text:
A Story Debunked
For almost 25 years, Minnetrista staff told visitors a passed-down story about the Dr. Lucius L. Ball family home. The story goes that Lucius didn't build his family's home but, instead, purchased an existing farmhouse that faced Wheeling Pike (now Wheeling Avenue) and, around 1910, rotated it 180 degrees in order for it to face the river like the rest of the homes. Turns out, the story isn't entirely true.
The Muncie-made forerunner of the Vegematic
Many of you will remember the Vegematic, made by Ronco and heavily advertised on TV. The promise was that "It slices, dices, chops and peels, makes thousands of julienne fries in seconds!" Well, to show that there is nothing new under the sun, Muncie had its own version of a similar kitchen specialty back in the early 1920s.
Quick Tips for Selecting a Tree Contractor
A common question I get from readers, especially after writing about trees, is if I can recommend a tree professional. I don't mind telling people whom Minnetrista uses, but I like to first mention some important tips that should be considered when choosing a tree contractor. Check them out below!
Have you become a pro at canning? Get started with a different food preservation technique!
Have you become a pro at canning and are now looking into other methods of food preservation as options? Did you never think canning was for you, but would like to get into food preservation somehow? Well, perhaps I've got just the thing for you! Dehydrating is a great method of food preservation that results in delicious foods.
A Weird and Wonderful Governors Home
They're all around us—Ball fruit jars are used for just about everything these days. In the last few years, I've seen Ball jars used as light fixtures, flower vases, wedding décor, hand lotion containers, luminaries and, sometimes, for canning.
Santa Claus Photo
How could such a great, happy photograph come from a morgue? It can when it's part of a collection of eighty boxes of archival material donated to Minnetrista in 2004 from Ball Memorial Hospital—now IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.
The British are Coppicing, and You Can Too
Coppicing, pollarding, pleach, fedge, and cordon. All of these are strange and intriguing botanical terms that I've encountered on the Royal Horticultural Society's website. What do they mean? Well, I'll leave it to you to look up the last four. I'm just going to tell you about the first—coppicing.
Oakhurst Becomes Winter Wonderland
Planning for the first Enchanted Gardens: A Luminaria Walk at Oakhurst Gardens began right after the George A. Ball home and Oakhurst Gardens opened to the public in May 1995.
Meeks Furniture Comes Home Part Two
Last month I shared the story of my trip to Columbia, Missouri, to meet Louesa Danks and see her collection of Meeks furniture. Several years after this visit, Louesa's friend, Jeanne, called to tell me that it was time to pick up the furniture.
If a tree fails, is there a reason?
One thing I've often heard from people in the past when talking about tree failure is, "that tree or branch just up and fell." I wouldn't go as far as saying it is a pet peeve, but this thinking does bother me a bit as it shows a lack of understanding of trees and how they should be thought about in the landscape. Trees do have inherent risk. They are dynamic, sometimes very large living plants that have to deal with all of nature's forces, but this doesn't mean that they die and fall one day out of the blue. There is always more to it.


text:
This crashes if "emb" is a Flash movie:
var emb = document.getElementById("emb")
emb[0] = 3;
Stack trace (note that the symbols for Flash Player are bogus):
0 ...romedia.Flash Player.plugin 0x06b63b38 Flash_EnforceLocalSecurity + 374272
1 ...romedia.Flash Player.plugin 0x06b638a4 Flash_EnforceLocalSecurity + 373612
2 ...romedia.Flash Player.plugin 0x06cce754 native_ShockwaveFlash_TCallFrame + 452328
3 ...romedia.Flash Player.plugin 0x06cce6f4 native_ShockwaveFlash_TCallFrame + 452232
4 org.mozilla.firefox 0x007f6e50 nsJSObjWrapper::GetNewOrUsed(_NPP*, JSContext*, JSObject*) + 2956
5 libmozjs.dylib 0x2304c2e0 js_LookupPropertyWithFlags + 684
6 libmozjs.dylib 0x23030b2c js_CheckRedeclaration + 84
7 libmozjs.dylib 0x23048ea8 js_HasOwnPropertyHelper + 1156
8 libmozjs.dylib 0x2302ff28 js_Invoke + 1828
9 libmozjs.dylib 0x2303a4d0 js_Interpret + 37512
Created attachment 240387 [details]
It appears possible for PL_DHashTableOperate to return null (when the table is on the verge of overflowing and the object exists), but this condition is not trapped.
dhcp145:~/cvsrepos/mozilla/modules/plugin/base/src apple$ cvs diff -u8p ./nsJSNPRuntime.cpp
Index: nsJSNPRuntime.cpp
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/modules/plugin/base/src/nsJSNPRuntime.cpp,v
retrieving revision 1.23
diff -u -8 -p -r1.23 nsJSNPRuntime.cpp
--- nsJSNPRuntime.cpp 27 Mar 2007 15:33:41 -0000 1.23
+++ nsJSNPRuntime.cpp 17 Apr 2007 18:39:22 -0000
@@ -948,16 +948,19 @@ nsJSObjWrapper::GetNewOrUsed(NPP npp, JS
nsJSObjWrapperKey key(obj, npp);
JSObjWrapperHashEntry *entry =
NS_STATIC_CAST(JSObjWrapperHashEntry *,
PL_DHashTableOperate(&sJSObjWrappers, &key, PL_DHASH_ADD));
+ if (!entry) {
+ return nsnull;
+ }
if (PL_DHASH_ENTRY_IS_BUSY(entry) && entry->mJSObjWrapper) {
// Found a live nsJSObjWrapper, return it.
return _retainobject(entry->mJSObjWrapper);
// No existing nsJSObjWrapper, create one.
Created attachment 261878 [details] [diff] [review]
Possible fix.
And that fix is of course based on Raymonds findings. I'm not sure yet whether it actually fixes this bug, but it's the right thing to do either way.
Fix checked in on trunk. Leaving bug open as I don't know if this actually fixes this bug. If it appears to, feel free to mark this bug fixed.
Comment on attachment 261878 [details] [diff] [review]
Possible fix.
approved for 220.127.116.11, a=dveditz
Comment on attachment 261878 [details] [diff] [review]
Possible fix.
Requesting approval to land this on branches, I've gotten off-line reports of people seeing this crash on the branch, but not on the trunk since this landed there.
Marking bug fixed as there hasn't been any sign of this being a problem since this patch landed on the trunk.
Created attachment 275675 [details] [diff] [review]
Branch version, for the record (same change as above w/o some style cleanup).
This is the same as the trunk version with the exception of the first hunk that only changes code formatting (and doesn't apply to the branch).
Fixed on branch.
verified fixed 126.96.36.199 using Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en-US; rv:18.104.22.168pre) Gecko/20070913 BonEcho/126.96.36.199pre ID:2007091303
no crash on testcase - adding verified keyword
I don't know if this is the cause, but Mac Flash crashes have skyrocketed in 188.8.131.52 compared to 220.127.116.11. Even though total crashes in a 10 day window favor the old version 45K to 27K, crashes in Flash on a Mac have gone from 223 to 844.
223 Flash crashes 844 Flash crashes
13.5% of Mac crashes 60% of Mac crashes
0.5% of all crashes 3% of all crashes
Yeah, I noticed quite a few Mac people complaining about crashing after the update in the Mozilla feedback newsgroups.
Carsten mentioned that it could be related to bug 400554.
I don't have a Mac, so I can't really help with testing.
I filed bug 400714 to cover comment 12 -- this fix may or may not have been the cause so it should not be tracked here.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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text:
Organized team activities are in full swing, and so is contract posturing in the AFC South, where three prominent players looked to make statements with non-participation.
Andre Johnson re-joined the Houston Texans, but the Tennessee Titans' Chris Johnson and the Jacksonville Jaguars' Rashean Mathis remain out. All three are hoping for new deals.
Players generally support other players in such instances. I once covered an event that involved a phone conversation between two players and rather than a goodbye, the final salutation to a guy who was looking for a bigger payday was something along the lines of "Get yours." Over the years, I've heard that many times.
"We all understand that there is a business side to it, we all understand that there are going to be contract situations that make guys feel like they want to hold out," veteran Titans backup quarterback Kerry Collins said.
"… Here's the thing: The NFL is going to get what it wants out of you. So I don't blame guys for trying to get what they can out of it financially. That's just the way it is."
While I will hit Andre Johnson and Mathis in separate posts, let's turn to Chris Johnson …
He's due a $550,000 base salary this season, though it's more sensible to look at his 2010 number by including prorated pieces of his bonuses. That's more like $1.6 million.
Does his play through two years make him worth more than that? Absolutely. Do the Titans deserve to continue to reap the benefits of being smart enough to select him in the draft where they did and for the cost of that pick? For sure.
We just saw a new deal for San Francisco linebacker Patrick Willis who is heading into his fourth season. The current precedent for tearing up an original contract and doing something new set there is still at least one year away for Johnson.
I do not expect the Titans to redo Johnson's deal before he plays a third season, and to hear his friends Mike Sims-Walker (here) and Ahmard Hall (here) talk, I am not as sure as some that he will hold out when training camp commences.
That said, we should look more carefully at the finances at play.
Many of us have been wrong when discussing Johnson's current salary specifics and in interpreting the 30-percent rule that is in play here in the final year covered by the collective bargaining agreement. I apologize for the volume I added to that, and while this may now provide too much detail for some of you, it will also result in a far more accurate picture.
We've been saying Johnson got $7 million guaranteed when he signed his rookie deal as the 24th overall pick in 2008. But that's oversimplifying and not breaking it down sufficiently, which is where one-time Washington Redskins cap guru J.I. Halsell comes in.
