Aunt Suzy loves Wii Bowling and Uncle Karl loves Wii Boxing, but where are the games for you, a person that enjoys more than causal fare? Nintendo definitely overlooked your existence with the Wii, but the rumor mill is churning out reports that the Big N is courting companies to develop more mature content on the system. The prospect of seeing Grand Theft Auto V in the same section as a Wii 2 Super Mario Bros. game would be the best of both worlds. And to further cater to us, the Wii 2/Project Cafe needs…
A Robust Online Component
The two best things that can be said about the Wii was that 1) Virtual Console proved unparalleled access to retro games and 2) it never took a hard hit, unlike PSN. Other than that, Nintendo’s online presence is a joke, Friend Codes and all. Nintendo needs to look at Xbox Live, which is the current gold standard, and try to emulate its success. There’s no shame in imitating, here.
This E3, Nintendo has an opportunity to win me (and millions of gamers) over. I hope that the House That Mario Built succeeds as I hate to think that a company that helped transformed me into a gamer in the mid-’80s is nothing more than a video game relic.
2011年5月29日星期日
E3 2011: How Project Cafe/Wii 2 can win me over
Nintendo has lost me. In recent years, I’ve had zero interest in purchasing one of the Japanese gaming giant’s home video game consoles. In fact, if it weren’t for the N64′s magnificent Virtual Pro Wrestling 2, the SNES would’ve been the last Nintendo console that I’ve owned. That’s not to say I’m anti-Nintendo; I dearly love the Nintendo DS, and I’m more than a bit impressed with certain 3DS elements.
The NES may have committed severe acts of video game genocide against its competitors, but I found that SEGA, Sony, and Microsoft bested the Big N since that original breakthrough home console. The SNES may have had the gimmicky Mode 7, Mario, and a slew of top-notch RPGs (a genre that tickles not my fancies), but the Genesis had a bloody Mortal Kombat, Streets of Rage 2, Comix Zone, and a slew of insanely good EA-developed sports titles. Oh, and a ‘tude-filled guy named Sonic the Hedgehog. By the time the N64 materialized, it’s cart-based medium took a backseat to optical drive-based systems like the PlayStation. The GameCube had to contend with the likes of the monster known as PlayStation 2 (which delivered gems such as God Hand, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) and Microsoft bringing the Xbox, Xbox Live, and Halo to the masses. In other words, Nintendo lacked hardcore relevancy since the mid-’90s. At least to me, and several of my Gen X cohorts.
The Wii, admittedly, changed the industry. It’s motion-control magic pushed Sony to create the Move and Microsoft to break even bigger ground with Kinect, the fastest selling consumer electronic according to Guinness World Records. It made grandma game, but Nintendo needs to do more despite nearly 90 million Wii units sold. Much more. Let’s take a look at what Nintendo needs to do to win the hearts of the hardcore.
Nintendo Wii 2/Project Cafe Needs to Be A True Next Gen System
Nintendo can no longer skimp on specs. If the company wants to woo big name developers, it desperately needs to unveil a true HD system that has the audio-visual might to compete with the likes of Microsoft and Sony. There is no excuse for developers to create titles that resemble PlayStation One-era titles. For example, SEGA’s recently released Thor title, a functionally playable and somewhat enjoyable title, looked like it was yanked to the present from two game generations prior. Freed from the constraints of subpar hardware, developers would then be free to…
The NES may have committed severe acts of video game genocide against its competitors, but I found that SEGA, Sony, and Microsoft bested the Big N since that original breakthrough home console. The SNES may have had the gimmicky Mode 7, Mario, and a slew of top-notch RPGs (a genre that tickles not my fancies), but the Genesis had a bloody Mortal Kombat, Streets of Rage 2, Comix Zone, and a slew of insanely good EA-developed sports titles. Oh, and a ‘tude-filled guy named Sonic the Hedgehog. By the time the N64 materialized, it’s cart-based medium took a backseat to optical drive-based systems like the PlayStation. The GameCube had to contend with the likes of the monster known as PlayStation 2 (which delivered gems such as God Hand, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) and Microsoft bringing the Xbox, Xbox Live, and Halo to the masses. In other words, Nintendo lacked hardcore relevancy since the mid-’90s. At least to me, and several of my Gen X cohorts.
The Wii, admittedly, changed the industry. It’s motion-control magic pushed Sony to create the Move and Microsoft to break even bigger ground with Kinect, the fastest selling consumer electronic according to Guinness World Records. It made grandma game, but Nintendo needs to do more despite nearly 90 million Wii units sold. Much more. Let’s take a look at what Nintendo needs to do to win the hearts of the hardcore.
Nintendo Wii 2/Project Cafe Needs to Be A True Next Gen System
Nintendo can no longer skimp on specs. If the company wants to woo big name developers, it desperately needs to unveil a true HD system that has the audio-visual might to compete with the likes of Microsoft and Sony. There is no excuse for developers to create titles that resemble PlayStation One-era titles. For example, SEGA’s recently released Thor title, a functionally playable and somewhat enjoyable title, looked like it was yanked to the present from two game generations prior. Freed from the constraints of subpar hardware, developers would then be free to…
2011年5月25日星期三
PowerPivot for the Data Analyst: Microsoft Excel 2010
PowerPivot is an exciting free add-in to Excel 2010 - is this the book you need to get you started with it?
Bill Jelen's Introduction starts with "I am a PowerPivot FanBoy" and he goes on to share the story of how he first heard about it and his enthusiasm for this add-in for that lets you work with far more data than in Excel.
Banner
This is a hands-on treatment of PowerPivot and to get the most out of it you do need to follow it step by step. Chapter 1 walks you through the preliminaries of using PowerPivot - and that's not as straightforward as you might imagine. First you need Excel 2010. This entails choosing between the 32-bit and 64-bit version so there's some advice about which to opt for. If you already use Excel 2010 you may be surprised that you haven't come across PowerPivot - but it's not on the Office DVD and you have to go to some effort to finding and installing it - which this chapter guides you through.
The benefit of PowerPivot is that it allows you to work with huge datasets. So the next problem is obtaining sample data - and this problem is solved in that data can be downloaded from the author's MrExcel.com website. Again this isn't entirely straightforward and involves importing data in CSV format from a text file. It may not be the easiest way to work with data but it is realistic and if you follow the steps by the end of the chapter you will have merged data from two sources to produce an asymmetric report that would not have been possible using pivot tables.
Chapter 3 looks at both the benefits and the drawbacks of PowerPivot. It starts with the plus points: creating a single Pivot Table from multiple sources, using massive amounts of data and fitting more data into memory, building asymmetric pivot tables and a list of more technical ones. It then sets out the downsides starting with losing Undo - which it explains is a disadvantage of add-ins in general. While Jelen has a long list of shortcomings on the whole he presents workarounds and so this chapter ends up being pretty positive.
Chapter 4 covers the various methods of getting data into PowerPivot. It looks at working with existing Excel data, SQL Server, and then goes back to importing from a text file - this time using filters to load a subset of the same data we encountered in Chapter 2. It then mentions working with data from ATOM Feeds which it points out are commonly encountered when working with SharePoint - and of course SharePoint has its own PowerPoint capability.
Chapter 5:Creating and Managing Relationships is where we come to the "massive benefit" of PowerPivot - being able to create pivot tables from multiple tables. It is also the first point at which we encounter PowerPivot's new formula language DAX which, as explained in Chapter 6 stands for Data Analysis expressions and handles various operators and 135 functions, some of which are similar to Excel functions while others are completely new. In Chapter 6, which is about adding calculated columns in the PowePivot data sheet, Jelen looks at 71 DAX functions while others are introduced in Chapter 10: Using DAX for Aggregate Functions and Chapter 11: Using DAX for Date Magic.
On the whole readers of this book are likely to have already worked with Excel's Pivot Tables and in this case they will find themselves on familar ground in the next two chapters: Chapter 7: Building Pivot Tables and Chapter 8: Cool Tricks Native to Pivot Tables which gives Jelen an opportunity to demonstrate some clever capabilities.
Then in Chapter 9: Cool Tricks New with PowerPivot he shows how to work with the multiple pivot table layouts that let you do things such as building a report with two pivot charts. This is followed up by the two chapters that introduce the "massively powerful" DAX measure you can add to pivot tables.
Chapter 12:Named Sets, GetPivotData and Cube Formuals returns to techniques that are available in Excel's Pivot Tables and again demonstrates some advanced features including some for report formatting. However, PowerPivot adds some powerful reporting structures and Chapter 13:Final Formatting: Making the Report Not Look Like Excel shows how to produce an impressive and informative report that looks like a dashboard.
Up till this point the book has covered the free Excel client-side add-in. Microsoft also has a server version and the final chapter briefly looks at the benefits of upgrading to it - mainly to access its Reports Gallery. The book concludes with an Appendix that lists some PowerPoint resources - including an add-in to this add-in!
