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Miyazawa Model Exhibition
Max Factory, Phat!, FREEing, and Gift show off the goods at Miyazawa Model Exhibition
Although it's a lot of stuff we've already seen in one form or another
Nov 20
// Jeremy Emerje Crocker
Kahotan made good on her promise and posted a second gallery for figures on display at Miyazawa Model Exhibition Autumn 2014. This time around the focus is on the companies of Max Factory, Phat!, FREEing, and Gift. Most ...
WonFes Good Smile Company
Wonder Festival 2014 Summer: Good Smile Company - miscellaneous
Attack on Titan, Sonico, and more
Aug 10
// Tianxiao Ma
Continuing with Good Smile Company's (and associates) apparently near-infinite display at WonFes, we arrive at some Attack on Titan figures and a bunch of Sonicos. GSC usually does a decent job with Sonico figures in that I d...
WonFes GSC girls
Wonder Festival 2014 Summer: Good Smile Company girls part 2
Now with 75% less clothing!
Aug 06
// Tianxiao Ma
Partial nudity and figure collecting go hand in hand. If it makes you uncomfortable, you may want to avoid this gallery. However it makes me very comfortable, so I'll tell you a little about what's going on! These figures are...
Gift's Houki Shinonono does not look thrilled for summer
May 08
// Tianxiao Ma
A swimsuit figure with a little bit of cheese
Looks like Infinite Stratos' Houki isn't enjoying her moment in the sun, judging by the expression on this figure. This is the imaginatively-labeled Houki Shinonono Swimsuit Ver. by Gift. Kahotan's preview gravitates on Houki...
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Gift's swimsuit Sena is a bounty of booty
Feb 14
// Tianxiao Ma
I just love that the Kahotan preview leads with the butt
Although this figure appeals to me, I feel like I shouldn't champion it too much. It's the kind of figure that gives otaku their creepy reputation. Hey, I'm not about judging people based on their tastes (within reason) but t...
Ultra Tokyo Connection
GSC launches new distributor Ultra Tokyo Connection in LA
Good Smile Company and UTC to appear at Toy Fair in February
Jan 26
// Jeremy Emerje Crocker
In an attempt to bombard North America with all things otaku, Good Smile Company has launched new distribution company Ultra Tokyo Connection in Los Angeles, California. The service is being produced through a partnership wit...
Kahotan previews Gift's Arthur
Nov 07
// Scarecroodle
I'd vote for her... what, you don't vote for a king/queen?
Kahotan has released a preview gallery for Gift's upcoming Arthur (currently available for pre-order). While I'm not at all familiar with the source material (a visual novel called Eiyuu*Senki), I've loved the design since fi...
Tomopop Review: Nendoroid Haruka Minami by Gift
Oct 13
// Tianxiao Ma
Figure Name: Nendoroid Haruka MinamiFigure Maker: GiftPrice: ¥3,619Available at: HobbyLink Japan Nendoroid Haruka doesn't come loaded with goodies, as indicated by the lower price point. If you're a completionist, at least you'll be able to have all three sisters without paying an arm and a leg. Like her sisters, Haruka comes wearing her summer school uniform. Her standard expression is fairly bland, but fits her gentle nature. You can't really create a kitchen scene with Haruka, as she doesn't come with any furnishings or appliances. The package comes with an apron body, knife, skillet, and two arms to hold them. The extra arms pop into the sleeves of the uniform, not the shoulder joints. The other set of accessories is a school bag and an arm to hold it. All the Minami-ke Nendoroids come up a bit short as far as accessories go. It would have been nice if they came with furniture pieces, or even parts to recreate some of the rooms from the show. This face plate captures Haruka's gag expression. The show shifts into a more realistic art style at times to punctuate a humorous moment. I call this the stabby face. At last, I can get a shot of the three sisters walking to school! Chiaki can't actually pull off a walking pose thanks to the old style Nendoroid stand. Haruka comes with the new stand, but attaches via a peg in the back. This is a little cumbersome as her long hair gets in the way. The arm on the stand is designed to get underneath the hair part, but it limits her poseability a little. She caught a stag beetle! You don't get a sense of Haruka's lazy side with this Nendoroid, nor do you get to see her inadvertent banchou side. You'll just have to rely on your own creativity to show those off. One thing you can show off is Haruka's cooking skill. You'll need Nendoroid Kana for the stove and pot. Unlike Kana, Haruka doesn't come with anything for her sisters. Now we see why I call this expression the stabby face. Haruka from the show is about as far from murderous as you can get. However, in my mind, things are different... Like with Kana, Haruka's face plates are compatible with older Nendoroids. I took this opportunity to give Chiaki a somewhat normal expression. Haruka's faces fit well with Chiaki as they have the same eye color and style. At this point, I ran out of ideas, so I tried a little cosplay. She looks nice in Teddie's clothes, doesn't she? Too bad I couldn't get her to work with the bear outfit. Since Haruka and Mikoto Misaka are both voiced by Rina Satou, I wanted to get a shot of Kana doing her best Kuroko Shirai impression. I also put Haruka on Sakura Miku's body, because why not. Killer Haruka strikes! Don't ask why her sleeves are suddenly different. Wow, this review just got really dark. I totally get where Nendoroid fatigue comes from. There are a lot of them these days for sure, and it's difficult to see from a handful of promo shots what differentiates them. Indeed, it was tough to figure out how make this photo shoot interesting. When I got into the swing of things, though, I found myself having a lot of fun with Haruka. There's really no trick to it - just treat your Nendoroids like toys, and let loose your imagination! Play with them, mix and match parts, and set up some scenes. You'll find in no time that they start to take on a life of their own. Although that advice sounds super obvious, I had forgotten it and let my collector's instincts take over for the longest time. I'd just get a Nendo I liked and let it sit in the box. After a while, all the boxes started looking the same. From doing these reviews, I've come to appreciate the fun you can get from even a bland school girl. If you've gotten sick of your Nendos, take a few minutes to unbox some and play with them. See what happens! [Thanks to HobbyLink Japan for the review sample!]
Responsible older sister, or something else...?
I asked to review Haruka and Kana because many of our editors had expressed a growing apathy for Nendoroids in the past. It's understandable; in fact this is just the type of release that you look at and think "there's anothe...
Tomopop Review: Nendoroid Kana Minami by Gift
Oct 09
// Tianxiao Ma
Figure Name: Nendoroid Kana MinamiFigure Maker: GiftPrice: ¥3,619Available at: HobbyLink Japan Nendoroid Kana is fairly reasonably priced, especially as most retailers will give you a discount. The package doesn't include anything eye-popping in terms of accessories, but there are a few bits to make things interesting. I like the box design as it looks cleaner than most Nendoroid boxes. In particular, I like how they did the design of the sides: Kana came very well packed, with plastic wrap around all the joints and accessories. Right out of the box, you can see her mischievous expression. Kana is the rambunctious Minami sister, and is prone to butting heads with the younger Chiaki. The Nendoroid comes with a serious expression, though Kana being serious is a rare sight. Here you can also see Kana's laughing expression and the third pair of arms she comes with. The pot lid can detach from her right hand if needed. The last accessory for Kana is her school bag. She can wear it, but it makes using the stand difficult. There are two more accessories in the box, but those are meant for the Chiaki Nendoroid, so we'll check those out later. I had more Nendoroids than I thought sitting around, so I decided to round them up for some hot pot. It's kind of awkward just having the one appliance and no dining table, though. Anyway, what's the first course? Aahh! Fujioka!! The small Fujioka comes with Kana, but is really meant for Chiaki. Side note: every Nendoroid pictured above except Tachikoma was freshly unboxed for this review. Unboxing a bunch of Nendos at once is super fun! The other accessory for Chiaki is a left arm piece that allows her to hold the mini Fujioka. She looks adorable! Kana features the new system for swapping expressions. For older Nendoroids, the face plate and neck joint were one piece. Recently, Good Smile Company revised the design so that the neck joint would have its own piece. You can break down Kana's head like so: With this design, you can swap expressions without pulling off Kana's head. While this means you don't get a neck joint for each expression, the package does include a spare. These are just the standard Nendoroid neck joints, so you could always pull one from another Nendo if necessary. I wanted to see if the new design was compatible with older Nendoroids. First I tried swapping on a Hachune Miku face. It took a bit of effort but turned out reasonably well. Not all older Nendoroid faces will be compatible. This was a common problem for me when I tried putting older Nendoroid expressions into Kana's hair pieces. I also tried fitting Chiaki's face, but it didn't go in at all. If you want to use Kana's faces with other Nendoroid hair pieces, you can! Here's the hair piece from Chiaki. First you need to insert the part containing the neck joint. Then you slide on Kana's face plate, and finish with Chiaki's fringe. Strangely enough, Kana's face did fit perfectly into Chiaki's hair pieces. I even got it working with Sakura Miku! It seems that even though older Nendoroid face plates may not fit the new design, the new face plates fit older Nendoroid hair pieces rather easily. If you're a fan of the show, the appeal is in being able to have all the Minami sisters at last. The fact that Kana comes with some pieces for Chiaki is nice; it adds a little more value to the package. I just wish Kana came with more varied expressions as there's not a ton to differentiate her from other schoolgirl designs. Even the twin-tail look has gotten a bit common since Minami-ke's heyday (thanks, K-On!). [Thanks to HobbyLink Japan for the review sample!]