According to Halsell, who's now part of Football Outsiders and has a website called SalaryCap101.com, here is how Johnson's contract broke down when he signed it:
Signing Bonus: $250,000
Year 1 Roster Bonus (earned 5 days after execution of deal): $875,000
Year 1 Salary: $295,000
Option Bonus (to be exercised in Year 2 to add Year 5 to contract): $3,860,000
One-time Incentive (backed up by paragraph five guarantees to ensure it's earned): $1,605,000
So the guarantees were a bit under the $7 million we keep repeating.
Halsell says Johnson has made a total of $7.27 million so far, and can make $3.56 million on the remaining three years of his deal.
As for the 30-percent rule, it extends beyond Johnson's scheduled 2010 base salary of $550,000.
Here is the explanation from the NFL Players Association:
30% Rule (Article XXIV, Section 8(b), pages 133-134 and 241)
Renegotiations/extensions entered into in the 2010 League Year of 2009 NFL player contracts may not increase per year from 2009 to 2010 or beyond more than 30% of 2009 Salary. For example, if 2009 Salary is $2m, the maximum Salary available in 2010 is $2.6, 2011 is $3.2m, etc. Salary for 30% Rule does NOT include amounts treated as Signing Bonus or early termination buyout prorations tied to NLTBE [not likely to be earned] incentives (those tied entirely to LTBE incentives are open issue with NFL), but DOES include option extension bonus prorations.
Let's focus on that last line.
Johnson's $6.885 million in guarantees hardly came from a one-time signing bonus at the start. His 30-percent rule salary, Halsell points out, is then based off these two numbers: Johnson's 2009 base salary of $385,000 plus the option proration of $965,000.
Add those together and add 30 percent and that's the salary raise possibility.
So the Titans can give Johnson maximum salary increases of $405,000. They could only increase his non-bonus salary by that much in 2011 and 2012 too, and then with that proration disappearing they'd be able to increase it by $1.37 million beyond that.
Such increases would not exactly provide the backbone of the monster deal Johnson is looking for, but certainly better than what we were thinking before ($165,000 in 2010).
Halsell thinks it's enough to build a deal around if the Titans want to. (Again, GM Mike Reinfeldt just told The Tennessean that "given the circumstances, I don't think there's the likelihood anything is going to happen.")
"In light of the Patrick Willis structure, the Titans now have a structure that they could mimic to get CJ an extension," Halsell said. "There is the 30 percent rule consideration, but the Willis deal shows that this can be navigated while still rewarding the player."
Willis' annual increase potential was $498,000 compared to Johnson's $405,000.
"A pretty similar number to Willis," Halsell said. "In short, a deal can get done with CJ."
Willis got five years and $50 million with $29 million guaranteed.
If the Titans didn't have Johnson under contract for three more years, that sounds like a pretty good framework to me. I would think that would be a starting point at best for Johnson's agent, Joel Segal.
But I still believe the ultimate leverage rests with the Titans, and so does veteran agent Ralph Cindrich, who represents Jeff Saturday and James Farrior.
"I think they can sit on him," Cindrich said. "Mike Reinfeldt can be a tough guy. But [Bud] Adams can care less at times. I don't see a new deal unless it favors them. Not unless they mumble and jumble a lot of figures together to make it sound a lot better than it is."
Looking long term, Halsell agrees. Piece together the sort of deal Johnson wants now, and run the risk that in a few years he will be in the same spot Andre Johnson and Mathis are in now.
"With a player like CJ who has three years remaining on a contract that he signed [left] to honor, a club is hesitant to set a precedent of redoing contracts with that many years left," he said. "Because then the next player (maybe Kenny Britt if he breaks out) is going to want his deal redone early.
"Bringing it full circle, CJ could end up like Mathis and Andre Johnson if, in the spirit of getting a big payday today, he signs a contract for seven years with four new years as an example. Because you know three or four years into it when the big money of the deal is gone and he's underpaid relative to the running back market, he's going to want another deal."


text:
Winchester Super X3 Sporting Semi Automatic Shotgun 12 Gauge 32" Barrel 2-3/4" Chamber 4 Rounds Grade II/III Satin Finished Stock Fully Adjustable Comb Perma Cote UT Finished Barrel
- All firearm sales are final. NO RETURNS.
- Return to manufacturer for warranty service.
- Actual buyer must pickup from FFL dealer who will conduct the background check. Learn more
- Firearm transfer must be the actual transferee/buyer. Click here to see BATFE form "Transaction Record Part 1".
- Firearms are only available for purchase online.
- Purchasing a Firearm Online
Specifications and features:
Winchester Super X3 Sporting semi automatic shotgun
12 gauge
32" vent rib barrel
2-3/4" chamber
Four round capacity
Grade II/III stain finished walnut stock
Fully adjustable comb
Perma Cote UT finished, ported barrel
Fiber optic front and mid bead sights
Aluminum alloy receiver, nickel plated
Active Valve system
Ambidextrous safety
Chrome plated chamber and bore
Five Signature Invector Plus choke tubes
Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad
Weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces
The stock, grip and forearm dimensions are slimmer for a lighter, more controlled feel. Contributing to the feeling of lightness is an ultralight alloy magazine tube and recoil spring system that removes a half pound of weight. The new lightweight barrel further reduces weight with a narrow profile and a machined rib. Inside the barrel you'll find .742" Back-Bored Technology for the ideal combination of shot uniformity and velocity. The new gunmetal grey Perma-Cote UT (Ultra Tough) finish is more durable than traditional blueing
- Add your selected firearm(s) to your shopping cart and check out.
- Select a local Federal Firearms Licensed (FFL) Dealer that will accept the firearm and complete the transfer. Find a FFL Dealer HERE.
- If you choose an FFL Dealer that is not on our preferred list, you or your FFL Dealer will be required to fax or email us a signed copy of the Federal Firearms License referencing your Cheaper Than Dirt! order number.
- Pick up your firearm from the FFL Dealer, who will need to do a background check. Transfer fees may apply.
Federal law requires firearms to be shipped to FFL Dealers. For an individual to receive a firearm from Cheaper Than Dirt! it must be shipped to an FFL Dealer in your state.Locating a Federal-Firearm License Dealer (FFL) in Your Area
There are thousands of FFL Dealers in the United States. You may choose an FFL Dealer from our preferred listing or you may find a dealer in your area. To find a list of FFL Dealers in your area area CLICK HERE. If you choose a dealer that is not on our preferred list, either you or the FFL Dealer will be required to submit a copy of the Federal Firearms License referencing your Cheaper Than Dirt! order number. The FFL Dealer will usually charge a fee to conduct the transfer. There are duties that the FFL Dealer is required to do during the process which include a background check. Remember, the FFL Dealer is doing you a favor and the process takes time to complete. Fees can vary so check with the FFL Dealer ahead of time to request a quote on the fees associated with your firearm transfer. The FFL Dealer is in business to make a profit and your internet purchase may be viewed as competition to their retail business. If you feel the fees are too high, you can search for another FFL Dealer.Completing the Transaction
Once you place the firearm in your cart and checkout you will receive a confirmation email that has your order number and further instructions. We will verify the FFL license and also make the FFL Dealer aware that an order from Cheaper Than Dirt! will soon be arriving for you. Most orders are processed within 2-3 business days from the time we receive and verify the FFL Dealers information. Once shipped, your firearm will arrive at the FFL Dealer within 3-7 days business days. The FFL Dealer will begin processing the shipment. It may be an additional day or so before the FFL Dealer is ready to conduct the transfer of the firearm to you. Call the FFL Dealer and set an appointment to confirm that the firearm is ready to be transferred.Please note! All Firearm Sales are Final
It is important to thoroughly inspect your firearm before completion of the transfer. Once the firearm is transferred into your name, Cheaper Than Dirt! will not accept a return or exchange under any circumstance. If a defect is discovered after completing the transfer, you must contact the manufacturer directly for repair or replacement.


text:
Mckinnon Hotel
Restaurant, Hotels, Pubs
Seafood Night - Tuesday Night at the Mac$15 Seafood specials available all nightBookings Appreciated
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TAB Place all your bets for any sport TAB is offering odds on here 2 easy bet terminals All race
Function Room with Free Room Hire* * with purchase of finger food - ring venue for details Apx 80 people capacity
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Riding Along in My Automobile
AUTHOR: Sean Savage | POSTED: December 7, 2010 | COMMENTS: 2 Comments
CATEGORIES: Daddy on The Fly, Teenage Trouble, Tags: challenges, don't sweat the small stuff, gadgets, precious time, protecting your family, student drivers
Our sixteen-year-old son is learning how to drive a car.
A sixteen-year-old. And my car.
And, unfortunately, I have to teach him. There are no do-overs or reset buttons when learning how to drive and this scares the hell out of me. I would rather have a colonoscopy—and I'm speaking from experience here–than be a passenger with a teenager behind the wheel. Don't get me wrong, I do like the kid and he is way high on the responsibility bell curve for his age, but what is that really saying? He is one of the best of the worst drivers? Why are Carolyn and I allowing him to pursue his license? I would rather have him be driving than sitting in a passenger seat with another teenager at the wheel. But I've also concluded that teenage drivers should have their own lane on the highway with barricades on each side. Just like bowling: no gutter balls allowed.
I say a very simple prayer when I climb into the passenger seat of my eight year old Buick Rendezvous. I repeat it like a mantra, just about once every two seconds for the duration of the drive: "Dear God, Please do not let me die." It's interrupted only by crazed shouts of "STOP SIGN", "BIG TRUCK," or my personal favorite, "WRONG LANE!" I have spoken with parents who say nothing when their child is driving. While I appreciate their Zen approach, I just don't have the self control (not without a few numbing cocktails, or more likely, duct tape). And yet I am completely befuddled by why Drew would rather drive with his mother? Was it something I said?