This book it is fast-paced and is on a mission - to get those who are already Excel Power Users to adopt PowerPivot. This makes it a niche book - but one that will appeal to the right reader.
Bill Jelen's Introduction starts with "I am a PowerPivot FanBoy" and he goes on to share the story of how he first heard about it and his enthusiasm for this add-in for that lets you work with far more data than in Excel.
Banner
This is a hands-on treatment of PowerPivot and to get the most out of it you do need to follow it step by step. Chapter 1 walks you through the preliminaries of using PowerPivot - and that's not as straightforward as you might imagine. First you need Excel 2010. This entails choosing between the 32-bit and 64-bit version so there's some advice about which to opt for. If you already use Excel 2010 you may be surprised that you haven't come across PowerPivot - but it's not on the Office DVD and you have to go to some effort to finding and installing it - which this chapter guides you through.
The benefit of PowerPivot is that it allows you to work with huge datasets. So the next problem is obtaining sample data - and this problem is solved in that data can be downloaded from the author's MrExcel.com website. Again this isn't entirely straightforward and involves importing data in CSV format from a text file. It may not be the easiest way to work with data but it is realistic and if you follow the steps by the end of the chapter you will have merged data from two sources to produce an asymmetric report that would not have been possible using pivot tables.
Chapter 3 looks at both the benefits and the drawbacks of PowerPivot. It starts with the plus points: creating a single Pivot Table from multiple sources, using massive amounts of data and fitting more data into memory, building asymmetric pivot tables and a list of more technical ones. It then sets out the downsides starting with losing Undo - which it explains is a disadvantage of add-ins in general. While Jelen has a long list of shortcomings on the whole he presents workarounds and so this chapter ends up being pretty positive.
Chapter 4 covers the various methods of getting data into PowerPivot. It looks at working with existing Excel data, SQL Server, and then goes back to importing from a text file - this time using filters to load a subset of the same data we encountered in Chapter 2. It then mentions working with data from ATOM Feeds which it points out are commonly encountered when working with SharePoint - and of course SharePoint has its own PowerPoint capability.
Chapter 5:Creating and Managing Relationships is where we come to the "massive benefit" of PowerPivot - being able to create pivot tables from multiple tables. It is also the first point at which we encounter PowerPivot's new formula language DAX which, as explained in Chapter 6 stands for Data Analysis expressions and handles various operators and 135 functions, some of which are similar to Excel functions while others are completely new. In Chapter 6, which is about adding calculated columns in the PowePivot data sheet, Jelen looks at 71 DAX functions while others are introduced in Chapter 10: Using DAX for Aggregate Functions and Chapter 11: Using DAX for Date Magic.
On the whole readers of this book are likely to have already worked with Excel's Pivot Tables and in this case they will find themselves on familar ground in the next two chapters: Chapter 7: Building Pivot Tables and Chapter 8: Cool Tricks Native to Pivot Tables which gives Jelen an opportunity to demonstrate some clever capabilities.
Then in Chapter 9: Cool Tricks New with PowerPivot he shows how to work with the multiple pivot table layouts that let you do things such as building a report with two pivot charts. This is followed up by the two chapters that introduce the "massively powerful" DAX measure you can add to pivot tables.
Chapter 12:Named Sets, GetPivotData and Cube Formuals returns to techniques that are available in Excel's Pivot Tables and again demonstrates some advanced features including some for report formatting. However, PowerPivot adds some powerful reporting structures and Chapter 13:Final Formatting: Making the Report Not Look Like Excel shows how to produce an impressive and informative report that looks like a dashboard.
Up till this point the book has covered the free Excel client-side add-in. Microsoft also has a server version and the final chapter briefly looks at the benefits of upgrading to it - mainly to access its Reports Gallery. The book concludes with an Appendix that lists some PowerPoint resources - including an add-in to this add-in!
This book it is fast-paced and is on a mission - to get those who are already Excel Power Users to adopt PowerPivot. This makes it a niche book - but one that will appeal to the right reader.
2011年5月22日星期日
GO! Community Events for May 22-28
Saddle up, cowboy, the annual Western Days celebrations rides back into Old Town Temecula for the final day of shootouts, Western skits, a chili cookoff, stagecoach rides and saw-horse cattle-roping.
The annual celebration of Temecula's roots as a Western ranch town draws 5,000 to 7,500 Southern California residents. One of the most popular events at Western Days each year continues to be the shootout, held at "high noon" at Old Town Front and Main streets. The Old Town Temecula Gunfighters group enacts a comical bank robbery featuring dozens of bandits in a shootout with the sheriff and his posse. The gunfighters gang will also roam the streets in interactive Western skits and gunfights. Cattle-roper Jim Brooks will offer lessons in cattle-roping (with wooden saw horse calfs) from noon to 3 p.m., and free rides in a real horse-drawn stagecoach are presented from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Live Western music is also on tap. The Cross Town Cowboys performs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Front Street and the Judy Taylor Trio performs from 12:30 to 3 p.m. at Town Square. The annual Old Town Temecula Regional Chili Cookoff will be held from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
This year's event (for red and green chili recipes) draws teams from throughout the region, since it's a qualifying event for the International Chili Society's national contest; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Old Town Front Street, Temecula
The annual celebration of Temecula's roots as a Western ranch town draws 5,000 to 7,500 Southern California residents. One of the most popular events at Western Days each year continues to be the shootout, held at "high noon" at Old Town Front and Main streets. The Old Town Temecula Gunfighters group enacts a comical bank robbery featuring dozens of bandits in a shootout with the sheriff and his posse. The gunfighters gang will also roam the streets in interactive Western skits and gunfights. Cattle-roper Jim Brooks will offer lessons in cattle-roping (with wooden saw horse calfs) from noon to 3 p.m., and free rides in a real horse-drawn stagecoach are presented from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Live Western music is also on tap. The Cross Town Cowboys performs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Front Street and the Judy Taylor Trio performs from 12:30 to 3 p.m. at Town Square. The annual Old Town Temecula Regional Chili Cookoff will be held from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
This year's event (for red and green chili recipes) draws teams from throughout the region, since it's a qualifying event for the International Chili Society's national contest; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Old Town Front Street, Temecula
A war plays out inside "The Cube"
PALMAHIM AIR BASE, Israel, May 22 (Xinhua) -- At first sight, the action on the oversize computer screen could easily be mistaken for a home video game. Yellow triangles designating Scud missiles, home in on Israel from Lebanon and Syria. Blinking blue triangles marking Arrow interceptor missiles, slowly head in their direction on a certain collision course.
The command-and-control center of Arrow II, Israel's system designed to intercept and demolish ballistic missiles high in the stratosphere, is one of the Israel Air Force's (IAF) inner sanctuaries, guarded by many and accessible to few.
The military recently invited foreign media to tour the coastal Palmahim air base, south of Tel Aviv, on a rare visit that included, for the first time, a view of Arrow's operators in simulated action.
THE ARROW SYSTEM
The Arrow is a joint-project between Israel Aerospace Industries and the Boeing Corporation. Its development was launched in the mid-1980s as part of then U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, an ambitious endeavor that aimed to provide a ballistic shield against a potential Soviet nuclear strike.
While the Reagan program dissolved not long after its inception, the painstaking development of the Arrow continued. The system, which has since been partly underwritten by the U.S., was declared operational by the IAF in March 2000, making Israel the first country to employ a domestic defense capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.
The Arrow has been put through numerous live-fire trials over the years, successfully shooting down an assortment of projectiles, but has not yet been tested in real combat.
The system's next-generation missile, Arrow III, is still in the development stage, and is slated for deployment in 2014. IAF officials say the system would significantly bolster the defense against Iran's Shahab ballistic missile.
THREE-TIER DEFENSE
Arrow is the top tier of Israel's multi-layered defense screen, a concept still in its infancy that purports to provide a comprehensive shield against a host of changing threats -- from homemade, short-range rockets fired by Gaza militants to long- range ballistic missiles.
At the heart of the new concept is what has become known as " active air defense," the deployment of a wide array of anti- missile and rocket systems as a critical supplement to the military's attack-and-deterrence capabilities.
The concept gained momentum in the aftermath of the 2006 Lebanon war, when 4,000 Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah guerrillas slammed into northern Israel, and as smaller Grad and Kassam rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli communities became commonplace.
At the lowest tier is Iron Dome, a system designated to deal with short-range rockets favored by Hamas militants. Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., the IAF deployed two batteries in southern Israel last month. Less than a week later, they successfully destroyed a salvo of eight Grad rockets fired by militants in the latest major round of violence in the region.