Always on the lookout for legendary banchous
Hot on the heels of Lucky Star's massive popularity, Minami-ke emerged as another slice-of-life comedy anime revolving around a heavily female-oriented cast. Although their formats were similar, Minami-ke went a little more l...
Participate in a Rhyme battle with DMMd's Ren
Oct 03
// Yami Casas
Don't tease me so, Gift!
Oh Gift, you certainly know how to make me squeal in delight. Recently, @Giftkanegon posted a few pictures via twitter featuring the next bishounen to appear in their DRAMAtical Murder plushie series. The set of pictures play...
Gift Hayate swimsuit ver.
Hayate joins the Nanoha girls at the beach
Though it's not her first beach rodeo
Aug 12
// Tianxiao Ma
If you've been collecting anime figures over the past year or so, chances are you've seen one of the Nanoha girls in a swimsuit. It's an unavoidable fact of life. Most of the figures out there currently are of Nanoha herself ...
WonFes Gift
Wonder Festival 2013 Summer: Gift
Get a taste of summer
Jul 29
// Tianxiao Ma
Gift's display featured a summer theme, showing several girls enjoying a beach outing in their swimsuits. They had an unpainted Houki Shinonono from Infinite Stratos, who doesn't look terribly pleased to be there. The three g...
Gift's Tiger Parka Sonico is painted
And she's gleaming
Jun 12
// Kristina Pino
Gift's cute new Sonico figure, sporting a tiger parka and lugging a guitar case, has been revealed with paint splashed on by t_santa on TwitPic. We've only got two images for now, but she's looking rad. She's also looki...
Treasure Festa in Ariake 9: Gift chooses its Saber Bride
Sculpted by Kagutsuchino
May 05
// Andres Cerrato
To my disappointment, Gift has held on to making more plushes than PVC. When they do get to making a PVC, it's usually a Saber. I'm not in anyway a fan of Fate, but I love this marriage of the two entities. It's fitting then ...
Miyazawa Model Expo 31: Good Smile Company umbrella
Good Smile Company, Phat!, Wing, Max Factory, Gift, and FREEing!
Apr 10
// Kristina Pino
Brian already has you covered with the figma that were on display at Miyazawa Model Exhibition 31, but what about the rest that Good Smile Company et al. have to offer? Look no further than this post, thanks to coverage by Mi...
Have some more Hobby Maker Exhibition photos
Danny Choo's photos shine a light on some of the smaller companies
Feb 21
// Brian Szabelski
Mikatan grabbed a few photos from Hobby Maker Exhibition, mostly centered around Good Smile and its closely affiliated companies. Danny Choo has posted some photos as well. However, he grabbed a few more photos of compan...
Wonder Festival 2013 Winter: Gift & Wing
A lovely new Border Break sculpt
Feb 11
// Tianxiao Ma
Gift and Wing didn't bring a whole lot to WonFes this year, but I thought what they did bring was pretty solid. Most of Wing's stuff was teased earlier, except this time we can see the figures from the front. The biggest news...
More photos of Gift's Snow Miku 2013 plush emerge
"Totally adorable" is a fairly good assessment, isn't it?
Feb 08
// Brian Szabelski
We posted a little earlier about the Snow Miku 2013 plush, being produced by Gift, and now, Gift themselves have tweeted two pictures of Snow Miku that are a little clearer. We can see she's probably about the same size as th...
Gift trots out a new Sonico for WonFes
Not much more than a teaser at this point
Feb 07
// Tianxiao Ma
You know what's rare? A Sonico figure where she's just getting on with her life, doing Sonico things. That's basically what Gift's newest Sonico is all about. Their last Sonico figure had her tied up to a bed with legs spread...
Two of the Minami sisters appear for pre-order
Haruka-neesama is missing...
Jan 29
// Tianxiao Ma
Shifting art style anime Minami-ke is now in its fourth season, which makes it just the right time for these Nendoroids to hit pre-orders. Are you enjoying Minami-ke: Tadaima? I've only seen the first episode, and felt that C...
Oh look, it's another Nanoha girl in a swimsuit
At least this one is gigantic
Jan 17
// Tianxiao Ma
Let's not mince words - there are a lot of Fate Testarossa figures out there. There are also a lot of swimsuit figures out there. Combining the two really just seems lazy and obvious. If I were to focus on the positives,...
Comiket 83: Gift plushes
More variety than I was expecting
Dec 30
// Natalie Kipper
Over at Comiket 83, Gift had quite a few of their poseable plushes to showcase. Some of them (Golden Darkness from To Love-ru, To Aru's Shirai Kuroko and Misaka Mikoto, and several of the Vocaloids) weren't so new a...
Who is coming to Animate Girls Festival 2012?
Which companies will be there on November 17, 2012 to display their latest boy figures?
Oct 30
// Jonathan Tubbs
Otome games, anime, cosplay, and especially Boys' Love are all the things you're going to find at the upcoming Animate Girls Festival 2012 event in Tokyo. But what about figures of boys, boys, and more boys? Who is coming alo...
Gift's new Homura Akemi is something different
Newest figure has some fans divided
Sep 18
// Jeremy Emerje Crocker
You may not know the name Satoshi Toda, but if you've followed Tomopop for any amount of time you've most certainly seen his work. He's the sculptor behind Solid Theater's Saber Alter, several of Gift's Sabers including Lily ...
Wonder Festival 2012 Summer: Under Good Smile's umbrella
Jul 29
// Kristina Pino
Since the galleries were pretty condensed for Max Factory, FREEing, Gift and Wing, I just put them together to form up one big collection of awesomeness. Check out the gallery for these highlights: 1/7-scale Lineage II Elf a...
[REMINDER] July Micropixel: The swimsuit contest
Jul 23
// Kristina Pino
Since a lot of folks are off in July, on vacations, doing all kinds of crazy stuff for the summer around this time, I've decided to make July's Megapixel contest something... short and sweeter. I challenge you all to a swimsu...