On Sunday, with Drew at the wheel, we drove to a park for a run. There is one significant problem with the Buick. You must slam the driver's side door shut for it to be secure and to avoid the "door ajar" sign lighting up. After the run, we got into the car to drive home. In an effort to increase the odds we would make it home unscathed, I took the wheel (just kidding Drew!). Drew got in after putting on his jacket and as he shut the door, we both heard a loud crack. "Dad, I think there's a problem with the passenger door too." Perfect, a car with two hard-to-close doors is just right for a sixteen year old to drive.
As we walk into the kitchen, Drew pulls his recently purchased (with his own money) iTouch out of his pocket and realized that the cracking he heard was not a malfunctioning car door, but a properly functioning car door crushing a brand-new iTouch. His head dropped as Carolyn and I stood near him wondering what would be said next. I could sense he was hoping mom-and-dad bank would offer an instant bailout to replace it, but we did no such thing. Carolyn broke the silence: "I guess you have a new and very expensive Christmas list item." This did not sit well with Drew, who went upstairs and in all his glory slammed the door to his room shut out of anger at himself, us, and I am sure with some embarrassment mixed in as well.
About ten minutes later, Drew comes back down holding his shattered gadget. But this time he's laughing. He had posted a picture of the deceased iTouch on Facebook, and was getting some good-natured ribbing from friends. In a very short period of time he had turned a lemon into lemonade and was willing to laugh at himself. I was really proud of how he had handled a very difficult moment. My dad always used to say that there were two things you had to remember: #1– do not sweat the small stuff and #2–it's all small stuff. I don't completely agree that it's all small stuff, but most of it falls into that category.
I'll have to keep that in mind when it comes to Drew and a driver's license. He is good and takes it seriously. And soon he'll have the keys to a "new to Drew" Rendesvous with 173K miles. After all, I have to keep the promise I made to him at the Buick dealership eight years ago: "Drew, I bought your first car today."
A sixteen-year-old. And his new old car.


text:
My Lambo Bookshelf Womens Hoodie
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Shipping is £3.99 globally on orders less than £30. Shipping is FREE for all orders over £30. Orders are delivered within 5-7 business days. If you have a query about delivery for a product which you have already ordered, please contact us.
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We have a money-back satisfaction guarantee, so whatever the problem, we're happy to work with you to fix it.


text:
Star Wars Humble Bundle III; better than the movie!
Subject: General Tech | February 7, 2017 - 08:01 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gaming, Star Wars, humble bundle
Do like Star Wars games, PCPer and Unicef? If so there is a Humble Bundle perfect for you running for the next two weeks. Depending on how much you pay you can get up to 15 games and an X-Wing verus TIE Fighter t-shirt, with a percentage of your purchase helping us to continue to provide the content you love. There is some overlap with previous bundles you may have picked up but for those of you missing KOTOR 1 or 2, The Force Unleashed 1 or 2, Shadows of the Empire or even the second Star Wars Battlefront game it is well worth the cost.
How can you resist that t-shirt?
The new ASUS Maximus IX Formula is put through its paces
Subject: Motherboards | February 7, 2017 - 07:35 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: z270 express, Maximus IX Formula, intel z270, ASUS ROG, asus
ASUS' Maximus Formula series have become familiar to high end system builders and the newest member looks to live up to our expectations. The list of features is comprehensive, including two M.2 slots and a U.2 slot, two USB 3.1 ports including a Type-C and an ASUS 2T2R dual band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac antenna. [H]ard|OCP had mixed results when overclocking, some testers had a perfect experience while others ran into some hurdles, that may be due to the processors they used so do not immediately write this motherboard off. Take a look at the full review before you decide one way or the other.
"ASUS is nothing like Hollywood. ASUS can actually turn out sequels which not only match the originals, but surpass them. ASUS Republic of Gamers Maximus IX Formula is another sequel in the long line of Maximus motherboards. Can ASUS continue its long history of awesome sequels? One things for certain, it's no Robocop 3."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- ASRock Z270 Extreme4 @ Kitguru
- MSI Z270 Gaming M7 @ [H]ard|OCP
- MSI B250M Mortar @ Modders-Inc
- MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks
- MSI Z270 XPower Titanium Review @ Neoseeker
- ASUS ROG STRIX Z270F Gaming @ Kitguru
- ASUS Maximus IX Hero Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks
Intel's Atom C2xxx processors may just make like a banana and split
Subject: General Tech | February 7, 2017 - 06:31 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Intel, c2000, Avoton
"System May Experience Inability to Boot or May Cease Operation" is not the errata note you want to read, but for those running devices powered by an Intel Avoton C2xxx family Atom processor it is something to pay attention to. The Low Pin Count bus clock may stop functioning permanently after the chip has been in service for a time, rendering the device non-functional. Intel had little to say about the issue when approached by The Register but did state that there is a board level workaround available to resolve the issue.
The Avoton famliy of chips were released in 2013 and were designed to compete against ARM's new low powered server chips. The flaw is likely responsible for the issues with Cisco routers that have been reported on recently; the chip can also be found in the Synology DS1815+ and some Dell server products. It will be interesting to see how Intel responds to this issue, they have a history of reluctance discussing flaws in their product's architecture.
"Intel's Atom C2000 processor family has a fault that effectively bricks devices, costing the company a significant amount of money to correct. But the semiconductor giant won't disclosed precisely how many chips are affected nor which products are at risk."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Giant ion-trapped quantum computer takes shape @ Nanotechweb
- Boffins create quantum cloning machine to intercept 'secure' messages @ The Inquirer
- 'Wet' metallic MoS2 makes ultrafast supercapacitor @ Nanotechweb
- Vizio fined $2.2m for selling screen-scraped data from Smart TVs @ The Inquirer
- Reverse Engineering Ikea's New Smart Bulbs @ Hack a Day
- Canadian telco bans a little four-letter dirty word from texts: U B E R @ The Register
- Hacker hijacks 160,000 insecure printers to teach a lesson about security @ The Inquirer
- Western Digital Unveils First-Ever 512Gb 64-Layer 3D NAND Chip @ Slashdot
- If You Owned a PC With a DVD Drive You Might Be Able To Claim $10 @ Slashdot Inbox x General x
- Wheel of Destiny Case Mods #1 Giveaway by EVGA and Modders-Inc
Logitech Announces BRIO Webcam: 4K and HDR
Subject: General Tech | February 7, 2017 - 09:31 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: logitech, webcam, brio, 4k, hdr
Today's announcement of the Logitech BRIO rolls in many features that have been lacking in webcams. With it, you can record in 720p30, 720p60, 1080p30, 1080p60, and, the big reveal, 4K30. It is also capable of shooting in HDR using RightLight 3, although they don't specify color space formats, so it's unclear what you will be able to capture with video recording software.
On top of these interesting video modes, the camera also supports infrared for Windows Hello "or other facial recognition software". Unlike Intel's RealSense, the webcam claims support for the relatively ancient Core 2 and higher, which sounds promising for AMD users. I'm curious what open-source developers will be able to accomplish, especially if it's general enough to do background rejection (and so forth). Obviously, this is just my speculation -- Logitech hasn't even hinted at this in their documentation.
As you would expect for a 4K sensor, Logitech is also advertising quite a bit of digital zoom. They claim up to 5X and FOVs user-configurable between 65 degrees and 90 degrees.
Finally, the price is $199 USD / $249 CDN and it ships today.
Mozilla to Require Rust (and Dependencies) for Firefox
Subject: General Tech | February 7, 2017 - 07:47 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: mozilla, firefox, web browser, Rust, llvm
Firefox 52 will be the company's next Extended Support Release (ESR) branch of their popular web browser. After this release, Mozilla is planning a few changes that will break compatibility, especially if you're building the browser from source. If you're an end-user, the major one to look out for is Mozilla disabling NPAPI-based plugins (except Flash) unless you are using Firefox 52 ESR. This change will land in the consumer version of Firefox 52, though. It's not really clear why they didn't just wait until Firefox 53, rather than add a soft-kill in Firefox 52 and hard-code it the next version, but that's their decision. It really does not affect me in the slightest.
The more interesting change, however, is that Mozilla will begin requiring Rust (and LLVM) in an upcoming version. I've seen multiple sources claim Firefox 53, Firefox 54, and Firefox 55 as possible targets for this, but, at some point around those versions, critical components of the browser will be written in Rust. As more of the browser is migrated to this language, it should be progressively faster and more secure, as this language is designed to enforce memory safety and task concurrency.
Firefox 52 is expected in March.
If you were going to sell Mechanical Keyboards, what name would you choose?
Subject: General Tech | February 6, 2017 - 10:26 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: MK Fission, mechanical keyboard, input, Cherry MX
If you wanted MechanicalKeyboards.com then TechPowerUp has some bad news for you, as it is already taken. When not brainstorming with Captain Obvious, they are the North American retailer for Ducky Keyboards, a name you might have possibly heard before. Their MK Fission comes in 18 flavours, you can only choose black or white keycaps but you have your choice of the full range of Cherry switches. If you have lost track of the score that includes Red, Brown, Blue, Black, Silent Red, Speed Silver, Green, Clear and White. The keyboard has blue backlighting and the RGB disease has only infected the outer casing of the keyboard, giving it a look which might be familiar to anyone who knew someone in the 90s' with questionable taste in car accessories.
"MechanicalKeyboards.com is a prominent retailer of mechanical keyboards, as the name would suggest, based in the USA. Today we get to take a look at their new MK Fission full size keyboard that comes in 18 possible options to choose from, Yes, there is RGB included but perhaps not the way you think."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- G.SKILL Ripjaws KM570 MX Keyboard @ techPowerUp
- Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ Custom PC Review
- Rosewill RK-9000 V2 RGB Keyboard @ techPowerUp
- SpeedLink Quinox Gamepad @ Kitguru
- Gamdias Zeus P1 RGB Mouse @ Benchmark Reviews
- Corsair Scimitar Pro RGB Gaming Mouse Review @ Techgage
Lenovo Announces new ThinkPad P51s P51 and P71 Mobile Workstations
Subject: Systems, Mobile | February 6, 2017 - 08:37 PM | Sebastian Peak
Tagged: xeon, Thinkpad, quadro, P71, P51s, P51, nvidia, notebook, mobile workstation, Lenovo, kaby lake, core i7
Lenovo has announced a trio of new ThinkPad mobile workstations, featuring updated Intel 7th-generation Core (Kaby Lake) processors and NVIDIA Quadro graphics, and among these is the thinnest and lightest ThinkPad mobile workstation to date in the P51s.