IAF officials repeatedly emphasized, however, that the radar- guided Iron Dome is still in the evaluation stage and cannot provide hermetic protection. But its recent success prompted the government to slate 1 billion U.S. dollars for procuring more batteries in the coming years. Foreign countries have also expressed interest in buying the system.
Another system slated to roll off the production line in 2014 is "Magic Wand," also known as "David's Sling," designed to knock out intermediate-range projectiles.
Reporters got a look at the full-scale model of the system's interceptor missile, developed jointly with U.S. missile giant Raytheon, alongside all the other systems that comprise the multi- layered shield, among them the veteran Patriot defense platform.
The American-made Patriot, originally designed as an anti- aircraft system, arrived in Israel during the Gulf War in 1991, when 39 Scuds fired from Iraq hit numerous areas in Tel Aviv, Haifa and elsewhere.
IAF battalions currently deploy an unknown number of Patriot batteries, which are designated to down enemy aircraft and unmanned drones.
But the captain who heads the operations division of a Patriot battalion, said that numerous improvements instilled in the system have upgraded its versatility in dealing with an assortment of threats, including ballistic missiles.
The command-and-control center of Arrow II, Israel's system designed to intercept and demolish ballistic missiles high in the stratosphere, is one of the Israel Air Force's (IAF) inner sanctuaries, guarded by many and accessible to few.
The military recently invited foreign media to tour the coastal Palmahim air base, south of Tel Aviv, on a rare visit that included, for the first time, a view of Arrow's operators in simulated action.
THE ARROW SYSTEM
The Arrow is a joint-project between Israel Aerospace Industries and the Boeing Corporation. Its development was launched in the mid-1980s as part of then U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, an ambitious endeavor that aimed to provide a ballistic shield against a potential Soviet nuclear strike.
While the Reagan program dissolved not long after its inception, the painstaking development of the Arrow continued. The system, which has since been partly underwritten by the U.S., was declared operational by the IAF in March 2000, making Israel the first country to employ a domestic defense capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.
The Arrow has been put through numerous live-fire trials over the years, successfully shooting down an assortment of projectiles, but has not yet been tested in real combat.
The system's next-generation missile, Arrow III, is still in the development stage, and is slated for deployment in 2014. IAF officials say the system would significantly bolster the defense against Iran's Shahab ballistic missile.
THREE-TIER DEFENSE
Arrow is the top tier of Israel's multi-layered defense screen, a concept still in its infancy that purports to provide a comprehensive shield against a host of changing threats -- from homemade, short-range rockets fired by Gaza militants to long- range ballistic missiles.
At the heart of the new concept is what has become known as " active air defense," the deployment of a wide array of anti- missile and rocket systems as a critical supplement to the military's attack-and-deterrence capabilities.
The concept gained momentum in the aftermath of the 2006 Lebanon war, when 4,000 Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah guerrillas slammed into northern Israel, and as smaller Grad and Kassam rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli communities became commonplace.
At the lowest tier is Iron Dome, a system designated to deal with short-range rockets favored by Hamas militants. Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., the IAF deployed two batteries in southern Israel last month. Less than a week later, they successfully destroyed a salvo of eight Grad rockets fired by militants in the latest major round of violence in the region.
IAF officials repeatedly emphasized, however, that the radar- guided Iron Dome is still in the evaluation stage and cannot provide hermetic protection. But its recent success prompted the government to slate 1 billion U.S. dollars for procuring more batteries in the coming years. Foreign countries have also expressed interest in buying the system.
Another system slated to roll off the production line in 2014 is "Magic Wand," also known as "David's Sling," designed to knock out intermediate-range projectiles.
Reporters got a look at the full-scale model of the system's interceptor missile, developed jointly with U.S. missile giant Raytheon, alongside all the other systems that comprise the multi- layered shield, among them the veteran Patriot defense platform.
The American-made Patriot, originally designed as an anti- aircraft system, arrived in Israel during the Gulf War in 1991, when 39 Scuds fired from Iraq hit numerous areas in Tel Aviv, Haifa and elsewhere.
IAF battalions currently deploy an unknown number of Patriot batteries, which are designated to down enemy aircraft and unmanned drones.
But the captain who heads the operations division of a Patriot battalion, said that numerous improvements instilled in the system have upgraded its versatility in dealing with an assortment of threats, including ballistic missiles.
2011年5月18日星期三
A Bafta, a book launch and a magician: Neighbours celebrate hat-trick of successes in the same week
A street in a sleepy village of just eight houses is celebrating a stunning hat-trick of successes.
Gifted neighbours in East Bergholt, Suffolk, have won a BAFTA, published a book and been accepted into the Inner Magic Circle - all within a week of each other.
High-flying Julian Healy, 41, Pavlenka Small, 56, and Dr Todd Landman, 45, live in the small cluster of homes in Mission Lane.
Triple triumph: Dr Todd Landman, Pavlenka Small and Julian Healy all live in the small Suffolk village of East Bergholt
Triple triumph: Dr Todd Landman, Pavlenka Small and Julian Healy all live in the small Suffolk village of East Bergholt
The three friends toasted their staggering treble with a party.
TV production designer Julian won a BAFTA award for his set design of ITV's The Cube.
He said: 'We're a group of like-minded people who get on well. It's a really good support network - if you run into trouble someone will help you out.'
The popular television show, hosted by Phillip Schofield, sees contestants perform a series of tasks in a 4x4x4m Perspex cube to try and win £250,000.
Reflecting on the incredible triple success, Julian added: 'I don't usually play the lottery but I might just start now.'
Mrs Small, who lives opposite Mr Healy, is also celebrating after receiving the first copy of her newly-published book, 'From Dream To Reality - 7 Steps to Setting up a Small Business'.
The Cube: Phillip Schofield presents the popular ITV1 show which tests contestants skill, nerve and determination to win
The Cube: Phillip Schofield presents the popular ITV1 show which tests contestants skill, nerve and determination to win
The personal development and career coach said: 'I suppose it was just destined to be. What a lovely way to celebrate with people you get on so well with. We genuinely care about each other.'
She added: 'I would not want to live anywhere else. 'It's the kind of environment I have always wanted to live in and there's no better place to live.'
The street also drank to Dr Todd Landman after the respected American academic became a member of the Inner Magic Circle after passing a tough selection process.
Dr Landman, an enthusiastic magician in his spare time, is professor and director of the Institute For Democracy and Conflict Resolution at The University of Essex.
The Magic Circle, founded in London in 1905, has 1,500 members - with only 300 of them accepted into the hallowed Inner Magic Circle at one time.
Gifted neighbours in East Bergholt, Suffolk, have won a BAFTA, published a book and been accepted into the Inner Magic Circle - all within a week of each other.
High-flying Julian Healy, 41, Pavlenka Small, 56, and Dr Todd Landman, 45, live in the small cluster of homes in Mission Lane.
Triple triumph: Dr Todd Landman, Pavlenka Small and Julian Healy all live in the small Suffolk village of East Bergholt
Triple triumph: Dr Todd Landman, Pavlenka Small and Julian Healy all live in the small Suffolk village of East Bergholt
The three friends toasted their staggering treble with a party.
TV production designer Julian won a BAFTA award for his set design of ITV's The Cube.
He said: 'We're a group of like-minded people who get on well. It's a really good support network - if you run into trouble someone will help you out.'
The popular television show, hosted by Phillip Schofield, sees contestants perform a series of tasks in a 4x4x4m Perspex cube to try and win £250,000.
Reflecting on the incredible triple success, Julian added: 'I don't usually play the lottery but I might just start now.'
Mrs Small, who lives opposite Mr Healy, is also celebrating after receiving the first copy of her newly-published book, 'From Dream To Reality - 7 Steps to Setting up a Small Business'.
The Cube: Phillip Schofield presents the popular ITV1 show which tests contestants skill, nerve and determination to win
The Cube: Phillip Schofield presents the popular ITV1 show which tests contestants skill, nerve and determination to win
The personal development and career coach said: 'I suppose it was just destined to be. What a lovely way to celebrate with people you get on so well with. We genuinely care about each other.'
She added: 'I would not want to live anywhere else. 'It's the kind of environment I have always wanted to live in and there's no better place to live.'
The street also drank to Dr Todd Landman after the respected American academic became a member of the Inner Magic Circle after passing a tough selection process.
Dr Landman, an enthusiastic magician in his spare time, is professor and director of the Institute For Democracy and Conflict Resolution at The University of Essex.
The Magic Circle, founded in London in 1905, has 1,500 members - with only 300 of them accepted into the hallowed Inner Magic Circle at one time.
Cum se rezolva cubul Rubik in doar cateva secunde
What for others is a real headache for them is just a matter of speed. Citynews.ro talked with the best speedcuberi Cluj, who manage to "solve" the Rubik's cube 10 to 14 seconds.