Tomopop Review: Saber Extra by Gift
Jun 19
// Tianxiao Ma
Figure name: Saber ExtraFigure maker: GiftRetail price: ¥9,333Available at: HobbyLink Japan It looks like Gift's thing now is producing 1/8-scale Satoshi Toda-designed Saber figures; they've done the regular Saber and Saber Lily in addition to Saber Extra. Actually Good Smile Company and its affiliates seem to love pumping out Saber figures in general. This Saber, however, is a little different from the pack. The box she comes in is a cool blue, contrasting with the red in her outfit. There are windows in front and on top of the box, but they don't give you a full view of this figure's magnificence. Unpacking and assembling Saber requires minimal effort, but be careful when putting her on the base. I immediately broke off one of the ankle guards above her shoe (and then really wished I could edit->undo in real life). The mirrored base comes with a protective film. Unlike with Saber Lily, Gift included a little piece of paper reminding you to peel off the (very thin) film. Although the protective layer was very scratched up, I found the base itself to be in perfect condition. The last step is to put the blade of her sword, Aestus Estus, onto the hilt. The hilt comes attached to the hand, so all you have to do is put the blade on the peg - no fuss at all. When you're done, stand back and admire! Gift didn't shy away from sculpting an insane amount of detail into this figure. Her metallic red outfit looks brilliant as well, almost fiery. The skirt is partially translucent, with the paint job giving it a frosted look. It looks light and airy instead of outright clear like in the official art. I love the design of this outfit. Some areas don't look great up close, though. I think the various buttons in front lack definition. The gold trim on her outfit is all sculpted, which is really impressive. Saber's sleeves end in frills and they look excellent. The look is very feminine as well, with the shoulder and wrist areas accenting her slender arms. Here's a look at Aestus Estus, a crazy wavy-bladed red sword that looks like it would be as dangerous to its wielder as it would be to the enemy. The actual piece is about as long as Saber herself. Like the shirt, it has a bit of a glossy, metallic sheen. You can see here that, unlike the other incarnations of Saber, this version wears minimal armor. Her legs aren't even armored all the way up, which makes me wonder why she bothers at all. I did find one thing awkward about this figure, and that's the pose. Head-on it looks great, but if you look at its right side, the pose seems very strange. Saber has her hip bent at a strange angle, and is leaning forward just a little too much. The body language suggests she's about to charge forward and maybe attack with her sword, but the legs are just kind of awkwardly bolted in place. Toda's facial designs have been the subject of some controversy among Saber collectors. As you can see, this design isn't very faithful to the official art. I think it's okay, but maybe more of an acquired taste. Close up you can see a look of determination, but from a normal viewing distance she tends to look spaced out and vacant. The Tomopop credo is "provide a panty shot if one is available" (this might not actually be the policy, I'm not sure), and Gift conveniently provided a mirrored base for me to do just that. Yes, even her panties seem a little bit fancy. To wrap up, this is an impressive effort by Gift. For me, the color scheme stands out above all else; the glossy semi-metallic red really holds my attention. Its manufacturing quality is great, as I got through the shoot noticing nary a blemish. The price might turn off all but the most dedicated Saber fans, but if you do plunk down the cash I say she's well worth it. That said, I think I'm done with Saber figures for the time being. If Satoshi Toda and Gift have more in the pipeline, though, I'll be all over it. [Thanks to HobbyLink Japan for providing this review sample!]
This version of Saber hails from the PSP dungeon crawler Fate/Extra. Although she looks like Fate/stay night's Saber, this is apparently not the same character. Well, you could have fooled me. Aside from the color changes, th...
Reserve or Regret? Import round up for May 29, 2012
May 29
// Jonathan Tubbs
It really bothers me knowing that I haven't been around to make you spend money. Hopefully today is a day I get revenge with today's Reserve or Regret offerings. There are certainly some gems available for pre-order now. One ...
Reserve or Regret? Import round up for May 8, 2012
May 09
// Jonathan Tubbs
After the dull day yesterday for pre-orders, today's feature brings you some worthwhile products that you'll definitely want to pre-order. Probably one to more wanted products wold have to be Good Smile Company's Nendoroid Pr...
Tales of Vesperia's Yuri plush gets a re-release
Apr 12
// Natalie Kipper
Tales fans are in luck because not only is the Flynn Scifo figure seeing a re-release but so is the plush of Yuri Lowel, brought to us by Gift and Alter. The poseable plush of the hero from Tales of Vesperia wi...
Miyazawa Model 2012 Spring: GSC and associated companies
Apr 10
// Kristina Pino
Unfortunately, I don't have enough title space to fill out all the names under or associated with Good Smile's PVC empire, but this round-up includes images of upcoming figures from Good Smile Company and Max Factory, and I'v...
Reserve or Regret? Import round up for March 29, 2012
Mar 30
// Jonathan Tubbs
Lots of stuff so let's get on with what you may be reserving today because you may have to be figuring out how to juggle your living costs here in a minute so you don't regret passing any of this up. I'm going to start off wi...
Tomopop Review: Hayate Yagami Swimsuit Ver. by Gift
Feb 22
// Jonathan Tubbs
Figure Name: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Hayate Yagami Swimsuit Ver.Figure Maker: GiftRetail Price: ¥12,000Available at: HobbyLink Japan The first thing I noticed after opening the shipping carton is marveling at the size of the packaging for this figure. I haven't seen a box with this much vertical since my first Dollfie. Having to fulfill my curiosity, I measured the package at almost 17 inches (43.2 cm) tall. The package itself is colorful and the orange against the blue background does a nice job of bringing attention to it, even at a distance. Well, at least for me. For others, it may be hard to ignore this large figure standing there in her bikini. The inner tray for the package is just like any other tray surprisingly. Nothing new. Nothing fancy for it. Being so use to figures of a smaller scale, was throw off when lifting her out of the tray. Again, curiosity filled me and I had to check how much she weighed. That weight being 1.24 lbs (0.56 kg). Of course for a figure of this size, a stand of a bigger scale would be required, too. Sadly, the stand is just a plain, boring white sphere. You would think for a figure of this size and cost, Gift could have put a little more effort into this. Not even a logo or some simple printed design! Even at its 6.75-inch (17.2 cm) diameter, it's still smaller than a base by Griffon Enterprises for a figure half this size. The full figure of Hayate is just, um ... wow. I know it's not nice to stare but that's one lovely figure, especially from the back. Just, um ... yeah... so prett y ... ... ... ... ... Right! I have a review to present to you, folks! The pose itself is rather generic but I usually don't expect much from swimwear figures. Wait, no. I do expect more from swimsuit figures! They don't have much to wear so more thought should be put into the pose to bring more life to the figure! It may be tough to imagine the size of this figure based on the photos so I have provided a scale comparison with a 1/8, 1/7, and 1/6-scale figure. Or you could do the math and get the idea by simply mounting a 1/8 scale figure on top of another. ... Vertically people! Vertically!! What kind of quality does a 1/4-scale figure bring to the face? It can bring a lot beautiful details in the mouth, the eyes, and the hair. That's not present in this figure. Even at this scale, Hayate's hair does feel any different than a figure of a smaller scale. The eyes look average and there's zero depth to the mouth. The mold and paint on the ties of her hair look cheap for a figure of this size. How, Gift? How could you botch the face on a 1/4-scale figure. Oh. I know why. This would be why. The depth and detail of the mold had to be placed on the selling point of this figure. Honestly, and as odd as it feels to say this, there's actually a surprising difference in something so simple as this. I'll get straight to it. The breasts are very shapely and and because of the larger scale, the mold folds under much more for a cleaner shape. I do have to laugh at the bikini that Hayate was put in. Though her breasts are of a substantial size, there really is no reason for her to have a bikini that cannot cover them completely. Speaking of said bikini, there is a glaring seam on each side where the top piece of the bikini connects with the wrap piece. It's a shame that Gift could not figure out a way to make this, well, seamless. The straps of the bikini lift away from her body which does give the feeling and appearance of lifting her breasts. The ties on the bikini however are nothing to be impressed by. Just like figures of a smaller scale, they suffer from the same mold issues of detail due to how thin the mold is there. I do also like that the noticeable form of her back, something my best friend has made me learn to appreciate. As stated above, the breasts are quite round as seen in this angle. You can also see the shadow of the strap lifting from her body. Hayate has a ribbon wrapped to one arm that has a fluttering motion to it. It's white. It's plain. It's a ribbon. Nothing more I can really comment on it. Never thought I would find myself reviewing the stomach of a figure before but here I am doing it. It's a nice stomach with a gentle paint on it to bring more shape to it. Though it is the human anatomy, I'm not big the lower rib cage being noticeable. From the side, you can see how her stomach bulges outward giving her more of a natural look. The only gripe I have about her stomach is that I wish the belly button went a little deeper. With brighter lighting it doesn't look as deep as when there are shadows on it. Gift's chosen pose pushes the right buttons with Hayate pushing her hips to one side. Though where her leg connects to her waist, it seems a bit unnatural. What does seem more natural though is her more well-proportioned body when compared to the other girls from the trio. Especially when looking at the waist from her side and ... ... her lovely hands. Hey, hey now. You have to appreciate the detail of the hands on this figure with her painted nails and bracelet. Though it isn't truly that much to marvel at. Even looking at her palm, you would think there would be more to it but there's not. That blank, shadow-less palm you see? That is exactly how much work Gift put into it. I could go on more about her hands but I suppose you are more interested in what I was originally leading into. Unless you skipped to it. If you didn't and are reading this sentence right now, good for you! You're a real trooper! If not, let's all just wag our fingers at who did skip this to look at ... ... her rear. I know it's not nice to oogle, but with my fondness for hips, it extends to back side, too. Again, the larger scale provides for more detail in Hayate's butt making for a very attractive quality. ... Did I just write that? I guess I did and I stand by my statement. When looking at my 1/7-scale Seena Kanon swimwear figure by Max Factory, there's shape to her cheeks but it's nothing like the depth that can be seen in this figure. Though her outfit is hugging her waist, I like that it doesn't resort to the common cliche of being wedged into her crack. Speaking of the butt cleavage (I love you Rio for that term), this is obviously another focal point of this figure with her large butt that cannot be contained by her swimwear. Again, though the figure is of a bigger scale, you can only get a good depth to her butt cleavage when there is lighting to give it shadows. These are Hayate's platform shoes. That's all. I'm sure you're not interested anyway. You've seen the "important" parts of this review. ... Really, there's not much to say about the feet. The mold of the toes and the separation is decent though the gloss paint did not get painted on most of the toes on her right foot. Not really big on the platform sandals that Hayate is wearing. Seems so uncomfortable to wear for the beach or pool. You may have noticed that I skipped over her legs. Though they have the full body look to them, there really isn't anything to discuss. Just like how I present you no photos, the figure presents to me no detail. Not even any paint to bring out her knees! Talk about cheap once again for a figure of this scale. It's a not so fancy photo of Hayate at the "beach" which means one thing: my conclusion of this figure. Obviously from the photos and my comments, this figure has its ups and downs. I don't mean your ups, guys. The figure suffers in areas that actually could have shown the benefit of a 1/4-scale figure but Gift opted to ignore such spots to focus only a selling point. Though it's disappointing, I cannot deny that the more defined breasts and butt are attractive, Gift could have produced a higher quality figure and and set the bar for figures of this scale. Sadly, that didn't happen and Gift went the road that others have and made it for selling the sex appeal. At a retail price of ¥12,000, it's hard to recommend this figure. However, if you can find it discounted, then I say go for it. Again, the larger scale does offer more to make this figure sexier, but not enough to pay full retail or close to retail for it. [A big thank you to HobbyLink Japan for the opportunity to review this big figure.]