"Engineered to deliver breakthrough levels of performance, reliability and long battery life, the ThinkPad P51s features a new chassis, designed to meet customer demands for a powerful but portable machine. Developed with engineers and professional designers in mind, this mobile workstation features Intel's 7th generation Core i7 processors and the latest NVIDIA Quadro dedicated workstation graphics, as well as a 4K UHD IPS display with optional IR camera."
Lenovo says that the ThinkPad P51s is more than a half pound lighter than the previous generation (P50s), stating that "the P51s is the lightest and thinnest mobile workstation ever developed by ThinkPad" at 14.4 x 9.95 x 0.79 inches, and weight starting at 4.3 lbs.
Specs for the P51s include:
- Up to a 7th Generation Intel Core i7 Processor
- NVIDIA Quadro M520M Graphics
- Choice of standard or touchscreen FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, or 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS display
- Up to 32 GB DDR4 2133 RAM (2x SODIMM slots)
- Storage options including up to 1 TB (5400 rpm) HDD and 1 TB NVMe PCIe SSDs
- USB-C with Intel Thunderbolt 3
- 802.11ac and LTE-A wireless connectivity
Lenovo also announced the ThinkPad P51, which is slightly larger than the P51s, but brings the option of Intel Xeon E3-v6 processors (in addition to Kaby Lake Core i7 CPUs), Quadro M2200M graphics, faster 2400 MHz memory up to 64 GB (4x SODIMM slots), and up to a 4K IPS display with X-Rite Pantone color calibration.
Finally there is the new VR-ready P71 mobile workstation, which offers up to an NVIDIA Quadro P5000M GPU along with Oculus and HTC VR certification.
"Lenovo is also bringing virtual reality to life with the new ThinkPad P71. One of the most talked about technologies today, VR has the ability to bring a new visual perspective and immersive experience to our customers' workflow. In our new P71, the NVIDIA Pascal-based Quadro GPUs offer a stunning level of performance never before seen in a mobile workstation, and it comes equipped with full Oculus and HTC certifications, along with NVIDIA's VR-ready certification."
Pricing and availability is as follows:
- ThinkPad P51s, starting at $1049, March
- ThinkPad P51, starting at $1399, April
- ThinkPad P71, starting at $1849, April
NVIDIA P100 comes to Quadro
At the start of the SOLIDWORKS World conference this week, NVIDIA took the cover off of a handful of new Quadro cards targeting professional graphics workloads. Though the bulk of NVIDIA's discussion covered lower cost options like the Quadro P4000, P2000, and below, the most interesting product sits at the high end, the Quadro GP100.
As you might guess from the name alone, the Quadro GP100 is based on the GP100 GPU, the same silicon used on the Tesla P100 announced back in April of 2016. At the time, the GP100 GPU was specifically billed as an HPC accelerator for servers. It had a unique form factor with a passive cooler that required additional chassis fans. Just a couple of months later, a PCIe version of the GP100 was released under the Tesla GP100 brand with the same specifications.
Today that GPU hardware gets a third iteration as the Quadro GP100. Let's take a look at the Quadro GP100 specifications and how it compares to some recent Quadro offerings.
|Quadro GP100
|Quadro P6000
|Quadro M6000
|Full GP100
|GP100 (Pascal)
|FP32 CUDA Cores / SM
|FP32 CUDA Cores / GPU
|FP64 CUDA Cores / SM
|FP64 CUDA Cores / GPU
|Base Clock
|1303 MHz
|1417 MHz
|1026 MHz
|GPU Boost Clock
|1442 MHz
|1530 MHz
|1152 MHz
|Texture Units
|Memory Interface
|1.4 Gbps
4096-bit HBM2
|9 Gbps
384-bit GDDR5X
|6.6 Gbps
|4096-bit HBM2
|Memory Bandwidth
|716 GB/s
|432 GB/s
|316.8 GB/s
|Memory Size
|15.3 billion
|12 billion
|8 billion
|15.3 billion
|GPU Die Size
|471 mm2
|601 mm2
|Manufacturing Process
There are some interesting stats here that may not be obvious at first glance. Most interesting is that despite the pricing and segmentation, the GP100 is not the de facto fastest Quadro card from NVIDIA depending on your workload. With 3584 CUDA cores running at somewhere around 1400 MHz at Boost speeds, the single precision (32-bit) rating for GP100 is 10.3 TFLOPS, less than the recently released P6000 card. Based on GP102, the P6000 has 3840 CUDA cores running at something around 1500 MHz for a total of 12 TFLOPS.
GP100 (full) Block Diagram
Clearly the placement for Quadro GP100 is based around its 64-bit, double precision performance, and its ability to offer real-time simulations on more complex workloads than other Pascal-based Quadro cards can offer. The Quadro GP100 offers 1/2 DP compute rate, totaling 5.2 TFLOPS. The P6000 on the other hand is only capable of 0.375 TLOPS with the standard, consumer level 1/32 DP rate. Inclusion of ECC memory support on GP100 is also something no other recent Quadro card has.
Raw graphics performance and throughput is going to be questionable until someone does some testing, but it seems likely that the Quadro P6000 will still be the best solution for that by at least a slim margin. With a higher CUDA core count, higher clock speeds and equivalent architecture, the P6000 should run games, graphics rendering and design applications very well.
There are other important differences offered by the GP100. The memory system is built around a 16GB HBM2 implementation which means more total memory bandwidth but at a lower capacity than the 24GB Quadro P6000. Offering 66% more memory bandwidth does mean that the GP100 offers applications that are pixel throughput bound an advantage, as long as the compute capability keeps up on the backend.
Do you like turtles? Upgrade your online banter with the Turtle Beach Stream Mic
Subject: General Tech | February 6, 2017 - 07:46 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: turtle beach, microphone, audio, Stream Mic
Upgrading your microphone from the one found on your gaming headset can make a significant difference in the way you sound online. Being able to do so for around $50 and to be able to use the same device on your PC, Xbox and PS4 might just convince some that the upgrade is worth it. The Turtle Beach Multi-Format Stream Microphone can be transferred between devices with a simple switch and it will run without any drivers. It also has a a built in headphone amplifier so you can move your headset with you without unplugging. Drop by eTeknix for a look at it.
"While many of us only need a standard headset with a simple boom mic, there's a growing demand for higher quality microphones for both gamers and streamers, on Twitch, YouTube Live and much more. Turtle Beach are not the first to make a dedicated streaming microphone, but they are one of the more affordable options too, and their new Stream Mic comes with support for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, making it a tempting solution for the multi-format gamer and streamer."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Antlion Audio ModMic 5 @ Kitguru
- Apple's AirPods Bring Wireless to New Heights @ Hardware Secrets
- OZONE EKHO H80 Origen Pro Gaming Headset Review @ NikKTech
- Razer Kraken Pro V2 eSports Gaming Headset @ eTeknix
The first Cyber Grand Challenge; using AI to hunt bugs. What could go wrong?
Subject: General Tech | February 6, 2017 - 06:36 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: darpa, ai, security, Usenix Enigma 2017
DARPA hosted the first Cyber Grand Challenge last summer, in which the software from seven machine learning projects competed to find and patch vulnerabilities in a network, and to attack each other. While the specific vulnerabilities discovered have not been made public you can read a bit about what was revealed about the contest at Usenix Enigma 2017 over at The Register. For instance, one of the programs managed to find a flaw in the OS all the machines were running on and then hack into another to steal data. A different machine noticed this occurring and patched itself on the fly, making sure that it was protected from that particular attack. Also worth noting is that the entire contest was over in 20 minutes.
"The exact nature of these new bug types remains under wraps, although we hear that at least one involves exploitable vulnerabilities in data queues."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- New SMB bug: How to crash Windows system with a 'link of death' @ The Register
- Windows Cloud: Microsoft's Chrome OS rival revealed in leaked screenshots @ The Inquirer
- Olimex Announces Their Open Source Laptop @ Hack a Day
- Google will restrict Gmail in Windows XP and Vista this year @ The Inquirer
- Denuvo: Our cracked RE7 protection is still better than nothing @ Ars Technica
- FYI: Ticking time-bomb fault will brick Cisco gear after 18 months @ The Register
Palit Introduces Fanless GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX GPU
Subject: Graphics Cards | February 6, 2017 - 04:43 PM | Sebastian Peak
Tagged: video card, silent, Passive, palit, nvidia, KalmX, GTX 1050 Ti, graphics card, gpu, geforce
Palit is offering a passively-cooled GTX 1050 Ti option with their new KalmX card, which features a large heatsink and (of course) zero fan noise.
"With passive cooler and the advanced powerful Pascal architecture, Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX - pursue the silent 0dB gaming environment. Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti gives you the gaming horsepower to take on today's most demanding titles in full 1080p HD @ 60 FPS."
The specs are identical to a reference GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5 @ 7 Gb/s, Base 1290/Boost 1392 MHz, etc.), so expect the full performance of this GPU - with some moderate case airflow, no doubt.
We don't have specifics on pricing or availablity just yet.
Mini-STX is the newest, smallest PC form-factor that accepts a socketed CPU, and in this review we'll be taking a look at a complete mini-STX build that will occupy just 1.53 liters of space. With a total size of just 6.1 x 5.98 x 2.56 inches, the SilverStone VT01 case offers a very small footprint, and the ECS H110S-2P motherboard accepts Intel desktop CPUs up to 65W (though I may have ignored this specification).