"I started speedcubing of pure chance. I found a video on YouTube where someone solved the cube in seven seconds, and I thought it was fake. Then I found the tutorials and I bought a cube and tried to solve myself. It seems to me a very nice thing as a hobby, I caught the bug, say so. Actually, you're in constant competition with you, you want to improve and pull stroke as good to beat your record, "Tudor told us Pogacean, class XII student of Lucian Blaga High School.
"Most people ask me to teach them, too"
He says he managed to solve Rubik's cube in just 20 seconds in approximately 4-5 months of training. Young's turn to spread the "bug" speedcubingului and his friends. "Some say I'm crazy, tell all your friends as, some say I have nothing to do, but most are asking me to teach them too," he told the boy.
He says he is just a myth that only very smart people can solve Rubik's cube. "Anyone can learn, you only need to do. There are all sorts of methods and algorithms that can be taught. It is a myth that only someone really smart can solve. Be aware that addictive, you can not leave, "Tudor said laughing.
I use professional cubes
Rubik's Cubes Cuberii professional use, which bows and can be rotated easily and do not stick. Such a 3x3 cube cost about 50-60 lei and can be purchased from specialty sites. Official record in a competition Tudor Pogacean is 23.78 seconds, the performance placing it first among cuberilor in Cluj-Napoca.
The fastest cuber in the county is but Andrei Pirvu, Dej, who has an official record of 15 seconds. It works in the MND, but do not let the passion for the Rubik's cube. It all started in the third year of the Academy, when he asked her to teach his sister loved to solve puzzles. Following some tutorials, Andrew managed to learn beginner's method in a few days after that and started looking for a professional cube.
"Exercising every day a few hours we reached an average of 16 to 17 seconds. Official record in the competition last year in Bucharest was 15 seconds, and informally, at home 10-11 seconds. It takes a lot of motivation, patience and passion. You lot of imagination and memory, not necessarily logical, "said Andrew.
"I started speedcubing of pure chance. I found a video on YouTube where someone solved the cube in seven seconds, and I thought it was fake. Then I found the tutorials and I bought a cube and tried to solve myself. It seems to me a very nice thing as a hobby, I caught the bug, say so. Actually, you're in constant competition with you, you want to improve and pull stroke as good to beat your record, "Tudor told us Pogacean, class XII student of Lucian Blaga High School.
"Most people ask me to teach them, too"
He says he managed to solve Rubik's cube in just 20 seconds in approximately 4-5 months of training. Young's turn to spread the "bug" speedcubingului and his friends. "Some say I'm crazy, tell all your friends as, some say I have nothing to do, but most are asking me to teach them too," he told the boy.
He says he is just a myth that only very smart people can solve Rubik's cube. "Anyone can learn, you only need to do. There are all sorts of methods and algorithms that can be taught. It is a myth that only someone really smart can solve. Be aware that addictive, you can not leave, "Tudor said laughing.
I use professional cubes
Rubik's Cubes Cuberii professional use, which bows and can be rotated easily and do not stick. Such a 3x3 cube cost about 50-60 lei and can be purchased from specialty sites. Official record in a competition Tudor Pogacean is 23.78 seconds, the performance placing it first among cuberilor in Cluj-Napoca.
The fastest cuber in the county is but Andrei Pirvu, Dej, who has an official record of 15 seconds. It works in the MND, but do not let the passion for the Rubik's cube. It all started in the third year of the Academy, when he asked her to teach his sister loved to solve puzzles. Following some tutorials, Andrew managed to learn beginner's method in a few days after that and started looking for a professional cube.
"Exercising every day a few hours we reached an average of 16 to 17 seconds. Official record in the competition last year in Bucharest was 15 seconds, and informally, at home 10-11 seconds. It takes a lot of motivation, patience and passion. You lot of imagination and memory, not necessarily logical, "said Andrew.
2011年5月15日星期日
Cops to learn collaring white-collar criminals
MUMBAI: In a city with a big craze for fast cash, every day is fraught with the risk of people becoming victim to fraudulent investment schemes. Remember Aryarup Travel and Club Resort ? Aurum Realty? Yes Cube Infrastructure? The owners of all three are under investigation for soliciting investors with promises of astronomical returns, paying off old investors with money from new ones, and ultimately reneging on their deals.
Such schemes seem to recur with regularity. To prevent this, the economic offences wing (EOW) of the police will educate cops from the city's 90 police stations to investigate white-collar crime. "Police personnel are taught to detect crime during their training (at the time of joining the force). But the trend in crime is changing, with new strategies emerging everyday. To prevent fraud and scam, we need to educate police personnel about the modus operandi of such crime and investigating them," said a police officer who will be part of the EOW's training programme on May 25 and 26.
While the programme will focus on investment fraud, it will also touch upon bank, credit card and online transaction fraud, medical and jewellery scams, and education , housing and job rackets. The EOW has sought nominations from zonal deputy commissioners for the programme, which is expected to be attended by around 100 police officers.
"Most policemen don't know what an invoice , a bill or a hundi is. These are common terms, but they become a problem when complicated fraud is reported at police stations," the officer said. "Cops are used to cases like murder, dacoity and robbery . But when they are transferred from police stations to the EOW, they take three or four months to learn to investigate economic offences . If they are trained in advance , it will help save time, and help in the fast detection of crime and the filing of chargesheets."
The programme—to be organized by additional commissioner of police Sanjay Saxena—will also benefit cops not slated for an EOW posting. While the EOW investigates frauds where the amount is above Rs 50 lakh, police stations handle frauds up to that limit. But to deal with the cases , cops at the police stations often approach the EOW since they do not know how to investigate white-collar crime.
The economic offences wing (EOW) of the police has been provided with additional personnel to nab the directors of Aryarup Travel and Club Resort, suspected to have launched various fraudulent investment schemes. The EOW is on the lookout for Ravindra Deshmukh and his wife Vasuda. The fresh impetus in the case has been provided by the recent suicide of an Aryarup agent who had collected over Rs 5 crore in Goa and was under pressure from investors to pay up. The fraud came to light when a Mumbaibased businessman lodged a complaint with the EOW stating that Aryarup duped him of Rs 81 lakh with promises of fast money and handsome profits. "Senior officers have provided additional manpower to the investigating team to nab the suspects. More victims who lost money in the investment scheme are coming forward to lodge complaints," said a police officer. "The agent who committed suicide belonged to Latur. He ended his life when he realized he couldn't pay the investors back. A case has been registered with the Goa police."
The Deshmukhs floated several schemes in Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Maharashtra . Through Aryarup, they would lure people with a promise of 86% return on investment and commission if others were brought in. For a while, they kept their promise, but all of a sudden stopped making payments.
An EOW officer said Aryarup could have more than one lakh investors in the country, 15,000 being in Maharashtra, where the Deshmukhs started schemes in Mumbai , Navi Mumbai, Thane, Buldana, Nashik, Nanded, Parbhani, Jalgaon , Bhusawal, Pune and Latur.
In February, the EOW, acting on a court order, attached two Deshmukh-owned plots totalling 75 acres and worth Rs 12 crore. One, measuring 50 acres, was near the Jaipur airport and the other in Murbad.
Such schemes seem to recur with regularity. To prevent this, the economic offences wing (EOW) of the police will educate cops from the city's 90 police stations to investigate white-collar crime. "Police personnel are taught to detect crime during their training (at the time of joining the force). But the trend in crime is changing, with new strategies emerging everyday. To prevent fraud and scam, we need to educate police personnel about the modus operandi of such crime and investigating them," said a police officer who will be part of the EOW's training programme on May 25 and 26.
While the programme will focus on investment fraud, it will also touch upon bank, credit card and online transaction fraud, medical and jewellery scams, and education , housing and job rackets. The EOW has sought nominations from zonal deputy commissioners for the programme, which is expected to be attended by around 100 police officers.
"Most policemen don't know what an invoice , a bill or a hundi is. These are common terms, but they become a problem when complicated fraud is reported at police stations," the officer said. "Cops are used to cases like murder, dacoity and robbery . But when they are transferred from police stations to the EOW, they take three or four months to learn to investigate economic offences . If they are trained in advance , it will help save time, and help in the fast detection of crime and the filing of chargesheets."
The programme—to be organized by additional commissioner of police Sanjay Saxena—will also benefit cops not slated for an EOW posting. While the EOW investigates frauds where the amount is above Rs 50 lakh, police stations handle frauds up to that limit. But to deal with the cases , cops at the police stations often approach the EOW since they do not know how to investigate white-collar crime.