The scale of figures have been increasing in size in recent years with 1/4 scale becoming more common from figure manufacturers. There's so much that could be done at a scale of this size but currently what has been rele...
Wonder Festival 2012 Winter: Gift plushies
Feb 12
// Natalie Kipper
Gift brings the plushie excellence to Wonder Festival Winter 2012 in the form of an army of stuffed anime personages. We are seeing plush likenesses of the gals of Haganai, the boys of UtaPri, Super Sonico, Snow Miku, and a f...
Gift gets even more squishy with Wonder Festival plushes
Feb 04
// Jonathan Tubbs
Earlier in the week we saw Gift announce a pair of new Vocaloid Tako Luka plush phone straps for Wonder Festival 2012 [Winter]. Being that plush is Gift's forte, they have more than just those coming for this big event. The c...
Tons of Gift plushies are now shipping!
Jan 30
// Natalie Kipper
Today shall now be dubbed "Operation: Plushie Drop" because four, yes four, of Gift's anime-themed Plushie Series poseable plushes are shipping today. Which four? Well, let's see. There's Bakemonogatari's Hanekawa Tsubasa, lo...
Gift has Good Smile and others' figures at Comiket 81
Dec 29
// Jonathan Tubbs
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text:
This time last week, I saw one my dreams come true. Not everybody gets to say that – I'm so lucky! This was a dream that took hold about four years ago. And a lot has happened in that time to make this dream a reality…
I met Elly Taylor online in a Facebook forum for Relationship Focused Birth Professionals. Now, I'd only been on Facebook for a couple of years. And I hadn't really realized the power of using social media for anything other than personal fun and connection at that point.
It wasn't until 2013 that I started to understand the implications of using platforms like Facebook for my professional work. The name of this forum intrigued me, because even though I'm not a therapist or counselor, I've felt for years that my work has way more to do with the relationships I'm helping to foster and strengthen than it does with teaching folks how to give birth.
Don't get me wrong – I love what I do! But the truth is, a baby will come out of you, with or without assistance, one way or another. Certainly, I help couples figure out how they'd like that process to unfold, and I help them become decision-makers in this experience -to their level of comfort. But really, for almost two decades my "Childbirth Preparation Classes" have just been a cover for doing lots of other important things:
- elevating the role of the partner and making sure that they feel included and honored
- creating a sense of community among students in my classes so they don't feel so isolated and alone in their experience
- encouraging couples to stop planning birth and start participating fully instead
- suggesting that embracing their feelings of vulnerability will allow for maximum transformation through this birth experience
- preparing them realistically for what life will be like after the baby has arrived – and what this means for their couple relationship
Cue Elly Taylor and her book, Becoming Us.
I've written about Elly and Becoming Us before, here and here. But what I might not have revealed so clearly is that from the moment I met Elly online, I had a professional crush! I mean, here was this woman on the other side of the world that had spent fifteen years researching and writing a book on how to potentially prevent relationship dissatisfaction (that a whopping 92% of couples report in the first year following the birth of their baby) – AND she had an Aussie accent!
Now I call it a crush, because it kind of was. I've never had an online relationship with anyone before, so I didn't exactly know how to go about it… But, I was determined.
First, I started commenting on anything she wrote about in the forum, thrilled with every response she wrote back. Eventually, I bought her book and dove into the information about how and why relationship discord happens in the first place after a baby is born. And as I was reading, there were all of these lightbulbs going off! All of these "Ah-Ha!" moments that I'd been trying to share with my families for years! The dots were in place and I was starting to make some important connections like: support of one another in your new parenting roles is extremely important and can lessen the risk of developing a Perinatal Mood Disorder during pregnancy or the postpartum period.
Elly and I developed a friendship that became very dear to me on lots of levels. I feel like I'm about 4-5 years behind her in terms of my own work within the birth field and consider her to be an important mentor as well.
I'm gaining traction and collaborating on the issue of birth "planning" and starting to speak out more about how planning instead of participating in birth can give couples a false sense of security to lessen their feelings of vulnerability – and that while this is okay, exploring and embracing these same feelings can lead to incredible transformation through pregnancy, birth and new parenting.
I've got about 70K words written for my own book about these topics and more that I'm editing (and re-editing!) as I discover the message I'm most wanting to convey. And I'm just starting the arduous task of turning my blog into an actual website.
All this time, I've been watching Elly from a distance as these things have fallen into place for her – and it's been an inspiration for me to keep going!
I can't remember the exact day when our Facebook message marathon happened, only that I was in the middle of cooking dinner for my family and Elly was commenting that her work, while being so well-received by birth professionals, wasn't making its way into the minds and hearts of expecting families. I know I wasn't the only one to say this to her, but I do remember asking: "Why don't you train us to teach them?"
Elly created an online training program for birth professionals to become Certified Becoming Us Facilitators. It's an excellent program that allows birth professionals to really grasp the how and why relationship dissatisfaction occurs – and more importantly, how we can prevent, or lessen it from happening to the families we serve in the first place.
I completed the training last year and added "Certified Becoming Us Facilitator" to my list of credentials. I've partnered with Legacy Health System here in Portland, Oregon and taught my first class in early April. And I LOVED it!
The class was engaged from beginning to end, couples were sharing parts of themselves with each other and with the group in a way that was both insightful and revealing. I could see all of them connecting their own dots and taking all of this information in as a way to safeguard their relationship against the normal, expected challenges that occur when you move from couple to family. 300+ new skills are being learned in a very high-stress environment with little sleep and lots of uncertainty – it's no wonder so many couples report having issues!
I'm the first person in the world to be teaching these classes and I couldn't be more thrilled!
It was so fulfilling to me – to see Elly's work translated and shared so there are now six more couples in the world who won't be completely blind-sided when they give birth to their babies and become a family.
But the real "dream turned reality" happened a week ago today, when Elly Taylor flew in from Sydney, Australia to be the presenter for the NACEF Conference (NACEF – Northwest Area Childbirth Educators Forum is a local, non-profit organization dedicated to offering quality education to perinatal professionals. And I'm the current President.)
I could hardly believe that she was here, in person, presenting to a group of close to 60 birth professionals (both live and virtual!) about her work and the importance of letting families know what to expect, how to work with these normal challenges, and create a family that thrives. It was SUCH a great conference! (And there's still a chance to snag a virtual seat if you're interested.)