PS3 controller for scale. (And becuase it's the best controller ever.)
The Smallest Form-Factor
The world of small form-factor PC hardware is divided between tiny kit solutions such as the Intel NUC (and the host of mini-PCs from various manufacturers), and the mini-ITX form-factor for system builders. The advantage of mini-ITX is its ability to host standard components, such as desktop-class processors and full-length graphics cards. However, mini-ITX requires a significantly larger enclosure than a mini-PC, and the "thin mini-ITX" standard has been something of a bridge between the two, essentially halving the height requirement of mini-ITX. Now, an even smaller standard has emerged, and it almost makes mini-ITX look big in comparison.
Left: ECS H110S-2P (mini-STX) / Right: EVGA Z170 Stinger (mini-ITX)
Mini-STX had been teased for a couple of years (I wrote my first news post about it in January of 2015), and was originally an Intel concept called "5x5"; though the motherboard is actually about 5.8 x 5.5 inches (147 x 140 mm). At CES 2016 I was able to preview a SilverStone enclosure design for these systems, and ECS is one of the manufacturers producing mini-STX motherboards with an Intel H110-based board introduced this past summer. We saw some shipping products for the newest form-factor in 2016, and both companies were kind enough to send along a sample of these micro-sized components for a build. With the parts on hand it is now time to assemble my first mini-STX system, and of course I'll cover the process - and results - right here!
Continue reading our review of a mini-STX computer build featuring ECS and SilverStone!
Windows 10 Game Mode Gets Benchmarked, Still Needs Work
Subject: General Tech | February 5, 2017 - 04:54 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: windows insider, Windows Game Mode, windows 10, pc gaming, creators update, beta
Last month Microsoft confirmed that a new "Game Mode" would be part of the upcoming Windows 10 Creator's Update planned for a spring release ("early 2017"). Microsoft has recently started rolling out the Game Mode to its beta testers in the latest Windows Insider preview build (for those on the fast track anyway, I am currently on the slow ring and do not have Game Mode yet). Now that it is rolled out in preview form, gamers have naturally started benchmarking it, and PC Games News has posted an article on their testing of the new feature and their findings on two Win32 and one UWP game. Not to spoil the results, but at this point Game Mode does not appear to offer anything and can even result in less frames per second with it turned on with its only saving grace being that in some situations it does offer increased performance when the Game DVR feature is also being used to record gameplay. They tested both a NVIDIA GTX 1060 and an AMD RX 480, and Game Mode in it's current preview software on a preview OS appears to have more benefits for NVIDIA while the AMD card PC Games News tested mostly just did it's thing regardless of whether Game Mode was turned on or off (heh, not necessarily a bad thing).
With Game Mode now rolling out to Windows Insiders, there is more information on how Microsoft plans to implement it. Rather than hiding it in the Xbox app, Microsoft has thankfully put it in the main settings app under the Gaming category and users access it by bringing up a Game Bar menu in-game for those games that support it (PC Games News noted Doom and GTA V did not work). Game Mode is an OS-level feature that will dedicate a certain amount of CPU threads to the game when it is turned on and leaves the remaining threads to be used by background processes (which themselves are reportedly minimized). Currently, this seems to work better with multi-threaded games and older games that were coded to only use one or two threads may not see any benefit in turning Game Mode on (and it may actually result in lower FPS). To Microsoft's credit, they are not over promising with Game Mode and note that it should be good for around 2% better performance when enabled with Game Mode having a bigger impact on UWP titles.
I encourage you to check out the PC Games News article where they have their benchmark results presented in a number of bar graphs. Most of the tests saw little to no benefit from using Game Mode, but not a negative effect. Some games like Hitman saw a 6% increase in average frames per second on the GTX 1060. On the other side of things, Forza Horizon 3 (ironically, a UWP game) performance actually drops when Game Mode is turned on to the tune of 13% to 23% less FPS with the RX 480 and 9% to 15% less with the GTX 1060. As far as Tomb Raider, things are more in the middle and things stay the same or get slightly better minimum frames per second when Game Mode and Game DVR are both turned on (though oddly there is a result in there that shows a performance drop with Game Mode on and Game DVR off).
It ia also worth noting that overall, the trend seems to be that Game Mode is going to be most beneficial at increasing the minimum frame rates on games with the Game DVR feature is being used moreso than getting overall maximum or average FPS out of a game. The biggest hurdle is going to be game compatiblity, especially for older games, and Microsoft tweaking things so that at worst Game Mode won't tank performance (like it currently does with Hitman minimum frame rates when Game Mode is on but DVR is off) and things will stay the same as if Game Mode was not on at all and at best gamers will get slightly smoother gameplay.
Source: PCGamesN.com
Right now Game Mode is not compelling, but it is still a work in progress and if Microsoft can get Game Mode right it could be a useful addition (and incentive to upgrade to Windows 10 is probably why they are interested in pursuing this feature) and could come in handy especially on gaming laptops! I am not writing off the feature yet, and neither should you, but I do hope that compatibility is improved and the performance hits are reduced or eliminated when it is enabled. My guess is that the games that will work well with Game Mode are going to be almost all newer games and especially games that are developed post Creator's Update final release with Game Mode in mind.
Hopefully we can use our frame rating on the final product to see how well it truly works as far as user experience and smooth gameplay. What are your thoughts on Windows 10's Game Mode?
Micron Planning To Launch GDDR6 Graphics Memory In 2017
Subject: Graphics Cards | February 4, 2017 - 08:29 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: micron, graphics memory, gddr6
This year is shaping up to be a good year for memory with the promise of 3D XPoint (Intel/Micron), HBM2 (SK Hynix and Samsung), and now GDDR6 graphics memory from Micron launching this year. While GDDR6 was originally planned to be launched next year, Micron recently announced its intentions to start producing the memory chips by the later half of 2017 which would put it much earlier than previously expected.
Computer World reports that Micron is citing the rise of e-sports and gaming driving the computer market that now sees three year upgrade cycles rather than five year cycles (I am not sure how accurate that is, however as it seems like PCs are actually lasting longer between upgrade as far as relevance but i digress) as the primary reason for shifting GDDR6 production into high gear and moving up the launch window. The company expects the e-sports market to grow to 500 million fans by 2020, and it is a growing market that Micron wants to stay relevant in.
If you missed our previous coverage, GDDR6 is the successor to GDDR5 and offers twice the bandwidth at 16 Gb/s (gigabits per second) per die. It is also faster than GDDR5X (12 Gb/s) and uses 20% less power which the gaming laptop market will appreciate. HBM2 still holds the bandwidth crown though as it offers 256 GB/s per stack and up to 1TB/s with four stacks connected to a GPU on package.
As such, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2 and then HBM3) will power the high end gaming and professional graphics cards while GDDR6 will become the memory used for mid range cards and GDDR5X (which is actually capable of going faster but will likely not be pushed much past 12 Gbps after all if GDDR6 does come out this soon) will replace GDDR5 on most if not all of the lower end products.
I am not sure if Micron's reasoning of e-sports, faster upgrade cycles, and VR being the motivating factor(s) to ramping up production early is sound or not, but I will certainly take the faster memory coming out sooner rather than later! Depending on exactly when in 2017 the chips start rolling off the fabs, we could see graphics cards using the new memory technology as soon as early 2018 (just in time for CES announcements? oh boy I can see the PR flooding in already! hehe).
Will Samsung change course as well and try for a 2017 release for its GDDR6 memory as well?
Are you ready for GDDR6?
Sony Will Add USB Hard Drive Support To PS4 and Boost Mode to PS4 Pro
Subject: General Tech | February 4, 2017 - 07:25 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: usb 3.0, sony, ps4 pro, ps4, gaming, console
Sony is taking the wraps off of its latest firmware with the release of version 4.50 "Sasuke" beta firmware for the PS4. With the new firmware, Sony is rolling out a number of UI/UX improvement and users will finally be able to use external storage with the game console. On the PS4 Pro front, Sony will be adding a "boost mode" in a future update (it may not be ready in time for a production 4.50 release) that lets legacy games access the additional GPU horsepower of the Pro version of the console to smooth out frame rates without needing any special patches from the game developers.
The new firmware adds support for USB 3.0 hard drives (or SSDs) up to 8TB. Users will be able to use the external storage to store games, downloaded applications, screenshots, and videos and have it all show up on the main system menu along with the local storage. Users will not need to shuffle game data back and forth in order to play their games either. Note that currently, the actual save game data is still stored locally even if the game itself is stored on the external hard drive. Fans of the PlayStation VR (PS VR) also get an update with firmware 4.50 in the form of support for watching 3D Blu Rays. Beyond those big feature updates, Sony is also changing up the interface slightly. The Quick Menu now takes up less screen space and will allow gamers to create and join parties right from there rather than going to a separate app. In the notification area, Sony has condensed all the various notification types into a single unified list. Further, users will be able to set in game screenshots as the home screen wallpaper.
Perhaps most interesting is the planned "boost mode" for the PS4 Pro which is currently in beta. Gamers are reporting that titles such as The Evil Within and Just Cause 3 are significantly smoother frame rates with noticeably reduced stuttering. Reportedly, the boost mode will work with most PS4 games that were programmed with unlocked frame rates though the exact benefits will vary. Games that have a hard cap on the frame rate will still need specific patches from the game developers to get any improvements. Ars Technica speculates that the "boost mode" is simply Sony removing its own blocks it put in place to force compatibility with older games that were developed with the base PS4 in mind. When the boost mode is off, the PS4 Pro GPU has part of itself turned off such that it functions exactly as the PS4's GPU and activating boost mode takes away the blocks and allows the full GPU (with it's 36 CUs) to process the game data as best it can. Getting things like native higher resolutions or more detailed textures will still require patches, of course.
