Black Android tablet
Intel has got the scoop on some tablet deals for Black Friday, including an Android tablet that's very light on the wallet.
That 7-inch HP tablet, branded the Mesquite, packs an Intel processor and will sell for $89 at Walmart. Don't expect any barn-burning specs, though. You'll likely get what you pay for.
And Intel has the skinny on a few more deals too.
For instance, if you buy a PC at Costco for $600 or more, you can get a $180 (regular price)Dell Venue 8 tablet (also Android) for $99.
Google Glass developers (We're still flying half-blind)
Ever since developers got their hands on Google Glass earlier this year, software coders have clamored for greater access to the programming internals of the controversial headset. Google accommodated them this week -- albeit to the sound of muted applause.
To be sure, Google's Glass Development Kit (GDK) does fill in a key puzzle piece that had been missing from Google Glass. Yet many developers are worried. They say that in the absence of more leadership or more access from Google, they're being asked to figure out the final picture on their own -- knowing that it might change by the time Glass gets mass produced.
The Glass Development Kit preview released by Google opens up many of the options that had been absent from the developer's toolbox. Previously, developers had only been able to code for Glass' limited Mirror API.
Google has relied on third-party developers who own the $1,500 headsets to further app development, while internal development at the company has focused on making sure that the new software platform functions properly. When Google first announced Glass, the hope was that a vibrant development community would emerge and create the kinds of consumer applications which would extend Google Glass' appeal beyond the technophile crowd and into the mainstream.
Given that Glass represents a major shift in wearable computing from the nerdy realm of adventurous hackers to the common consumer marketplace, Google has been cautious about giving developers too much access to the hardware too soon.
Many but not all doors open for Glass developers
The Mirror API access was a compromise that encouraged developers to build for Glass when it arrived on their doorsteps last spring, but without giving them too much power. The GDK, which Google is quick to caution is a "preview" and not the full GDK that eventually will be distributed, gives developers access to many Glass features that had been walled off -- but not all of them.
The Mirror API access was a compromise that encouraged developers to build for Glass when it arrived on their doorsteps last spring, but without giving them too much power. The GDK, which Google is quick to caution is a "preview" and not the full GDK that eventually will be distributed, gives developers access to many Glass features that had been walled off -- but not all of them.
"Now all that's remaining is for Google to build an actual app store, and for developers to build better apps" with the GDK, said Jonathan Gottfried, a developer evangelist at Twilio and developer who built early Twitter apps for Glass.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they went with the Google Play Store," he said.
Brandyn White, a 27-year-old Glass developer and self-described lifelong computer hacker who founded a consulting company that specializes in how computers interpret the world through camera lenses called Dapper Vision, has been working with Google and on his own to build the kind of better apps that Gottfried described.
"As the device gets more personal, it's less about killer apps, and more about the personally awesome app."
--Brandyn White, Google Glass developer
--Brandyn White, Google Glass developer
White has focused his attention on how Glass can be used to help the visually impaired.
"For me, the most important thing is context. Take a grocery list," said White, who's also earning his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Maryland. "Glass should recognize things at the supermarket," telling you when it sees something on your list without having to actually show the list to you.
"You want it to be a non-annoying friend; you want it to add value," he said. Glass needs more of those kind of apps, he said.
White cited apps like the translation app Word Lens pictured above, which are essentially interface-free interactions filtered from the real world through Glass to the person wearing it. Like its Android and iOS siblings, Word Lens on Glass replaces large font words on signs with words in your language. But it can't translate smaller print, even though its smartphone siblings can, because the Google Glass camera doesn't zoom in enough.
It's likely that current Google Glass hardware is more of a prototype than what consumers will get sometime in 2014, when Google has said Glass will be available to purchase. Think of it as the original Chromebook prototype, or the Nexus line of Android devices: It's a hardware guideline for the final product.
Nevertheless, White said that the hardware is perfectly usable in its current state. "The hardware team has everything figured out," he said. "The software is so much harder. [The Glass software team] has to think long-term, and legacy with Android."
White said that "80 percent" of Glass code is taken straight from Android.
Glass developers left to fend for themselves
He added that the GDK is not inadequate for developers, but that it could offer so much more. That, White said, is where Glass developers are taking the lead over Google's own team.
He added that the GDK is not inadequate for developers, but that it could offer so much more. That, White said, is where Glass developers are taking the lead over Google's own team.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)