The economic offences wing (EOW) of the police has been provided with additional personnel to nab the directors of Aryarup Travel and Club Resort, suspected to have launched various fraudulent investment schemes. The EOW is on the lookout for Ravindra Deshmukh and his wife Vasuda. The fresh impetus in the case has been provided by the recent suicide of an Aryarup agent who had collected over Rs 5 crore in Goa and was under pressure from investors to pay up. The fraud came to light when a Mumbaibased businessman lodged a complaint with the EOW stating that Aryarup duped him of Rs 81 lakh with promises of fast money and handsome profits. "Senior officers have provided additional manpower to the investigating team to nab the suspects. More victims who lost money in the investment scheme are coming forward to lodge complaints," said a police officer. "The agent who committed suicide belonged to Latur. He ended his life when he realized he couldn't pay the investors back. A case has been registered with the Goa police."
The Deshmukhs floated several schemes in Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Maharashtra . Through Aryarup, they would lure people with a promise of 86% return on investment and commission if others were brought in. For a while, they kept their promise, but all of a sudden stopped making payments.
An EOW officer said Aryarup could have more than one lakh investors in the country, 15,000 being in Maharashtra, where the Deshmukhs started schemes in Mumbai , Navi Mumbai, Thane, Buldana, Nashik, Nanded, Parbhani, Jalgaon , Bhusawal, Pune and Latur.
In February, the EOW, acting on a court order, attached two Deshmukh-owned plots totalling 75 acres and worth Rs 12 crore. One, measuring 50 acres, was near the Jaipur airport and the other in Murbad.
Pam Platt | Taking a road trip down memory lane
The other day I read that Johnny Depp is going to do a remake of “The Lone Ranger,” only this time Tonto will be the head honcho and the guy with the mask will be the sidekick. Justice at last! And I knew that, somewhere, my dad was smiling.
Dad had been a Tonto partisan from way back, and even schooled my daughter in his subversive view of the duo — Tonto was the real brains of the operation, and knew it; the masked man was clueless, and didn't — while we made a cross-country car trip about 12 years ago. I can't remember how it came up, but we were out West, a long way from our Florida home and on our way to or from our destination of Montana, when he started riffing on Tonto.
Do you know, he asked my daughter, what Tonto was really calling the Lone Ranger every time he called him “Kemo Sabe”?
No, she said.
Well, Dad explained, he was calling him … something unexpected and hilarious, and unfit to print. I think we laughed for 50 miles. And from that day forth, grandfather and granddaughter had a code word between them. It came up a lot on that trip.
“That driver's a real Kemo Sabe,” Dad would drawl, and then look in the rearview mirror to catch my daughter's answering grin.
I hadn't thought about the Kemo Sabe story for a long time, but once I did (thanks, Johnny) it took me down many other roads belonging to the car trips that crisscrossed my childhood and some in the years since. At the time, they may have seemed interminable (and some of them, indeed, were). In time, though, they have become invaluable for what they revealed of the world, and for what they revealed about my family, especially the two in the front seat.
I still love to drive on long trips — not in spite of that history, but because of it — and I'm happy for today's families that technology has made the miles less of a challenge. But I have wondered, as I watch them watching their personal DVD screens that pop out from the ceilings of their vehicles, what sights they are missing along the way, or what Kemo Sabe moments they aren't having with their fellow travelers while they're tapped into something less unique.
Dad had been a Tonto partisan from way back, and even schooled my daughter in his subversive view of the duo — Tonto was the real brains of the operation, and knew it; the masked man was clueless, and didn't — while we made a cross-country car trip about 12 years ago. I can't remember how it came up, but we were out West, a long way from our Florida home and on our way to or from our destination of Montana, when he started riffing on Tonto.
Do you know, he asked my daughter, what Tonto was really calling the Lone Ranger every time he called him “Kemo Sabe”?
No, she said.
Well, Dad explained, he was calling him … something unexpected and hilarious, and unfit to print. I think we laughed for 50 miles. And from that day forth, grandfather and granddaughter had a code word between them. It came up a lot on that trip.
“That driver's a real Kemo Sabe,” Dad would drawl, and then look in the rearview mirror to catch my daughter's answering grin.
I hadn't thought about the Kemo Sabe story for a long time, but once I did (thanks, Johnny) it took me down many other roads belonging to the car trips that crisscrossed my childhood and some in the years since. At the time, they may have seemed interminable (and some of them, indeed, were). In time, though, they have become invaluable for what they revealed of the world, and for what they revealed about my family, especially the two in the front seat.
I still love to drive on long trips — not in spite of that history, but because of it — and I'm happy for today's families that technology has made the miles less of a challenge. But I have wondered, as I watch them watching their personal DVD screens that pop out from the ceilings of their vehicles, what sights they are missing along the way, or what Kemo Sabe moments they aren't having with their fellow travelers while they're tapped into something less unique.
2011年5月10日星期二
Looking For Avengers Hints? Watch Thor Closely
Now that Thor has smashed into theaters like the mighty Mjolnir caving in a frost giant's skull, the stage is fully set for next year's The Avengers. While the Iron Man movies and The Incredible Hulk planted the seeds for the team's formation, Thor dropped major plot hints and further expanded the connected Marvel movie universe.
While we know that Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Captain America will all be in The Avengers, Thor added new characters to the mix. Stellan Skarsgard's scientist character, Dr. Selvig, looks to be playing a key role in The Avengers, while one of Thor's major villains could be plaguing the superhero team. Let's take a look at some of the fun hints that Thor offers for 2012's superhero team-up extravaganza. But beware: as Thor would say, "Verily! There be spoilers ahead!"
samuel-l-jackson-nick-fury-125.jpgThat glowing thing in Nick Fury's briefcase? It's important.
You stayed after the credits right? If you did, then you saw a bonus scene where Dr. Selvig, under the control of Loki, gets a peek at a mysterious glowing object courtesy of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. (So that's what was in the case in Pulp Fiction!) While Fury never identifies the object, it's a safe bet that it's the all-powerful Cosmic Cube. Word is the Cube (which is reportedly being called the "Tesseract") factors into Red Skull's plan for world domination in July's Captain America: The First Avenger. Could the plot of The Avengers involve a battle over one of the Marvel Universe's most coveted weapons?
mark-ruffalo-125.jpgBruce Banner might be working for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Dr. Selvig dropped a major hint about Bruce Banner's involvement in the Avengers when he mentioned a former colleague who had discovered gamma radiation and then vanished after coming into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. Remember the end of The Incredible Hulk when Tony Stark approached Banner about joining up with the "Avengers Initiative"? Looks like The Avengers could start with Banner working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in an effort to find a cure for his green, rampaging monster within. But how will the screenwriters explain why Edward Norton suddenly looks like Mark Ruffalo? More Loki magic, perhaps?
Jeremy-Renner-hawkeye-125.jpg"Agent Barton" will be signing up with the Avengers
Did you catch Jeremy Renner's cameo as a terse, eagle-eyed archer ready to take down Thor? Agent Coulson referred to this character as "Barton," who Marvelites know as Clint Barton, aka fan-favorite purple archer/longtime Avengers member Hawkeye. Renner has already been confirmed for Avengers, and his brief turn in Thor indicates he has the proper tough guy attitude for the role. So will Renner don Hawkeye's signature purple tunic and mask or opt for the stripped down "Ultimate Hawkeye" look? Renner doesn't seem like much of a tunic guy, so chances are we'll be seeing a Hawkeye who is more in keeping with the sleek black S.H.I.E.L.D. agent style.
Anyone who has read Avengers #1 knows that Thor's devious brother played a role in the team's formation after he tricked Captain America, Iron Man, and the rest into thinking that Hulk was destroying a train track. (Train travel was all the rage back in 1963.) Loki's appearance in the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility at the end of Thor suggests that he'll be returning for The Avengers. With Dr. Selvig under his control, Loki could set off events that lead to the team's formation. Will he steal the Cosmic Cube/Tesseract? Or cause Hulk to go all smash-y on a NYC subway track in an homage to the original Avengers adventure? Hulk hate commuter rail!
While we know that Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Captain America will all be in The Avengers, Thor added new characters to the mix. Stellan Skarsgard's scientist character, Dr. Selvig, looks to be playing a key role in The Avengers, while one of Thor's major villains could be plaguing the superhero team. Let's take a look at some of the fun hints that Thor offers for 2012's superhero team-up extravaganza. But beware: as Thor would say, "Verily! There be spoilers ahead!"
samuel-l-jackson-nick-fury-125.jpgThat glowing thing in Nick Fury's briefcase? It's important.
You stayed after the credits right? If you did, then you saw a bonus scene where Dr. Selvig, under the control of Loki, gets a peek at a mysterious glowing object courtesy of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. (So that's what was in the case in Pulp Fiction!) While Fury never identifies the object, it's a safe bet that it's the all-powerful Cosmic Cube. Word is the Cube (which is reportedly being called the "Tesseract") factors into Red Skull's plan for world domination in July's Captain America: The First Avenger. Could the plot of The Avengers involve a battle over one of the Marvel Universe's most coveted weapons?
mark-ruffalo-125.jpgBruce Banner might be working for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Dr. Selvig dropped a major hint about Bruce Banner's involvement in the Avengers when he mentioned a former colleague who had discovered gamma radiation and then vanished after coming into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. Remember the end of The Incredible Hulk when Tony Stark approached Banner about joining up with the "Avengers Initiative"? Looks like The Avengers could start with Banner working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in an effort to find a cure for his green, rampaging monster within. But how will the screenwriters explain why Edward Norton suddenly looks like Mark Ruffalo? More Loki magic, perhaps?