If you have a PS4 or PS4 Pro, keep an eye on the beta Sasuke 4.50 firmware.
Also read:
- Console Gaming on the PC: PS4 Remote Play vs. Xbox One Streaming
- PS4 Remote Play Now Available On PCs and Macs With 3.50 Firmware Update
Intel Has Started Shipping Optane Memory Modules
Subject: Memory | February 4, 2017 - 01:42 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: XPoint, server, Optane, Intel Optane, Intel, big data
Last week Hexus reported that Intel has begun shipping Optane memory modules to its partners for testing. This year should see the launch of both these enterprise products designed for servers as well as tiny application accelerator M.2 solid state drives based on the Intel and Micron joint 3D memory venture. The modules that Intel is shipping are the former type of Optane memory and will be able to replace DDR4 DIMMs (RAM) with a memory solution that is not as fast but is cheaper and has much larger storage capacities. The Optane modules are designed to slot into DDR4 type memory slots on server boards. The benefit for such a product lies in big data and scientific workloads where massive datasets will be able to be held in primary memory and the processor(s) will be able to access the data sets at much lower latencies than if it had to reach out to mass storage on spinning rust or even SAS or PCI-E solid state drives. Being able to hold all the data being worked on in one pool of memory will be cheaper with Optane as well as it is allegedly priced closer to NAND than RAM and the cost of RAM adds up extremely quickly when you need many terabytes of it (or more!). Various technologies attempting to bring higher capacity non volatile and/or flash-based storage in memory module form have been theorized or in the works in various forms for years now, but it appears that Intel will be the first ones to roll out actual products.
It will likely be years before the technology trickles down to consumer desktops and notebooks, so slapping what would effectively be a cheap RAM disk into your PC is still a ways out. Consumers will get a small taste of the Optane memory in the form of tiny storage drives that were rumored for a first quarter 2017 release following its Kaby Lake Z270 motherboards. Previous leaks suggest that the Intel Optane Memory 8000P would come in 16 GB and 32 GB capacities in a M.2 form factor. With a single 128-bit (16 GB) die Intel is able to hit speeds that current NAND flash based SSDs can only hit with multiple dies. Specifically the 16GB Optane application accelerator drive is allegedly capable of 285,000 random 4K IOPS, 70,000 random write 4K IOPS, Sequential 128K reads of 1400 MB/s, and sequential 128K writes of 300 MB/s. The 32GB Optane drive is a bit faster at 300,000 4K IOPS, 120,000 4K IOPS, 1600 MB/s, and 500 MB/s respectively.
Unfortunately, I do not have any numbers on how fast the Optane memory that will slot into the DDR4 slots will be, but seeing as two dies already max out the x2 PCI-E link they use in the M.2 Optane SSD, a dual sided memory module packed with rows of Optane dies on the significantly wider memory bus is very promising. It should lie somewhere closer to (but slower than) DDR4 but much faster than NAND flash while still being non volatile (it doesn't need constant power to retain the data).
I am interested to see what the final numbers are for Intel's Optane RAM and Optane storage drives. The company has certainly dialed down the hype for the technology as it approached fruition though that may be more to do with what they are able to do right now versus what the 3D XPoint memory technology itself is potentially capable of enabling. I look forward to what it will enable in the HPC market and eventually what will be possible for the desktop and gaming markets.
What are your thoughts on Intel and Micron's 3D XPoint memory and Intel's Optane implementation (Micron's implementation is QuantX)?
Also read:
- IDF 2016: Intel To Demo Optane XPoint, Announces Optane Testbed for Enterprise Customers
- Intel Optane (XPoint) First Gen Product Specifications Leaked
- Intel Z270 Express and H270 Express Chipsets Support Kaby Lake, More PCI-E 3.0 Lanes
Report: AMD Ryzen Performance in Ashes of the Singularity Benchmark
Subject: Processors | February 4, 2017 - 01:22 AM | Sebastian Peak
Tagged: titan x, ryzen, report, processor, nvidia, leak, cpu, benchmark, ashes of the singularity, amd
AMD's upcoming 8-core Ryzen CPU has appeared online in an apparent leak showing performance from an Ashes of the Singularity benchmark run. The benchmark results, available here on imgur and reported by TechPowerUp (among others today) shows the result of a run featuring the unreleased CPU paired with an NVIDIA Titan X graphics card.
It is interesting to consider that this rather unusual system configuration was also used by AMD during their New Horizon fan event in December, with an NVIDIA Titan X and Ryzen 8-core processor powering the 4K game demos of Battlefield 1 that were pitted against an Intel Core i7-6900K/Titan X combo.
It is also interesting to note that the processor listed in the screenshot above is (apparently) not an engineering sample, as TechPowerUp points out in their post:
"Unlike some previous benchmark leaks of Ryzen processors, which carried the prefix ES (Engineering Sample), this one carried the ZD Prefix, and the last characters on its string name are the most interesting to us: F4 stands for the silicon revision, while the 40_36 stands for the processor's Turbo and stock speeds respectively (4.0 GHz and 3.6 GHz)."
March is fast approaching, and we won't have to wait long to see just how powerful this new processor will be for 4K gaming (and other, less important stuff). For now, I want to find results from an AotS benchmark with a Titan X and i7-6900K to see how these numbers compare!
NVIDIA Releases Vulkan Developer 376.80 Beta Drivers
Subject: Graphics Cards | February 3, 2017 - 10:58 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: nvidia, graphics drivers, vulkan
On February 1st, NVIDIA released a new developer beta driver, which fixes a couple of issues with their Vulkan API implementation. Unlike what some sites have been reporting, you should not download it to play games that use the Vulkan API, like DOOM. In short, it is designed for developers, not end-users. The goal is to provide correct results when software interacts with the driver, not the best gaming performance or anything like that.
In a little more detail, it looks like 376.80 implements the Vulkan 220.127.116.11 SDK. This update addresses two issues with accessing devices and extensions, under certain conditions, when using the 188.8.131.52 SDK. 126.96.36.199 was released on January 23rd, and thus it will not even be a part of current video games. Even worse, it, like most graphics drivers for software developers, is based on the old, GeForce 376 branch, so it won't even have NVIDIA's most recent fixes and optimizations. NVIDIA does this so they can add or change the features that Vulkan developers require without needing to roll-in patches every time they make a "Game Ready" optimization or something. There is no reason to use this driver unless you are developing Vulkan applications, and you want to try out the new extensions. It will eventually make it to end users... when it's time.
If you are wishing to develop software using Vulkan's bleeding-edge features, then check out NVIDIA's developer portal to pick up the latest drivers. Basically everyone else should use 378.49 or its 378.57 hotfix.
Learn about AMD's Vega Memory Architecture
Subject: General Tech | February 3, 2017 - 06:40 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: amd, Vega, Jeffrey Cheng
Tech ARP had a chance talk with AMD's Jeffrey Cheng about the new Vega GPU memory architecture. He provided some interesting details such as the fact that the new architecture can handle up to 512 TB of addressable memory. With such a large pool it would be possible to store data sets in HBM2 memory to be passed to the GPU as opposed to sitting in general system memory. Utilizing the memory present on the GPU could also reduce costs and energy consumption, not to mention the fact it will perform far more quickly. Pop by to watch the video to see how he feels this could change the way games and software could be programmed.
"Want to learn more about the AMD Vega memory architecture? Join our Q&A session with AMD Senior Fellow Jeffrey Cheng at the AMD Tech Summit!"
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Mozilla kills Firefox OS as it backs away from IoT ambition @ The Inquirer
- Microsoft tells OEMs that the secret to Windows 10 success is to be more 'cool' @ The Register
- Microsoft Introduces GVFS (Git Virtual File System) @ Slashdot
- 'Webroot made my PCs s*** the bed' – AV update borks biz machines hard @ The Register
- Ubiquiti Amplifi HD Mesh Wi-Fi Router System @ Custom PC Review
Yes Acer was the company that released the XR382CQK bmijqphuzx Display
Subject: Displays | February 2, 2017 - 08:16 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ultra-widescreen, freesync, adaptive sync
Yes, this is the product Ryan mentioned, a curved 37.5" IPS adaptive sync display from Acer. As opposed to yesterday, today Quad HD refers to a 3840x1600 2300R curve ultra wide screen resolution, making shopping for a monitor even easier, before you even try to type in the model number. It supports Adaptive Sync, with a refresh rate that tops out at 75Hz; sorry G-SYNC fans.
As with yesterdays model it has as slimmed down bezel, called ZeroFrame in this case. It supports HDMI 1.3 10-bit colour, or at least states it offers 1.07 billion colours as well as a 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 300 nit brightness. The monitor also includes DTS Sound speakers and has a USB 3.0 Type-C port. You can read a bit more about it here.
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To eruption of Mt. Fuji!
■ safety glasses goggles type the frame and lens with transparent] ■
Soft plastic side frames are easy to fit on the face are available fitted with (with ventilator, air resistance) projectile from the next guard lenses made of impact-resistant polycarbonate, and anti-fog process glasses on in.
(Note: swimming is not)
■ solid forming simple mask (10 piece set) ■
Non-woven shape memory in three-dimensional molding of cloth between the mouth and nose and mask clearance can breath and lipstick but we can in the face without any gap fit.
( Note: simple face masks. Gas masks and bacterial response mask, no. )
This product cannot be shipped to United States from the store.
Please contact the store for further information.


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News By Tag
Industry News
News By Place
Industry News
Tickets selling fast for Brangwyn Hall Christmas concerts
CLASSICAL music fans need to get in quick if they don't want to miss out on either of the annual Christmas concerts taking place at the Brangwyn Hall this month.