What I can tell you is: This work matters.
Yesterday, out of the blue, a Momma from my first Becoming Us class series wrote this about her experience:
"So far our time at home has been going smoothly. Some of the discussions that spawned from your class really helped us to prepare for our time together as a family. We have been very gentle with one another which has been beautiful and positive for our relationship."
Isn't that amazing? I didn't ask for any testimony, it was just something she chose to share with me.
And this is a dream come true.
I've got several Becoming Us class series slated for the 2017/2018 year. If you as a couple or a couple you know would benefit from taking these classes in preparation for becoming a family, get in touch with me and I'll get back to you with all the details.
Please share this post widely… the more professionals who are doing this work, and the more couples who are receiving this message – the better off we'll all be!
(And because I might have gone dancing with Elly after the conference and it might have been an 80s Dance Attack theme here's a video that fits today's blogpost… )

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ballers Soundtrack
Listen the music / songs from the serie's episodes:
Episode 10 – S02E10 – Game Day – Season Finale
Episode 09 – S02E09 – Million Bucks in a Bag
Episode 08 – S02E08 – Laying in the Weeds
Episode 07 – S02E07 – Everybody Knows
Episode 06 – S02E06 – Saturdaze
Episode 05 – S02E05 – Most Guys
Episode 04 – S02E04 – World of Hurt
Episode 03 – S02E03 – Elidee
Episode 02 – S02E02 – Enter the Temple
Ending credits
Preview for next episode
Episode 01 – S02E01 – Face of the Franchise
Ballers Theme / Opening song
Ballers Season 2 Trailer Songs
Watch the Trailer About the Show
Official Site
HBO Ballers Soundtrack Season 2 Songs List – Tracklist – Listen to the playlist of all of the songs played in the tv show, who sings them, including end credits and scene descriptions.
Added by
Team Soundtrack
There is a song at the end of episode 2 during the closing credits…its not listed here… What's the name and who is the artist..?
It's Vince staples and Andre 3000 – war ready
"Ah yeah, so what" is the name of the song
Season 2 trailer song that starts "what's up what's happenin." Can't find it anywhere. And it's not the TI song.
What's the name of the song that plays in Season 2 ep 1 around the 24 min mark… When the Rock's boss slams the door. It's just playing in the background. Does anyone know? It's driving me insane trying to figure it out!
It's at the 18 minute mark when Rock's boss says "do me a favour, stab me in the face with this" (the fork) during the scene where they're sitting alongside the pool
Muito bom parabéns pelo desenvolvedor do site show show show espero que continue com todas as temporadas ;D
Episode 06 – S02E06 – Saturdaze
The music that plays on the background while spencer and the other guy(forgot his name) are talking in the bar in the beginning of the episode?
What's the name of the song s2 episode 5 where the ladies dance topless..by Vernon 's crip..
Seriously need to make full on ballers COMPLETE soundtrack for both seasons!!! So many not listed here that I just love!!!!!
Somebody know the song at S2 epsiode 2, time 12:27? I cant find it… 🙁


text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Mar 16, 2010
|Filing date
|Aug 26, 2004
|Priority date
|Aug 26, 2004
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Tammy Anita Green, Lloyd Leon Burch, Stephen R. Carter, Douglas G. Earl
|Original Assignee
|Novell, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (17), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (12), Classifications (18), Legal Events (3)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
The invention relates generally to data processing and more specifically to techniques for allocating resources over a network, where those resources perform the data processing.
Organizations and individuals possess tremendous amounts of computing resources and often these resources are interconnected with one another over a network, such as the Internet. Resources may include storage devices, processing devices, memory devices, bandwidth devices, and the like. Many times a vast majority of these available resources are idle or under utilized. This has the potential of providing a tremendous opportunity to other network users whom at different times lack enough resources or have fully loaded resources which are not available to perform a desired task.
Unfortunately, organizations and individuals are unwilling to share or sell access to their idle or under utilized resources. This is so, because resource owners fear misuse of their resources, fear exposure of confidential information contained within environments of their resources, and fear exposing their resources during the process to third-party intruders and/or to electronic viruses.
The concerns of resource owners are well-founded with existing network communications. That is, just a single misuse of an owner's resources can have catastrophic effects for an individual or an organization. Moreover, because the Internet is a chaotic environment with the identities of users often feigned and information transmitted over public communication lines, existing techniques cannot guarantee that misuse will not occur.
A few techniques do exist to assuage concerns of resource owners and to provide some level of guarantees that misuse of resources will not occur. One conventional technique is to restrict access to dedicated networks that are not available to unauthorized users. This approach pretty much excludes using the Internet and taking advantage of its ease of access and pervasive connectivity. Moreover, this approach is expensive and often proves more expensive to the parties that desire to share resources than it would be to have the party that needs additional resources to just buy the needed additional resources. Another approach is to use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). But, VPNs are reliant mostly on a user's identification and password, such that after these credentials are provided a user has access to the portal in any way that might be considered. Intruders often use these types of entry portals and known defects of the hosting machine (e.g., buffer overflow) to infiltrate a machine and its attendant network. Thus, the VPN itself presents security issues. Furthermore, VPNs require custom encryption, which needs supported within both environments of the parties sharing resources and which requires dedicated ports to be reserved, purchased, and set aside to support each different VPN. Thus, VPNs still pose a number of security risks and are also expensive and require human support to establish, maintain, and manage. Accordingly, VPNs have not resulted in pervasive sharing of idle and/or under utilized resources.
Therefore there is a need for improved allocation of resources over a network, such that idle or under utilized resources are securely shared over the network in a dynamic, trusted, and cost effective manner.
In various embodiments of the invention, techniques are presented for allocating resources over a network. A resource consumer makes requests for resources and acquires authentication information for securely communicating with resource providers that control the resources. When a resource consumer and provider have established secure and trusted communications with one another, the resource provider allocates a resource or portion of a resource to the requesting resource consumer. The resource consumer then interacts with its allocated resource or allocated portion of the resource over the network in a secure manner.
More specifically, and in an embodiment, a method for facilitating the allocation of a resource is presented. A request is received to allocate at least a portion of a resource. A trust relationship is dynamically established between the resource and a requestor that issued the request. If the trust relationship was successfully established, then at least the portion of the resource is allocated to the requestor for subsequent consumption.
In various embodiments of the invention, the phrases "resource provider" and "resource consumer" are used. A resource provider has a resource that it desires to make available for access to resource consumers. Conversely, a resource consumer desires access to one or more resources of a resource provider. A resource consumer may also be a resource provider, and vice versa. That is, the designations of providers or consumers are dependent upon the task that a client is performing. For one transaction a client may be a resource consumer, and for another concurrent transaction the same client may be a resource provider. A client is a processing device, a service processing on a processing device, and/or a user logically interfaced to a processing device.
A "resource" as used herein, refers to storage, memory, processing devices, bandwidth devices, and the like. The resource providers make decisions as to whether to make a resource or a selective portion of a resource available for access or allocation to resource consumers.
In various embodiments of the invention, an identity service is used. The identity service provides a trusted technique for authenticating resources, resource consumers, and resource providers which are participating in network transactions. The identity service may also provide identity/authentication information and authenticating mechanisms to the participants, such that one participant can become trusted and authenticated to another participant. In this sense, the identity service is a trusted intermediary and facilitator to the participants of the network, where those participants engage in novel allocation of resources over that network.
The identity service may also be viewed as a modified registration or management service, where resource providers register available resources or portions of those resources with the identity service. The identity service maintains anonymity between providers and consumers and facilitates the distribution of resources or portions of resources from providers to consumers by providing security and techniques for the consumers and providers to engage in sharing a resource or portion of a resource in trusted and secure manners. That is, the identity or modified registration service facilitates matching consumers with resources of providers and provides the consumers with information useful in authenticating to the providers and/or the resources, such that consumers can acquire access to the resources.
The identity service may also provide a variety of other services. Examples of an identity service can be found in: U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/765,523 ("Techniques for Dynamically Establishing and Managing Authentication and Trust Relationships"), Ser. No. 10/767,884 ("Techniques for Establishing and Managing a Distributed Credential Store"), and Ser. No. 10/770,677 ("Techniques for Dynamically Establishing and Managing Trust Relationships"). These applications are commonly assigned to Novell, Inc. of Provo, Utah and the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In one embodiment, the techniques presented herein are incorporated into network arrangements, services, and products, such as proxy services, routers, gateways, clients, servers, and the like. These techniques facilitate the secure and trusted allocation of resources over a network in a dynamic fashion, where the network itself may be chaotic and inherently insecure, such as the Internet.