Jeremy-Renner-hawkeye-125.jpg"Agent Barton" will be signing up with the Avengers
Did you catch Jeremy Renner's cameo as a terse, eagle-eyed archer ready to take down Thor? Agent Coulson referred to this character as "Barton," who Marvelites know as Clint Barton, aka fan-favorite purple archer/longtime Avengers member Hawkeye. Renner has already been confirmed for Avengers, and his brief turn in Thor indicates he has the proper tough guy attitude for the role. So will Renner don Hawkeye's signature purple tunic and mask or opt for the stripped down "Ultimate Hawkeye" look? Renner doesn't seem like much of a tunic guy, so chances are we'll be seeing a Hawkeye who is more in keeping with the sleek black S.H.I.E.L.D. agent style.
Anyone who has read Avengers #1 knows that Thor's devious brother played a role in the team's formation after he tricked Captain America, Iron Man, and the rest into thinking that Hulk was destroying a train track. (Train travel was all the rage back in 1963.) Loki's appearance in the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility at the end of Thor suggests that he'll be returning for The Avengers. With Dr. Selvig under his control, Loki could set off events that lead to the team's formation. Will he steal the Cosmic Cube/Tesseract? Or cause Hulk to go all smash-y on a NYC subway track in an homage to the original Avengers adventure? Hulk hate commuter rail!
Watch Willow Garage’s PR2 Robot Solve a Rubik’s Cube With Autonomous Glee (video)
“Welcome to your new home, now please solve this Rubik’s Cube.” – when you’re a robot, people greet you in some funny ways. No sooner had Willow Garage’s PR2 shown up to the University of Ulster than they set it to work…er, play. Chris Burbridge and Lorenzo Riano of the Cognitivie Robotics Group taught their newly arrived PR2 to solve a Rubik’s Cube completely autonomously. Place the cube in the robot’s hand and it scans, solves, and shifts the puzzle until it is finished. Watch the PR2 master this icon of the 80s in the video below. Little demos like this are just cute introductions to a much more serious endeavor. As one of the growing number of research institutions using the PR2 as an open source development platform, the Cognitive Robotics Group at the University of Ulster is helping create the next generation of personal robots, one piece of code at a time.
I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve seen robots solve Rubik’s Cube way faster than the PR2…and they were made out of Lego. In fact, the PR2 is slow enough that in order to keep this video a reasonable length (<2 minutes or so) they gave it a really easy cube to solve. Yet the following demonstration is remarkable when you consider everything the robot is doing. It has to rotate the cube and scan its surface, find a (potentially sub-optimal) solution, and then translate that solution into physical movements for its hands. That’s a lot of work for a measly 2 minute demo, but it highlights just how complete the PR2 is: manual manipulation, sensing, calculation, and translation of digital models into physical actions. All autonomously. Not bad for an opening act – either for the PR2 or Burbridge and Riano.
Willow Garage’s PR2 is one of dozens of bots using the Robot Operating System (ROS). This open source library is the digital soul to the PR2′s metallic body. As the University of Ulster, and the more than 15 other institutions using the PR2, continue to innovate its code on ROS, they’ll be opening up many opportunities for their work to earn compound interest. Code developed by one team can be cannibalized, optimized, and reused by any other team. The same goes, in a slightly more limited way, for the hundreds of developers using ROS on platforms other than the PR2. The arrival of the newest metal member of the Cognitive Robotics Group speaks to the possibility that personal robots could be undergoing an accelerated growth in the near future fueled by the open source community. That’s pretty exciting.
I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve seen robots solve Rubik’s Cube way faster than the PR2…and they were made out of Lego. In fact, the PR2 is slow enough that in order to keep this video a reasonable length (<2 minutes or so) they gave it a really easy cube to solve. Yet the following demonstration is remarkable when you consider everything the robot is doing. It has to rotate the cube and scan its surface, find a (potentially sub-optimal) solution, and then translate that solution into physical movements for its hands. That’s a lot of work for a measly 2 minute demo, but it highlights just how complete the PR2 is: manual manipulation, sensing, calculation, and translation of digital models into physical actions. All autonomously. Not bad for an opening act – either for the PR2 or Burbridge and Riano.
Willow Garage’s PR2 is one of dozens of bots using the Robot Operating System (ROS). This open source library is the digital soul to the PR2′s metallic body. As the University of Ulster, and the more than 15 other institutions using the PR2, continue to innovate its code on ROS, they’ll be opening up many opportunities for their work to earn compound interest. Code developed by one team can be cannibalized, optimized, and reused by any other team. The same goes, in a slightly more limited way, for the hundreds of developers using ROS on platforms other than the PR2. The arrival of the newest metal member of the Cognitive Robotics Group speaks to the possibility that personal robots could be undergoing an accelerated growth in the near future fueled by the open source community. That’s pretty exciting.
2011年5月8日星期日
Local festival puts science in the spotlight
Where can you find live tarantulas, a physicist singing rock songs and a Hollywood director? Only in Las Vegas.
Thousands of people came to the inaugural Las Vegas Science Festival expo Saturday at the Cashman Center to see more than 60 displays, including interactive exhibits, live animals and a mini planetarium.
The expo was the conclusion of the weeklong festival focused on getting children more excited about science.
“Vegas is not often thought of as a place where a lot of science and engineering happens. And we can change that,” said John Good, president of a locally based company that makes museum exhibits and the co-director of the festival.
Good said he heard about the idea of cities holding science festivals at a conference about two years ago and decided it needed to be done here.
Unlike most similar festivals, however, the Las Vegas event wasn’t able to get government grants to support it and relied solely on corporate donations to stage the free festival.
People repeatedly warned Good not to be disappointed if no one showed up.
The warnings weren’t necessary. About 2,000 people participated in the first day of the festival on Sunday, and nearly that many participated in smaller events spread over five weekdays.
About 3,000 people attended the expo just in the first two hours Saturday, putting the event well on the way of reaching its goal of 10,000 participants.
“Las Vegas has turned out...and it shows they care about science,” Good said.
One of the keynote speakers at the expo was Robert Weiss, a Hollywood producer and the president of the X Prize Foundation.
Best know for its initial competition to encourage private companies to invest in space exploration, the foundation now sponsors contests to encourage technical innovation. Weiss spends a fair amount of time traveling to science events across the country and said he was impressed with what he saw in Las Vegas.
“I’m blow away at the turnout at this. It’s rough sometimes when you start the first of anything,” he said. “When I pulled in, the moment I saw the parking lot was full, it really did my heart good, because it shows there is interest here.”
Weiss’ presentation at the expo was focused on encouraging childrens’ interest in science, math and engineering.
Even though he likes sports, he said, too much attention is given to athletics when only a small fraction of children will ever play professionally. On the other hand, a young person interested in science and engineering has a good chance of making an exciting career out of it, he said.
“Every one of these kids can turn pro. And that’s cool,” he said after his presentation.
Weiss, who also spoke to West Prep School and UNLV students, said the nation “will suffer the consequences” if children aren’t interested in science.
“This is an opportunity — things like the science festival — to really stimulate them and keep them interested,” he said.
It seemed to be working, judging from the frenzy of activity at the expo, where it was sometimes difficult to maneuver through the crowds.
Connie Taylor brought her family to the expo for some “free fun,” she said.
She said she was impressed with the displays. “It kind of makes you think about all the different things people are doing; it’s a different perspective,” she said.
Thousands of people came to the inaugural Las Vegas Science Festival expo Saturday at the Cashman Center to see more than 60 displays, including interactive exhibits, live animals and a mini planetarium.
The expo was the conclusion of the weeklong festival focused on getting children more excited about science.
“Vegas is not often thought of as a place where a lot of science and engineering happens. And we can change that,” said John Good, president of a locally based company that makes museum exhibits and the co-director of the festival.
Good said he heard about the idea of cities holding science festivals at a conference about two years ago and decided it needed to be done here.
Unlike most similar festivals, however, the Las Vegas event wasn’t able to get government grants to support it and relied solely on corporate donations to stage the free festival.
People repeatedly warned Good not to be disappointed if no one showed up.
The warnings weren’t necessary. About 2,000 people participated in the first day of the festival on Sunday, and nearly that many participated in smaller events spread over five weekdays.
About 3,000 people attended the expo just in the first two hours Saturday, putting the event well on the way of reaching its goal of 10,000 participants.