Soloists Gary Griffiths (Baritone), Robyn Lyn (Tenor), Ros Evans (Soprano) and Kate Woolveridge (Mezzo-Soprano)
Christmas by Candlelight will feature a selection of Christmas classics in an atmospheric candlelit setting. It will again be conducted by Alwyn Humphreys, featuring the Chamber Orchestra of Wales and Chorale along with soloist Ros Evans.
Tracy Ellicott, Manager of the Brangwyn Hall, said: "Tickets are selling fast for both concerts and I'd encourage people to book now to avoid disappointment."
Cllr Nick Bradley, Swansea Council's Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: "The Brangwyn Hall is a fantastic classical music venue. Both these concerts are popular inclusions in the Brangwyn's December programme as they generate a great festive atmosphere. They are now part and parcel of the Christmas tradition in Swansea."
Both concerts begin at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from online or by calling the Swansea Bay Ticketline on 01792 637300.
The two concerts build up to many events taking place at the Brangwyn Hall from January to June. Find out more at www.brangwynhall.co.uk or pick up the new 2013 brochure from any Swansea Council venue.
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Current time:0:00Total duration:4:52
0 energy points
Multiplying rational expressions
Sal multiplies and simplifies (a²-4)/(a²-1) X (a+1)/(a+2). Created by Sal Khan and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education.
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Magic Mouse Stories February 23
Magic Mouse Stories October 21, 2015
Apple's recent release of the new Magic accessories … left us all a bit disappointed. Is the new Magic Keyboard, Trackpad 2, or Mouse 2 worth buying? Let's find out. Along with that, we get into some new information regarding an official Apple TV release date and Apple Music by the numbers. Big thanks to Bushel for sponsoring this week's episode. To find out what awesome cloud-based mobile device management can do for you, check out http://www.bushel.com/happyhour.
Magic Mouse Stories October 14, 2015
Update: YouTuber DetroitBORG has now shared a video of Apple's new Magic Keyboard, as well. You can view his review, hands-on, and unboxing below.
Update 2: Grand finale — Magic Trackpad 2 gets the same DetroitBORG treatment below.
Just as we expected, Apple unveiled a new family of Mac accessories yesterday including the new Magic Mouse 2 alongside updated 5K 27″ iMacs and the first 4K 21.5″ iMacs. YouTuber DetroitBORG managed to pick up Apple's latest Bluetooth mouse on day one, giving it the full unboxing and review treatment. expand full story
Magic Mouse Stories October 8, 2015
Apple looks to be preparing updated versions of its keyboard, trackpad, and mouse accessories for near-term release. Code freshly discovered in the latest OS X 10.11.1 beta references next-generation versions of the products, as first spotted by Consomac. We've confirmed the references to new Apple peripherals are not present on the current OS X release, version 10.11.0, and first appear in OS X 10.11.1, currently in beta. expand full story
Magic Mouse Stories August 15, 2015
It appears plans for future Apple wireless accessories have (again) been spoiled by the FCC. According to a pair of filings that hit the organization's website yesterday, Apple is preparing to soon debut new versions of its Bluetooth Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. According to images indicating the FCC label location on the accessories, the new mouse will be called the "Magic Mouse 2." As for the new wireless keyboard, there are no indications of a name change as of yet.
Magic Mouse Stories February 17, 2015
Rumor says Touch ID coming to MacBooks and Magic Mouse/Trackpad for Apple Pay, but there are roadblocks
When Apple develops a new technology or feature for its hardware, it typically rolls it out on one product then expands it to the rest of the line. For example, Touch ID launched for the iPhone in 2013 and made its way to the iPad with the iPad Air 2 in 2014. For 2015, Touch ID may make its debut on the Mac, according to a rumor from website apple.club.tw. According to the blog, which published legitimate photos of iPad Air 2 Touch ID and A8X chip components last fall, Touch ID will come to Macs this year to enable Apple Pay functionality…


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Stab me with your sharpest knife
Take away my very life
Choke me with your strongest hands
Bring me away from where I stand
Shoot me with your best bullet
Make me bleed to the fullest
See me lying on the ground
Glad there is no one around
Drag me to an empty grave
Now we will see who is really brave
You put me in the underworld
Gave me the chance to come out pearled
Shining bright everywhere I go
Here is something you do not know
In your eyes, you have killed me
I will give you something else to see
I will take your path and lead you wrong
Keeping it where it should not belong
Instantly I have become in control
I am unstoppable and invincible
© Copyright 2017 babyblue424. All rights reserved.
Status: Finished
Genre: Poetry
Poem / Poetry
Poem / Poetry
Poem / Poetry
Paste the link to picture in the entry below:
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text:
Troubling Minds
The Cultural Politics of Genius in the United States, 1840 - 1890 annotated edition
By (author) Gustavus Stadler
Format: Hardback
Normal Price: $134.00
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Availability: Available to Backorder, No Due Date for Supply
Troubling Minds by Gustavus Stadler
Book DescriptionThis work revitalizes the concept of genius through an examination of its nineteenth-century origins. The nature of genius has long been a subject of fascination and critique. Over the course of the mid- to late-nineteenth century, the representative capacities of the idea of genius in the United States shifted toward an increasingly detailed, psychologized, and sexualized notion of the individual - the genius as pathological subject. In "Troubling Minds", Gustavus Stadler takes a broader view, locating in the concept of genius the predecessor to the modern idea of culture. In this book, Stadler illuminates genius by examining its changing meanings in American discourses. For example, he unpacks the label of genius by viewing its volatility in relation to the political contingencies of the era, as U.S. society struggled with slavery, civil war, postwar reconciliation, and expansion. Stadler also reveals instances during this period of American history in which writers' uses of the word reflected changes in, as well as resistances to, the dominant understanding of the relationship between culture and politics. Engaging with writers and public figures including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Frederick Douglass, Jenny Lind, William Wells Brown, Louisa May Alcott, and Henry James, "Troubling Minds" demonstrates how racial, sexual, and class politics of the day influenced the perception of genius. Many critics today treat genius skeptically (if not with outright hostility) because they believe that it operates outside of history. "Troubling Minds" situates genius into a historical context, placing it firmly in a national intellectual discourse that was grappling not only with grave political crises but also with vast transformations in the ways in which literature was produced, distributed, and consumed. Stadler revitalizes the idea of genius and reintroduces it to our lingua franca.
Buy Troubling Minds book by Gustavus Stadler from Australia's Online Bookstore, Boomerang Books.
Book DetailsISBN: 9780816642250
(229mm x 150mm x 19mm)
Pages: 296
Imprint: University of Minnesota Press
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publish Date: 24-May-2006
Country of Publication: United States
Other Editions...
Books By Author Gustavus Stadler
Troubling Minds, Paperback (May 2006)» View all books by Gustavus Stadler
Illuminates genius by examining its changing meanings in American discourses. This work situates genius into a historical context, placing it in a national intellectual discourse that was grappling not only with grave political crises but also with vast transformations in the ways in which literature was produced, distributed, and consumed.
» Have you read this book? We'd like to know what you think about it - write a review about Troubling Minds book by Gustavus Stadler and you'll earn 50c in Boomerang Bucks loyalty dollars (you must be a member - it's free to sign up!)
Author Biography - Gustavus Stadler
Gustavus Stadler is associate professor of English at Haverford College.
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text:
Catalyst 6500 Speaks: Happy Birthday Sup720, Here's To The Big 10Enterprise Networks
Or in IPv6 speak, you're an "A", for Awesome Today Supervisor 720, the most widely deployed Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine, turns 10-years old. Supervisor 720 was launched on March 31,Read More
Work Your Way is Not Just an IT Challenge [Infographic]Enterprise Networks
Often we focus on the challenges associated with IT with little consideration of the end user viewpoint. In Cisco's Work Your Way Global Study, completed in January of 2013, weRead More
Enroll Now in VIP 21 to Claim Your Share of Cisco's Multi-Billion Dollar VIP Partner InvestmentPartner
VIP 21 launched on January 27, 2013. Get a snapshot of the program, key updates, and enrollment information.Read More
Challenges of the Evolving Home Network [INFOGRAPHIC]SP360: Service Provider
By Steve Gorretta, Product Manager, NMTG Do you know how fast the Internet connection is coming in and out of your house? If you are like most broadband subscribers inRead More
Video Calling: The Case for Interoperability – Part 2Video
Video in the workplace has never been more important. As we continue to use new communication technologies in the office to interact on the job and at home to achieveRead More
The Smartphone Gets Which Side of the Bed?The Platform
A whopping 90% of young people use their smartphones to help them face the day …often BEFORE they get out of bed. Even before a cup of coffee, young peopleRead More


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Synergy Construction is pursuing sustainability by the "Code of Values" which are caring social responsibility, continuously increasing…
NewsSynergy Construct is in the challenging Polish market with the debut project of Kellogg's Pringles factory in Kutno, Poland.Synergy Construct has been selected as the general contractor by the American International School to build the new early childhood extension facility.Synergy Construct has been fulfilling the civil works package for the CTP in their Faurecia automotive spare parts factory in Cateasca, Pitesti.Synergy Construct commences the ETI EUROPEAN FOOD INDUSTRIES S.A. confectionery factory in Craiova.Synergy Construct Georgia has successfully topped-out and completed the structural works for the 150m high Tbilisi Tower hotel.
SYNERGY keeps its activity in different countries with various projects
Mission and Vision
Our mission is to provide benefits to our employees and society even at the hardest environmental conditions, in high competitor markets and challenging projects.
Our vision is to improve our leading position in Romania and other targeted areas. We aim to produce solutions for more challenging projects in future and became one of the leading general contractors in Romania, Turkey, Georgia, North Iraq and also willing to enter new areas.