Initially, the processing decides or negotiates to make a resource or a portion of a resource accessible over a network to resource consumers. Decisions to provide a resource or portion of a resource may be based on contractual arrangements, automated requests, and a variety of other reasons. The point is that the processing decides to make a resource or portion of a resource available for external network resource consumers to access. The identity of the particular resource or portion of the resource may be resolved based on utilization, policies, agreements, etc. A deciding event during the processing is a trust credential potentially crafted to conform to contractual arrangements, such that resources are not made available unless the trust credential is valid.
Once the decision is made to make a particular resource or portion thereof available over a network, a request, at 110A, is received from a resource consumer for allocation of that resource or portion thereof (hereinafter "resource"). On some embodiments, at 110B, the requestor (resource consumer) may have become aware of resource after the processing registers the resource with an identity service/registration service. That is, the processing essentially publishes the availability of the resource with a third party (identity service or registration service); the third party may push the registration to requestors or may provide the registration to requestors when queried.
In some embodiments, at 111, the received request may be circumscribed by acquired policies. Policies are statements or conditions regarding requesters, resources, and/or usage of resources. Thus, the processing may restrict allocation of a requested resource to certain times of the day, calendar days, usage levels, processing (e.g., media streaming only, etc.), and the like. Policies may also restrict an amount of usage for a resource that a requestor can have. For example, maybe the processing desires to make only 10% of its available idle bandwidth available to the requester. A policy may also dictate that the requested resource not be allocated unless a certain minimum level of service is capable of being provided from that resource to the requestor. A wide-variety of policy controls may be associated with any particular received request, requester, or resource. All such usage strictures are intended to be included in the various embodiments presented herein.
In some embodiments, at 112, the processing interacts with an identity/registration service as was described above. The identity service acts a facilitator to enforce the strictures, access, and allocation desires of the processing. Accordingly, the identity service may provide the mechanisms for making the identity of the resource known to requestors, may provide the mechanisms for communicating or acquiring policies, and as will be described below may facilitate secure and trusted communications between the processing, requestors, and the resource being allocated over the network.
At 120, the processing dynamically attempts to establish a trusted and secure relationship with the requestor. In order for the processing to be assured that the requestor is who it purports to be, the processing needs to be satisfied that it can authenticate the requestor. One technique for doing this is for the processing to provide a recognized trusted credential to the resource provider or to the resource itself. This credential may have been acquired by the requestor from a trusted third-party, such as an identity service. In other arrangements, the requestor provides authentication information (may also be considered a trusted credential or trust certificate) and an authentication technique recognized or expected by the processing. The trust credential may represent a contract, and the contract may be expressed as an assertion which may be relied upon. Examples of credentials, certificates, and contracts are found in the identity services mentioned and incorporated by reference above. The processing can either validate the authentication information itself or may enlist the dynamic services of the identity service.
In some embodiments, the identity service maintains the identities of the requestor and the processing in a secure manner that is separate and distinct from the two participating entities. When a requestor wants to contact a particular processing instance for a desired resource, it acquires authentication information to achieve this through the identity service. The authentication information can be viewed as the trusted credential discussed above. Both the requestor and the processing are in pre-established or dynamically established trusted relationships with the identity service. The requestor then submits the authentication information using a provided authentication technique to the processing. The processing asks the identity service if this provided information is legitimate or, in some other embodiments, validates the provided information itself. Examples of identity services with these and other features were incorporated by reference and described above.
If the processing, at 130, is unable to establish a dynamic and trusted relationship with the requestor, then, at 131, the request for the resource is denied. However, if the processing, at 130, is able to successfully establish the dynamic and trusted relationship with the requestor, then, at 140, the processing allocates or reserves the resource (or at least a portion of the resource) for the requestor to access over the network for purposes of the requestor performing some processing, network transactions, or storage of data.
While the requestor accesses the resource it was allocated, information may be exchanged between the resource and the requestor. This information is communicated securely, at 141. That is, the data may be transmitted via secure protocols (e.g., Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL), referred to as HTTPS) and/or the data may be encrypted with certificates, signatures, and/or other keys. The point is that the resource and the requestor securely interact with one another. This minimizes potential intrusion possibilities and assures the processing that access is safe and uncompromised.
In some embodiments, at 142, the processing may also directly or indirectly communicate a consumption specification to the requester before the requester is given access to the resource. The consumption specification is similar to policies described above in that it circumscribes how and under what conditions the requestor may access the resource. The specification may be dynamically provided to the requestor once the resource is allocated to the requestor.
In another embodiment, at 143, the processing may indirectly communicate the consumption specification to the requestor by communicating the specification to an identity service. This may occur before the request is even received for the resource and may be managed by the identity service on behalf of the processing. In this embodiment, the specification may be global in a sense that it defines usage of a resource for a plurality of different requestors. Thus, the specification may indicate that requester A receives 10% of the resource and requestor B receives 90% or 100% of the resource. If requestor B is using all 100%, then requestor A is kicked off or denied access to the resource. Moreover, if a resource is fully consumed and no longer available, then resource availability is set such that the resource is no longer available for a requestor to request for consumption.
The processing may create a variety of policies or consumption specifications that may be directly or indirectly (via an identity, management, or registration service) communicated to requesters. For example, policies or specifications may be directed to groups of different processing resources, and each resource provided priorities or prioritized by category. As another example, the policies or specification could instruct the identity service (may also be a management or a registration service) to manage and distribute utilization between pools of identified resources. In this example, utilization metrics may be periodically communicated to the identity service or based on allocation the identity service may be able to resolve utilization metrics on its own.
Specifications or policies may also define what types or requesters or types of consumption are permissible or more preferred. For example, a university or open source community may receive priority access or dedicated access to certain resources or pools of resources. As another example, a resource may be available to a certain requestor to perform a certain task, such as storing photographs, processing media data, etc.
Specification or policies may also be hierarchical. This means that higher-level or more global specifications can override lower-level or local specifications. For example, an entire enterprise may have policies with respect to its resources, concurrently individual groups or users within the enterprise may have their own policies for their resources, such that when a conflict occurs the enterprise policies prevail. Moreover, global rules could be associated with the hierarchical policies, such that when a particular conflict occurs the rules resolve priority. In other arrangements, the policies are not hierarchical. That is, policies do not have to be interrelated in a hierarchical fashion for some embodiments of the invention.
In still other embodiments, the processing may wish to preserve its anonymity, such that it provides alias names for resources that only it is aware of. A requestor accesses a resource with the alias names and the alias names are distributed by the identity service. Moreover, the requestor may be able to create pools of resources using aliases where a number of the resources are associated with entirely different processing instances (e.g., different resource providers).
In yet more arrangements, the processing may publish characteristics of resources it is making available for allocation with the identity service. The characteristics (e.g., processing speed, memory speed or size, storage size, bandwidth capability, etc.) may be indexed and mapped within the identity service, such that requestors can search for resources that meet there access needs.
The method 100 demonstrates how resources may be allocated and consumed in novel manners over a network. Resource access is secure and trusted, such that resource providers are enticed to participate and provide resources. This takes advantage of the tremendous potential of the Internet, which has heretofore been unrealized, and that is the ability to securely load balance and/or utilize decentralized and distributed resources controlled by a myriad of different resource providers, and those providers may be organizations, governments, and/or individuals.
The method 100 described processing associated with a resource provider. Conversely, the method 200 describes processing associated with an identity service. Again, it should be pointed out that the identity service may also be viewed as a modified registration and/or management service designed to perform the processing described herein and below. Moreover, in some embodiment, the identity service is a modified and enhanced version of the identity services described and incorporated by reference above.
Initially, the identity service is in a trusted relationship with resource providers and resource consumers. Resource consumers may be unaware of the resource providers and vice versa. The identity service facilitates trusted and dynamic relationships between consumers and providers for purposes of allocating resources (or portions thereof) over a network. In some embodiments, the identity service may also manage resource assignments on behalf of providers and may communicate policies or consumption specifications to consumers.