“Las Vegas has turned out...and it shows they care about science,” Good said.
One of the keynote speakers at the expo was Robert Weiss, a Hollywood producer and the president of the X Prize Foundation.
Best know for its initial competition to encourage private companies to invest in space exploration, the foundation now sponsors contests to encourage technical innovation. Weiss spends a fair amount of time traveling to science events across the country and said he was impressed with what he saw in Las Vegas.
“I’m blow away at the turnout at this. It’s rough sometimes when you start the first of anything,” he said. “When I pulled in, the moment I saw the parking lot was full, it really did my heart good, because it shows there is interest here.”
Weiss’ presentation at the expo was focused on encouraging childrens’ interest in science, math and engineering.
Even though he likes sports, he said, too much attention is given to athletics when only a small fraction of children will ever play professionally. On the other hand, a young person interested in science and engineering has a good chance of making an exciting career out of it, he said.
“Every one of these kids can turn pro. And that’s cool,” he said after his presentation.
Weiss, who also spoke to West Prep School and UNLV students, said the nation “will suffer the consequences” if children aren’t interested in science.
“This is an opportunity — things like the science festival — to really stimulate them and keep them interested,” he said.
It seemed to be working, judging from the frenzy of activity at the expo, where it was sometimes difficult to maneuver through the crowds.
Connie Taylor brought her family to the expo for some “free fun,” she said.
She said she was impressed with the displays. “It kind of makes you think about all the different things people are doing; it’s a different perspective,” she said.
Mosley eager to crack Pacquiao puzzle
Manny Pacquiao has been called a lot of things during his boxing career -- but probably never a Rubik's Cube.
Shane Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, thinks his fighter can figure out the puzzling Pacquiao to claim his WBO welterweight belt Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden.
"The Rubik's Cube has a lot of dimensions to it," Richardson said. "But it is solvable. And Shane has the experience ... to solve the Rubik's Cube that is Manny Pacquiao."
Mosley said the game plan is simple.
"I have a lot of advantages over him," he said, referring to his size, strength and speed. "All I have to do is exploit his weaknesses. Once I exploit them, I should be able to take care of business."
Richardson said Pacquiao reminds him of Aaron Pryor.
"He was a southpaw and had the same kind of awkwardness," Richardson said. "We've fought southpaws before, and we've fought speed before, and we've faced tenacity before. So now you just have to draw from all those experiences and formulate a game plan that will exploit the flaws that Pacquiao does present and be able to exploit them for all 12 rounds."
The trainer has been in Mosley's corner for his past three fights: a win over Antonio Margarito, a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a draw against Sergio Mora.
"To beat someone like Pacquiao, you have to land a lot of punches," Mosley said. "You have to land a high percentage and more punches every round.
"It's like when I fought Margarito. Before we fought, he was throwing like 1,000 punches. But when I fought him, he only threw 500. It's all the angles and the way you move and how you turn him to where you make him not throw as many punches."
Richardson said he's not worried about Pacquiao's ability to unleash punches from all angles, an attribute that has helped him amass a 52-3-2 record with 38 knockouts.
"If a bullet misses you by two inches, it's just as dangerous as a fly," Richardson said. "It only matters if it hits you."
The fact Mosley trusts Richardson's game plan is a testament to his willingness to adapt, something not every fighter is willing to do. Especially a 39-year-old former five-time champion with the wealth of experience Mosley possesses.
"Shane's a gladiator," Richardson said. "He looks at things from that viewpoint. I remember the first time we had a disagreement. I was training him for Margarito, and the first time I wrapped his hands he didn't like the way I was doing it.
"He wants to fight in the Bare Knuckle Era. I said to him, 'You're going to break your hands,' and he said, 'I like to feel my skin.' It took some convincing him, but we worked it out. We can always come to a compromise."
Richardson said his job is to prepare Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) for any possible scenario.
"He's got the mentality, 'I'm going to knock his ass out.' " Richardson said. "I can't look at it that way. I have to put a strategy in place that doesn't limit Shane's abilities."
NOTES -- The official weigh-in is at 3 p.m. today at the MGM Grand Garden and is open to the public. Doors open at 1 p.m. … In the other title fight on Saturday's card, Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. defends his WBO super bantamweight title against veteran Jorge Arce. ... As has become tradition after he fights in Las Vegas, Pacquiao will perform with his band at his official postfight party at Mandalay Bay.
Shane Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, thinks his fighter can figure out the puzzling Pacquiao to claim his WBO welterweight belt Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden.
"The Rubik's Cube has a lot of dimensions to it," Richardson said. "But it is solvable. And Shane has the experience ... to solve the Rubik's Cube that is Manny Pacquiao."
Mosley said the game plan is simple.
"I have a lot of advantages over him," he said, referring to his size, strength and speed. "All I have to do is exploit his weaknesses. Once I exploit them, I should be able to take care of business."
Richardson said Pacquiao reminds him of Aaron Pryor.
"He was a southpaw and had the same kind of awkwardness," Richardson said. "We've fought southpaws before, and we've fought speed before, and we've faced tenacity before. So now you just have to draw from all those experiences and formulate a game plan that will exploit the flaws that Pacquiao does present and be able to exploit them for all 12 rounds."
The trainer has been in Mosley's corner for his past three fights: a win over Antonio Margarito, a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a draw against Sergio Mora.
"To beat someone like Pacquiao, you have to land a lot of punches," Mosley said. "You have to land a high percentage and more punches every round.
"It's like when I fought Margarito. Before we fought, he was throwing like 1,000 punches. But when I fought him, he only threw 500. It's all the angles and the way you move and how you turn him to where you make him not throw as many punches."
Richardson said he's not worried about Pacquiao's ability to unleash punches from all angles, an attribute that has helped him amass a 52-3-2 record with 38 knockouts.
"If a bullet misses you by two inches, it's just as dangerous as a fly," Richardson said. "It only matters if it hits you."
The fact Mosley trusts Richardson's game plan is a testament to his willingness to adapt, something not every fighter is willing to do. Especially a 39-year-old former five-time champion with the wealth of experience Mosley possesses.
"Shane's a gladiator," Richardson said. "He looks at things from that viewpoint. I remember the first time we had a disagreement. I was training him for Margarito, and the first time I wrapped his hands he didn't like the way I was doing it.
"He wants to fight in the Bare Knuckle Era. I said to him, 'You're going to break your hands,' and he said, 'I like to feel my skin.' It took some convincing him, but we worked it out. We can always come to a compromise."
Richardson said his job is to prepare Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) for any possible scenario.
"He's got the mentality, 'I'm going to knock his ass out.' " Richardson said. "I can't look at it that way. I have to put a strategy in place that doesn't limit Shane's abilities."
NOTES -- The official weigh-in is at 3 p.m. today at the MGM Grand Garden and is open to the public. Doors open at 1 p.m. … In the other title fight on Saturday's card, Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. defends his WBO super bantamweight title against veteran Jorge Arce. ... As has become tradition after he fights in Las Vegas, Pacquiao will perform with his band at his official postfight party at Mandalay Bay.
2011年5月5日星期四
'Portal 2' a blast for the thinking gamer
The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device could change your life.
Imagine a tool that lets you instantaneously cross vast distances by blowing holes through the time-space continuum. Put one hole in your office, one hole in your living room, and boom: No more endless commutes. No more pollution-spewing traffic jams. No more drive-time radio.
Unfortunately, the portal gun's range, for now, is limited to the environs of Aperture Laboratories. And its inventors — along with every other human in the Aperture complex — appear to be dead.
That's the dire situation at the beginning of "Portal 2," a new video game from Valve Corp. And GLaDOS, the psychotic artificial intelligence you dismantled in the original "Portal," is back in charge — and she isn't happy.
Each room in Aperture Laboratories is, essentially, a three-dimensional maze; you have to figure out how to use the portal gun and a handful of other gadgets to reach an inconveniently placed exit. Since the franchise has graduated from experiment to headliner, there are many more puzzles in "Portal 2" — and they've become even more devious.
There's also a batch of clever new toys to play with. Aerial Faith Plates fling your character across bottomless pits. Gels make the floor bouncy or slippery. Hard Light Bridges can be used to cross gaps or block turret fire. And the beloved Weighted Companion Cube returns with a cousin, the Laser Redirection Cube.
The most important returning character is GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain), whose once helpful demeanor has curdled into murderous sarcasm.
But two new voices make equally memorable impressions. Wheatley, played by Stephen Merchant of "The Ricky Gervais Show," is a chatty, nervous A.I. who's eager to help you escape. Cave Johnson, performed by J.K. Simmons ("Spider-Man," "The Closer"), is Aperture's long-dead CEO whose gung-ho encouragement devolves into fatalism.
The actors have created three of the most distinctive characters in video games. They are helped immeasurably by an often-hilarious script by a team led by former game critic Erik Wolpaw.