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Quick Refunds Inc, tax preparation service, listed under "Tax Preparation Services" category, is located at 7848 S Ashland Ave Chicago IL, 60620 and can be reached by 7737838958 phone number. Quick Refunds Inc has currently 0 reviews.This business profile is not yet claimed, and if you are the owner, claim your business profile for free. If you are not the owner you can invite this business to join by email or by phone.Browse all Tax Preparation Services in Chicago IL. Discover census data for Chicago, IL.
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text:
swimsuit si
Sign In to Fanpop
Bar Refaeli. here are some pics of the gorgeous israeli model Bar Refaeli. Wallpaper and background images in the swimsuit si club tagged: bar refaeli fashion bikini sports illustrated model magazine.
Submitted by whitelion over a year ago
Keyword: bar refaeli, fashion, bikini, sports illustrated, model, magazine


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Build a Website
- Status Closed
- Budget $250 - $750 USD
- Total Bids 18
Project Description
We need to add a team member to help us keep up with our todo list. We build fully custom web sites and web apps in [url removed, login to view] and MongoDB. We use Git for source code management, lots of jQuery and Twitter Bootstrap. We're hoping to find someone who is available at least 30 hours per week and has a passion for *beautiful* code.
We'll provide wireframes and artwork assets. You bring it to life :-)Get free quotes for a project like this
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text:
Questionable physics hold back this loving tribute to pinball
I'm a pinhead, an absolute fanatic for all things pinball. I have the good fortune to not only live in a city where pinball is still alive and well, but also to have the privilege of owning and maintaining my own personal collection of pinball machines from pinball's illustrious decade of the 1990's.
The folks at Farsight are in large part responsible for getting me into the hobby. Sure, I had a chance to play the silver ball with some frequency growing up, but after the industry declined in the late 1990's, pinball became pretty hard to come by in the wild. Enter Farsight's Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. Crammed onto one disc were fantastic recreations of classic pins that ran the gamut of Williams' storied pinball history. My friends and I were hooked, and played the ever-loving crap out of that game.
It is with those fond memories that I approached Pinball Arcade with high hopes. After all, with an exclusive deal to reproduce classic pins from all of the major manufacturers, Pinball Arcade held the possibility of being the definitive pinball title on XBLA. And, while the four pins offered in this modestly-priced package are indeed a feast for the eyes and ears, I can't help but feeling that Farsight has fallen short in their goal of bringing an authentic pinball experience to the masses.
Don't get me wrong: the playfields are lovingly crafted down to the last machine screw, and the ROM emulation for the dot-matrix display and the sounds is absolutely spot-on, so much so that TOTAN manages to generate a credit dot (indicating a mechanical error)! However, when it comes to actual gameplay, Pinball Arcade doesn't quite get it right.
The main problem with Pinball Arcade is the physics. Quite simply, the ball does not interact realistically with the objects on the playfield, most notably with the flippers, without question THE most critical aspect of pinball.
To be more specific, the ball itself does not seem to be modeled as an actual sphere, as it is in the Pinball FX series (also known as Zen Pinball on non-console platforms). Rather, the ball handles more like a bitmapped puck that has no spin, and no sense of weight. To make matters worse, the flippers behave as rigid bats, with no apparent provision made for the fact that real flippers are covered with a band of rubber, which, depending upon a number of factors like flipper position and motion, as well as the speed and spin of the ball, can either enhance OR deaden the momentum of the ball.
As a result of this oversight, Pinball Arcade is stripped of pretty much any semblance of control. Drop catches, live catches, cradle separations, hold passes, and post transfers are nigh impossible in this game. Even bounce passes don't quite work the way they should. What more, every shot rockets off the flipper as if it were hit to repeat the angle (translation: hitting it back at the same angle as the return, which in real pinball adds velocity to the ball), even if the ball is just rolling down the inlane.
The net effect of the poor physics is a pure run-and-gun game, which would work well for games designed with flow in mind. This is probably why Medieval Madness was such a standout in the Williams Collection, and why Black Hole is probably the best of the bunch in this initial offering. However, for pins that emphasize precision and control, like Tales of the Arabian Nights and Ripley's Believe it or Not, the gameplay devolves into a mess that is nowhere near authentic.
The implications of this do not bode well for future releases for the platform, especially when it comes to many of the pins considered absolute masterpieces of the art form, particularly those by legendary designer Pat Lawlor, who created many of the top-rated pins of all time. His stop-and-go designs, which favor offloading the ball to the left flipper, and making incredibly precise shots through bumpers and cross-table jackpots from an upper flipper, will simply not perform well on this platform. Those who doubt me need only try Whirlwind on the Williams Collection.
This physics misstep is such a shame, as Pinball Arcade's main competitor, Pinball FX/Zen Pinball has had extremely realistic physics for several years now. The balls in those games are modeled as spheres, and roll with weight and heft, playing off of flippers which have very accurate elasticity modeling. All of the moves I lament being unable to perform in Pinball Arcade are a snap to pull off in Pinball FX.
There are a few other minor issues that keep Pinball Arcade from being as enjoyable as it should. The camera is a real problem. Gone are the 5-7 camera options from prior Farsight releases. Instead, you are limited to three, which can either be locked or allowed to zoom and scroll when the ball is in the upper playfield. The zoom would work well, were it not for the fact that the ball is always moving at absolute top speed, and none of the fixed angles give you quite the right perspective. The result is an inability to find a playing angle that feels comfortable. Also curiously missing is the ability to change the camera angle for the plunge. Whereas in earlier releases, there were three or so different angles, Pinball Arcade features just one, situated at almost eye level with the playfield. This makes pulling off skill shots with precision very difficult to do.
I really wanted to love Pinball Arcade more than I do. To have the potential for scores of classic pins at your fingertips is a proposition that is almost too good to be true, and Farsight has done an absolutely phenomenal job on the audio/visual front. It's clear that a lot of time and effort went into securing the rights to reproduce these pins, and it really is amazing to see how right they got the dimensions and the artwork. It's such a shame, then, that the physics absolutely ruin the gameplay.
Maybe my impression is soured by my access to the real thing, and maybe more casual fans--or those who are too young to have ever even seen a real pinball machine in the wild--won't be so put off by the way the game handles. But, the absolute lack of control really kills it for me.
Casual pinball players are likely to get a big kick out of Pinball Arcade, and at $10 for 4 individual pins, this is still a very good value. However, seasoned Pinheads who are looking for a game that feels like the real thing would do better to check out Pinball FX/Zen Pinball, which--despite not having any actual machines in its lineup--is far superior from a gameplay perspective. Here's hoping Farsight can finally fix their physics issues with a patch in the very near future.


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ADA Info
Flckr CC: (counterclockwise from bottom left) wheelzwheeler, Henrick Strom, moontan, Menelaos Prokos Photography
There's a new book club for seniors at the San Jacinto Community Center in Highlands, TX. This month they are reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The story is about Clare and Henry. Passionately in love, they vow to hold onto each other and their marriage as they struggle with the effects of Chrono-Displacement Disorder, a condition that casts Henry involuntarily into the world of time travel. Following the discussion, we will screen the movie adaptation starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana.
The AARP will be offering free tax assistance every Tuesday at Stratford Library beginning Feb 5, 2013 until Apr 9, 2013. Assistance hours are from 11 am - 3 pm on a first come, first served basis. A sign up sheet will begin when the library opens at 10 am. Please bring the following items with you:
We had our first Bluebonnet Book Award Voting party at Stratford this past Wednesday, and it was a great success!
There's a new book club at Stratford for people who love to talk about their favorite books and discover new works but can't make it to the club sessions on Wednesday mornings. Book Club: Evening Edition meets the second Monday of every month at 6 pm. February's book is Adriana Trigiani's The Shoemaker's Wife. Set in the years preceding and during World War 1, two star-crossed lovers--Enzo and Ciro--meet and separate until finally, the power of thei
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text:
Gift Premium Subscription To firepie
Join Date:02-09-2011
Last Activity:01-05-2013 4:55 AM
3 Likes on 1 Posts
- Single
- Cottam
Posted in thread: Skeeter Pee on 11-19-2012 at 12:57 PM
Thats what im using.. The app..
Posted in thread: Skeeter Pee on 11-16-2012 at 07:11 PM
This forum needs "Like" buttons ;)
Posted in thread: Mango Pulp Wine on 11-16-2012 at 07:10 PM
10 mins after i stir it, it comes back up. Would doing this 2 times a day be enough?
Posted in thread: Mango Pulp Wine on 11-16-2012 at 01:09 PM
Should I be stirring the pulp down??
Posted in thread: Limeade (margarita wine) on 11-15-2012 at 02:23 AM
So you gotta love Canada... Not a single bottle of Key Lime Juice to be found :"(Would it make
a difference if I used regular old lime juice for this recipe??? Any suggestions?I'd rather not
wait unti...
Posted in thread: Mango Pulp Wine on 11-15-2012 at 02:10 AM
84025Mango pulp wine batch after 24 hours :) its bloop bloopping away!!!!
Posted in thread: Skeeter Pee on 05-19-2011 at 10:58 AM
I started my Skeeter pee on 5/3/11. I just checked it and its clear. Is it too early to rack it
and backsweeten it?Ive fermented, cleared, sweetened and drank all within 2 weeks before. Just
dont seal...
Posted in thread: Skeeter Pee on 04-28-2011 at 11:38 AM
I just found 6 glass carboys on kijiji for $12 a peice... If you keep your eyes peeled, theres
always deals floating around!I have 3 pails of pee going at the moment and am gonna start
another 3 as so...
Posted in thread: Skeeter Pee on 02-16-2011 at 03:44 AM
Ok, i have a batch going now.... So excited to try it!My question is if it can be made the same
way using key lime juice??? Or even regular lime juice???
Posted in thread: Blue water bottles as carboys?? on 02-10-2011 at 04:54 AM
Thanks for a quick reply... Been reading about the skeeter pee now i HAVE to try it but im out
of carboys!!!