At 210, the identity service receives resource registrations from resource providers. The registrations identify how the resource may be contacted (e.g., the reference name or label), so that a resource consumer may acquire access or allocation to the resources. Essentially, the registration informs the identity service of an identity of an available resource.
After one or more resource registrations are received from resource providers, requests are received from resource consumers for desired consumption of the resources. In some embodiments, at 221, these requests are generic meaning that the requests are not directed to any particular identity of a registered resource. In these embodiments, at 222, the identity service manages the assignment of resource identities to the resource consumers. Resource assignment may be based on a variety of pre-existing or dynamically defined information.
For example, the identity service may receive characteristics that match published characteristics of a registered resource. A resource consumer and resource provider's trust relationship and corresponding trust specification are validated before attempting a match on resource characteristics, such that only valid relationships are considered before the matching takes place on resource characteristics. Additionally, policies, usage metrics, or statistics for the resources may drive assignment of particular registered resources to particular resource consumers. Thus, in one embodiment, at 223, resource providers may periodically communicate utilization metrics of its registered resources back to the identity service. Alternatively, the identity service may estimate the utilization metrics based on actions that it has already taken with respect to registered resource assignments. Moreover, at 224, pre-existing threshold may be compared to the utilization metrics in order to determine when assignments are proper. These thresholds may be configured within the identity service by way of policies or may be dynamically altered or communicated from the resource providers.
In other embodiments, at 225, a resource consumer may submit a request for a specific resource. This may occur when the consumer has used or identified a particular resource that it likes to use or requires for use. Again, the identity of the specific resource may still be aliased by the resource provider unbeknownst to the resource consumer.
At 230, the identity service facilitates allocation of the resources to the resource consumers. Facilitation occurs by the identity service providing authentication information and perhaps specific authentication techniques that the resource consumer uses to authenticate to a particular resource provider that controls the resource being allocated. The authentication information and/or techniques may be specific to the resource provider or specific to the resource being allocated.
In one embodiment, at 231, the identity service may also provide consumption specifications to the resource consumers. Again, the consumption specifications are policies that the resource consumer should conform to in order to ensure proper access to the allocated resource. These consumption specifications may be hierarchical and managed and distributed by the identity service. Some may be preconfigured in the identity service, while others may be supplied during registration from the resource providers. Some may be associated with specific resources. Others may be associated with groups or categories of resources. Moreover, in some instances, specifications may be dynamically changed by resource providers. Specifications may also provide priorities for resources and the rules associated with prioritization or rules associated with resolving conflicting and competing policies.
Resource providers may also be resource consumers. That is, for one transaction a requestor may be identified by the identity service, at 240, as a resource provider and for another transaction the same requestor may be identified as a resource consumer. A participant's role for any given transaction and its designation is maintained and managed by the identity service.
The network resource allocation system 300 minimally includes a resource 301 and an identity service 302. In alternative embodiments, the network resource allocation system 300 also includes additional resources 303. The network resource allocation system 300 interacts with resource consumers 310 and resource providers (not shown in
The resource 301 is memory, processors, storage, bandwidth, etc. and it is controlled within the local environment of a resource provider. Moreover, although a whole resource 301 is depicted in
The identity service 302 is a management or registration service. In some embodiments, the identity service 302 is a modified version of the identity services described and incorporated by reference above. In other embodiments, the identity service 302 is a modified version of existing registration services that is designed to achieve the processing presented herein.
A resource provider registers the resource 301 with the identity service 302. Registration includes identifying how a resource consumer 310 should reference the resource 301 to gain allocation of the resource 301 over the network. Moreover, in some embodiments, registration may indicate the authentication techniques used by the resource 301 or the resource provider that would permit secure and trusted access to the resource 301. Additionally, in still more embodiments, the registration may include consumption specifications or policies for consuming the resource 301. In some cases, these specifications or policies are global and provided or configured within the identity service 302 separate from the registration process.
For any single transaction that is processed through the network resource allocation system 300, the resource consumer 310 is separate and distinct from a particular resource provider, and the two are located remotely from one another over a network. Thus, the two may be geographically dispersed from one another over the network. The identity service 302 may be also geographically dispersed over the network separately from the resource consumer 310 and the resource provider. Alternatively, in some arrangements of the network resource allocation system 300, the identity service 302 may be local to either the resource consumer 310 or the resource provider. In other arrangements, the identity service 302 may interact with other instances of identity services 302 for purposes of facilitating the allocation of the resource 301 for a given transaction.
After the resource 301 is registered with the identity service 302, a resource consumer 310 makes a request for the resource 301 or for a generic resource. That is, the resource consumer 310 may specifically identify the resource 301 with a request or may generically provide information in the request which permits the identity service 302 to resolve the identity of the resource 301.
The resource consumer 310 is authenticated to and trusted by the identity service 302. This trusted relationship may have been pre-established before the request for the resource 301 was received by the identity service 302 or may be dynamically established with the request. In a like manner, the resource provider of the resource 301 is authenticated to and in a trusted relationship with the identity service 302.
When a request from a resource consumer 310 is received by the identity service 302, the identity service identifies the resource 301 that satisfies the request, determines if any policies prohibit allocation of that resource, determines if the resource consumer 310 and resource provider can enter into a trusted relationship, and provides authentication information to the resource consumer 310. Optionally, the identity service 302 may also identify the authentication technique needed by the resource 301 or resource provider to the resource consumer 310. In some embodiments, the identity service 302 may also provide a consumption specification to the resource consumer 310.
The authentication information provides the resource consumer 310 with data that will permit it securely authenticate and communicate with the resource 301 and/or the resource provider. Again, this information may be public certificates of the resource 301 and/or provider, signatures, keys, etc. Conversely, when the resource 301 or the resource provider receives this authentication information it may or may not be able to authenticate the resource consumer 310 on its own. In cases where it cannot independently authenticate the resource consumer 301, the resource provider contacts the identity service 302 and asks it to authenticate the resource consumer 310 on its behalf.
Once a resource consumer 310 authenticates to the resource 301 and/or resource provider, the resource provider allocates the resource 301 for access to the resource consumer. Access may be circumscribed by policies or specifications, and the policies or specifications may be hierarchical. Moreover, access may have policies that indicate access expiration, such that when a condition or event is detected access is terminated.
In some embodiments, utilization metrics used in resolving policies may be communicated from the resource provider to the identity service 302. Alternatively, in cases where the identity service 302 fully manages resource 301 assignments, the identity service 302 may estimate or resolve utilization metrics for the resource 301 on its own.
Utilization metrics provide unique and novel features to the network resource allocation system 300, which permit the network resource allocation system 300 to load balance a potentially infinite amount of distributed resources 301 over a Wide Area Network (WAN), such as the Internet. Resource allocation and access is achieved in secure and trusted manners, even though the environment is chaotic meaning that new resources 301 come into the network resource allocation system 300 while other resources 301 are removed and modifications are continually and dynamically being received which change usage requirements of the resources 301.
The network resource allocation system 300 is designed to interact with multiple resource providers, multiple resource consumers 310, and multiple instances of identity services 302. Thus, additional resources 303 may be managed by the network resource allocation system 300 where these additional resources 303 are associated with the same resource provider of the original resource 301 and/or associated with other independent resource providers.
The network resource allocation system 400 minimally includes a resource consumer 401 and resource provider 402. In one embodiment, the network resource allocation system 400 also includes an identity or registration service 403. Thus, in the arrangement of network resource allocation system 400 of
The resource provider 402 makes or intends to make one or more of its resources or portions of a resource available to a resource consumer 401. To do this, the resource provider 402 identifies the resource either directly or indirectly to the resource consumer 401. In one embodiment, indirect identification of the resource occurs via an identity or registration service 403. The identity or registration service 403 performs operations and processing similar to the identity service 302 of
The resource consumer 401 acquires the identity of the resource(s) whether directly from a resource provider 402 or indirectly through the identity or registration service 403. In addition, the resource consumer 401 acquires authentication information that permits it to authenticate to the resource and/or resource provider 402. In one embodiment, the identity or registration service 403 facilitates distributing this authentication information to the resource consumer 401. In another embodiment, the resource consumer 401 acquires this information in a different and secure manner and manually supplies the same to the resource provider 402.
In some embodiments, the resource consumer 401 also acquires a consumption specification either directly from the resource provider 402 or indirectly via the identity or registration service 403. The specification defines the usage limitations for the resource on the resource provider 402.