It took me about nine hours to finish the single-player adventure — but a few of those hours consisted of staring at the screen, trying to conjure up a solution to a particularly thorny brain-teaser. The puzzles are scrupulously fair; you're given exactly what you need in each room, and success depends on strategy.
Unfortunately, if you can't solve a puzzle, you're stuck. I found that some of the trickier solutions came to me if I stepped away for a while; it may also help to ask a friend to take a look.
In a market that's drowning in lookalike first-person shooters, the thought-provoking "Portal 2" is a blast.
Imagine a tool that lets you instantaneously cross vast distances by blowing holes through the time-space continuum. Put one hole in your office, one hole in your living room, and boom: No more endless commutes. No more pollution-spewing traffic jams. No more drive-time radio.
Unfortunately, the portal gun's range, for now, is limited to the environs of Aperture Laboratories. And its inventors — along with every other human in the Aperture complex — appear to be dead.
That's the dire situation at the beginning of "Portal 2," a new video game from Valve Corp. And GLaDOS, the psychotic artificial intelligence you dismantled in the original "Portal," is back in charge — and she isn't happy.
Each room in Aperture Laboratories is, essentially, a three-dimensional maze; you have to figure out how to use the portal gun and a handful of other gadgets to reach an inconveniently placed exit. Since the franchise has graduated from experiment to headliner, there are many more puzzles in "Portal 2" — and they've become even more devious.
There's also a batch of clever new toys to play with. Aerial Faith Plates fling your character across bottomless pits. Gels make the floor bouncy or slippery. Hard Light Bridges can be used to cross gaps or block turret fire. And the beloved Weighted Companion Cube returns with a cousin, the Laser Redirection Cube.
The most important returning character is GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain), whose once helpful demeanor has curdled into murderous sarcasm.
But two new voices make equally memorable impressions. Wheatley, played by Stephen Merchant of "The Ricky Gervais Show," is a chatty, nervous A.I. who's eager to help you escape. Cave Johnson, performed by J.K. Simmons ("Spider-Man," "The Closer"), is Aperture's long-dead CEO whose gung-ho encouragement devolves into fatalism.
The actors have created three of the most distinctive characters in video games. They are helped immeasurably by an often-hilarious script by a team led by former game critic Erik Wolpaw.
It took me about nine hours to finish the single-player adventure — but a few of those hours consisted of staring at the screen, trying to conjure up a solution to a particularly thorny brain-teaser. The puzzles are scrupulously fair; you're given exactly what you need in each room, and success depends on strategy.
Unfortunately, if you can't solve a puzzle, you're stuck. I found that some of the trickier solutions came to me if I stepped away for a while; it may also help to ask a friend to take a look.
In a market that's drowning in lookalike first-person shooters, the thought-provoking "Portal 2" is a blast.
Designer Toys
AS a designer of light fixtures that are sculptural and modern, David Weeks has long been a favorite of interior designers and architects. But when he recently began designing toys, many of his clients weren’t sure what to think.
“I’ve been very proud of the lighting, but over the years I’ve tried to change the perception of the company and myself,” Mr. Weeks said.
“You can’t really break out,” he added. “Every time I tried to do something humorous, people would say, ‘What is that?’ ”
Still, he persisted, producing a line of playful wooden animals with movable joints for Areaware. His first piece, Hanno the Gorilla, was soon joined by Ursa the Bear, Hattie the Elephant, Simus the Rhino and Hugo the Wild Boar. He also designed the Cubebot, a sort of primitive wooden robot that folds down into a perfect cube.
“The toys come very much from playing with my son and his toys,” said Mr. Weeks, who has a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. As someone who “makes stuff,” he said, “you can’t help but analyze things as you play with them.”
But since the toys were introduced, a peculiar thing has happened: Mr. Weeks has discovered that they are as popular with adults as they are with children.
In search of other designer toys that would appeal to all ages — and look good on the credenza — he began at the Shop at the Cooper-Hewitt. It didn’t take him long to zero in on a set of three walnut spinning tops by KleinReid for Herman Miller. “The scale and girth is nice,” he said. “You could give them to your kids and not worry about them.”
He also liked the Sedici Animali Puzzle, designed by Enzo Mari in 1957 — a set of flat wooden figures that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. “I love that they’re cut out of a single board,” he said.
At the Museum of Modern Art Design Store in Midtown, he found another wooden toy set: Playshapes by Miller Goodman, which has pieces of various shapes and colors that can be used to create compositions. But “you’d have to play with your kid for a while for them to get the idea,” he said, worrying that it might be too complex.
For toys made from a different material, he stopped at My Plastic Heart on the Lower East Side, a shop with glass cases that display art toys and urban vinyl figures. One of his favorites was Gosho, a plump figure that was all white, so an owner could customize it with markers. Mr. Weeks said he “wouldn’t mess with it,” though.
“I’ve been very proud of the lighting, but over the years I’ve tried to change the perception of the company and myself,” Mr. Weeks said.
“You can’t really break out,” he added. “Every time I tried to do something humorous, people would say, ‘What is that?’ ”
Still, he persisted, producing a line of playful wooden animals with movable joints for Areaware. His first piece, Hanno the Gorilla, was soon joined by Ursa the Bear, Hattie the Elephant, Simus the Rhino and Hugo the Wild Boar. He also designed the Cubebot, a sort of primitive wooden robot that folds down into a perfect cube.
“The toys come very much from playing with my son and his toys,” said Mr. Weeks, who has a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. As someone who “makes stuff,” he said, “you can’t help but analyze things as you play with them.”
But since the toys were introduced, a peculiar thing has happened: Mr. Weeks has discovered that they are as popular with adults as they are with children.
In search of other designer toys that would appeal to all ages — and look good on the credenza — he began at the Shop at the Cooper-Hewitt. It didn’t take him long to zero in on a set of three walnut spinning tops by KleinReid for Herman Miller. “The scale and girth is nice,” he said. “You could give them to your kids and not worry about them.”
He also liked the Sedici Animali Puzzle, designed by Enzo Mari in 1957 — a set of flat wooden figures that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. “I love that they’re cut out of a single board,” he said.
At the Museum of Modern Art Design Store in Midtown, he found another wooden toy set: Playshapes by Miller Goodman, which has pieces of various shapes and colors that can be used to create compositions. But “you’d have to play with your kid for a while for them to get the idea,” he said, worrying that it might be too complex.
For toys made from a different material, he stopped at My Plastic Heart on the Lower East Side, a shop with glass cases that display art toys and urban vinyl figures. One of his favorites was Gosho, a plump figure that was all white, so an owner could customize it with markers. Mr. Weeks said he “wouldn’t mess with it,” though.
2011年5月2日星期一
Cubitek's Magic Cube revolutionises modular design
Gallery: Cubitek's latest case is a unique take on modular case design. It's three cases in one very interesting design...
It may be considered a truism that if you've seen one PC case, you've pretty seen them all. With few exceptions - ThermalTake's original Level10 comes to mind - case design is largely set in place.
Well, with Cubitek's new Magic Cube chassis, you can add another exception to this very short list.
The Magic Cube takes a leaf out of the Level10's playbook by thermally isolating HDDS, ODDS and motherboard & attendant parts. But rather than keep those thermal pockets attached to the one chassis, Cubitek's effectively built three small cases for each component. And we love it!
We've yet to do a full review, but on paper we love the idea. All the cases - a small one with room for two optical drives or one ODD and a floppy, a middle-sized one with room for eight hard drives, and two fans to cool them all, and a larger case for the mobo, with three fans - are not only well designed and made from sturdy aluminium, but also modular themselves. Most of the chassis construction is secured by screws, so it'll be easy to take each case apart for further modding.
We'll be doing a full review in an upcoming issue of the mag, but for now, check out our gallery of shots to learn about this unique new case.
It may be considered a truism that if you've seen one PC case, you've pretty seen them all. With few exceptions - ThermalTake's original Level10 comes to mind - case design is largely set in place.
Well, with Cubitek's new Magic Cube chassis, you can add another exception to this very short list.
The Magic Cube takes a leaf out of the Level10's playbook by thermally isolating HDDS, ODDS and motherboard & attendant parts. But rather than keep those thermal pockets attached to the one chassis, Cubitek's effectively built three small cases for each component. And we love it!
We've yet to do a full review, but on paper we love the idea. All the cases - a small one with room for two optical drives or one ODD and a floppy, a middle-sized one with room for eight hard drives, and two fans to cool them all, and a larger case for the mobo, with three fans - are not only well designed and made from sturdy aluminium, but also modular themselves. Most of the chassis construction is secured by screws, so it'll be easy to take each case apart for further modding.
We'll be doing a full review in an upcoming issue of the mag, but for now, check out our gallery of shots to learn about this unique new case.
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