Once the resource consumer 401 is authenticated to the resource and/or resource provider 402, the resource consumer 401 and the resource and/or resource provider 402 are in a trusted and secure relationship. The resource provider 402 then allocated the resource to the resource consumer. Again, access may be circumscribed by policies or specifications. Information exchanged during access is securely communicated between the resource and the resource consumer 401.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose can be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover all adaptations or variations of various embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood that the above description has been made in an illustrative fashion only. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of various embodiments of the invention includes any other applications in which the above structures and methods are used. Therefore, the scope of various embodiments of the invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
It is emphasized that the Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. �1.72(b), which requires an Abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
In the foregoing Detailed Description, various features are grouped together in single embodiments for the purpose of description. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments of the invention require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. The following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment.
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Owner name: NOVELL, INC., UTAH
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Owner name: NOVELL, INC.,UTAH
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GREEN, TAMMY ANITA;BURCH, LLOYD LEON;CARTER, STEPHEN R.;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040825 TO 20040826;REEL/FRAME:015743/0038
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|Aug 21, 2013
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text:
FORT WORTH, Texas - Just before Jimmie Johnson took off for the final 30 laps of Sunday's Dickies 500, he got a little extra incentive on his two-way radio.
"Go get us a cowboy hat!" said team spotter Ron Thiel.
One of the rewards for winning at Texas Motor Speedway are 10-gallon Stetsons. Johnson earned his first one after winning a stirring five-lap, side-by-side battle with Matt Kenseth. Just like he did a year ago to win the Chase for the Championship, Johnson, who rarely needs such motivation, was at his best when it counted most -- the stretch drive.
He was fifth during the re-start with 30 laps to go and his charge was impressive. He got to second place without much of a struggle, but Kenseth wasn't as easy. He was comfortable keeping his Ford within inches of Johnson's Chevrolet. Neither backed down, both pushing their cars on the brink all the way around the 1.5-mile raceway.
With two to go, Johnson finally got the advantage and pulled away to his third win in a row. In the process, he took a 30-point lead over Jeff Gordon in the playoffs with two races to go.
"I knew it was going to be a battle to the end," Johnson said. "I'm glad I was able to get by. It wasn't the best at the beginning, but we kept working on it. Now we're racing for the championship. Now we have control.
"At the end, we were able to keep working forward. it came down to a full-blown brawl with Matt. It was a lot of fun. It put me in a bad situation with the championship, but I knew he wouldn't clean me out."
A year ago Johnson took the lead in the playoffs at Texas with second-place finish, and he stayed there to the final lap. Kenseth said he did everything except crash Johnson to hold him off, but Johnson was too strong, especially with a second championship now within grasp.
"I made it as rough on him as I could," Kenseth said. "I did everything I could to hold him off. I hate getting beat. I can't believe the roll they're on. He knew I wasn't going to give him a lot of room, but he knew I wasn't going to wreck him."
"Matt was doing his job to get the win," Johnson said. "I knew I was going to have to find some way to get by him. He knew it was coming. I got inside him, but I got a little sideways. I backed off, gathered my thoughts, then made another run at him. At time, I thought about the points. I knew Jeff was running well, so I need every point I could get. You have to go for it."
A record-tying 12th caution for Greg Biffle's blown engine with 35 laps to go set up a final round of pit stops. Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray all changed two tires to gain track position; Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick all gambled that four new tires would be better during the stretch drive.
Johnson guess right.
He quickly passed Truex, McMurray and Newman. He was 30 yards behind Kenseth with 15 laps to go when he suddenly shot to Kenseth's back bumper.
"I thought he might back off, but he didn't," Kenseth said, hoping Johnson might figure out his place in the Chase was more important than taking so many risks at 190 mph for a single win. "They are the strongest until in the garage area, from the standpoint of a driver, a crew chief a team. They've won one championship and they're on their way to a second. Whatever it may be, they're the strongest. They are unbelievable. They're the best. They're on the top of their game."


text:
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text:
this question is for guys and girls
feel free to express yourself negative and positive opinions welcomed :)
Most Helpful Guy
Well as a fitness guy I eat a shitload of meat haha so it can kinda cause problems, when I lived by San Francisco many girls were vegetarian! haha hipsters! So dating did get interesting a couple times. It's like ok lets find some hipster restaurant and order spaghetti squah. haha WTF is spaghetti squash?11|00|0
It's spaghetti made out of squash noodles. But I prefer carbs! but that's just my preference though I'm a fun vegetarian not a restrictive preachy one
haha it's all good! it's healthy usually so there you go. I was just kidding, but ya it can be a little extra work making arrangements, but if I'm into her it's not a big deal whatsoever.
Most Helpful Girl
Not an issue as long as he doesn't make a big deal about it. I'm not going to change my eating habits and if he starts preaching to me, I'll just get pissed off. I know it's a pretty big deal to a lot of vegetarians and vegans, and it would be best if those people also date other vegetarians/vegans. I'd be up for eating lots of vegan and vegetarian food as long as it's not forced on me, and as long as I don't feel like he's being judgmental.11|00|0


text:
Chinese photographer Nemon has lately released several mini photo shoots of Ren Ying 任颖. In this post we're going to share with you these Nemon photos of the model. ;) Also known as Titi Ren, Ren Ying is a young model and Internet beauty from Changchun, Jilin Province.
More Photos Of Ren Ying Can Be Found At: Red Flava Gallery
Interested in Chinese girl Titi Ren Ying? You can read more about Ren Ying in her previous profile article. In the meantime, feel free to browse Ren Ying's Red Flava page. Hope you enjoy Ren Ying's Nemon set in this post! :D
i like it the photographer did a good job
more please!
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text:
Working With a Veterinarian
Special Report
Equine Biosecurity Do's and Don'ts
Use these disease prevention strategies to protect your horse on the farm, at the horse show, and in the breeding shed.
Managing Your Horse's Back Pain
Two veterinarians share how they diagnose, treat, and rehab back-sore horses.
Photo by Kevin Thompson/The Horse
5 Things to Consider Before Buying a Horse
Purchasing a horse is primarily about risk assessment. Here are some things to keep in mind.
Photo by Kevin Thompson/The Horse
How Can I Tell if My Horse Needs Stitches?
August 23, 2017
If my horse gets a cut, how can I tell if it's severe enough to require a veterinarian to suture it?... Read More
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August 22, 2017
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Here are some common dental issues to watch for and how they can be corrected. ... Read More
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Unwanted behavior can have a significant impact on mares' and fillies' performance across a range of competition events.... Read More
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Careful dietary consideration is needed when transitioning a Thoroughbred from racing to a pleasure or sport career.... Read More
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Of the 430 respondents, 93 (22%) said they take more than two weeks off work each year for horse-related activities.... Read More
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Common Dewormers: Still Effective Against Small Strongyles?
May 20, 2017
Study results revealed that three commercially available dewormers showed poor efficacy on the majority of farms tested.... Read More
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May 18, 2017
Veterinarians weigh in on the do's and don'ts of wound care, from discovery to recovery. ... Read More
Why a Veterinarian Should Vaccinate Your Horse
May 17, 2017
Why can't we give our horses their vaccines ourselves? My barn friend said my shots won't count if I give them myself.... Read More
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May 06, 2017
Learn the latest on diseases horses can get from ticks and why they continue to frustrate veterinarians and researchers.... Read More
The Horse, BI Partner for PPID Awareness in May
May 01, 2017
Look for up-to-date information about pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) all month on TheHorse.com. ... Read More
Seasonal Manure Changes
April 19, 2017
A veterinarian answers a reader's question on why some horses have seasonal runny manure.... Read More
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April 19, 2017
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text: Boulder Growth & Income Fund, Inc. (NYSE: BIF) announced today that it has declared a distribution of $0.05643 per common share payable in cash on July 30, 2013 to holders of record on July 23, 2013. In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), the dividend will consist of approximately $0.01713 per share of ordinary income and $0.03930 per share of long-term capital gain. The timing and character of distributions for federal income tax purposes are determined in accordance with income tax regulations which may differ from GAAP. As such, all or a portion of this distribution may be reportable as taxable income on your 2013 federal income tax return. The final tax character of any distribution declared in 2013 will be determined in January 2014 and reported to you on IRS Form 1099-DIV. For more information on the Fund, please visit us on the web at www.boulderfunds.net.