dsibley81

Well, not mine.

Greg LeRoy and Maryann Feldman from The Guardian discuss some alternative strategies for cities that want large tech companies like Amazon and Apple to invest locally but don't want to offer huge subsidies. They advise against using "old economy" incentives for "new economy" firms, which are more susceptible to disruption, because it can be costly and counterproductive. Unfortunately, many politicians continue to mismatch incentives "especially because some tech companies have become very aggressive about demanding big tax breaks," reports The Guardian. From the report: Here are two proven alternative strategies. The first could be called "back to basics." A regional government inventories existing small- and medium-sized firms, the backbone of many local communities. Typically family-owned and located in micropolitan and rural areas, these firms are often neglected by policymakers and shortchanged by incentive programs. A regional government asks: which industry sectors are we already comparatively good at? Which of those sectors have the best futures? How can our public systems help those promising firms grow? Do they need export assistance? Customized training? Technology diffusion? More engineering-school graduates? There are some simple fixes that could go a long way. The second alternative takes this same approach and applies it to very young companies and to emerging technologies with more speculative prospects. This was North Carolina's successful strategy from the 1950s until the mid-1990s. Making no big bets on any one company, the state invested in all levels of education, created its community college system and upgraded the state universities. It also focused on highway upgrades and other infrastructure investments. [...] Austin, Texas, currently the hottest tech-led economy in the U.S., provides a model: there, local entrepreneurs became local champions, creating early incubators, reinvesting their gains and working with local government.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Animal psychologist reveals Queen’s feeding rituals for favourite pets, including homeopathic and herbal remedies

The Queen’s corgis, which have been described as a “moving carpet” preceding her as she walks round her royal residences, have become almost as emblematic of the British crown as their famous owner.

So few will be surprised to learn that Her Majesty likes to treat them like royalty, dispensing succulent dishes of steak, rabbit or chicken from individual menus and served from silver and porcelain borne by a liveried servant.

Continue reading...

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

This kit-of-parts solution draws on the do-it-yourself ethos as well as the modular furniture movement, allowing savvy homeowners to combine off-the-shelf designs with custom connections and modifications. The implications are subtle but powerful: buy only the elements you need that are too hard to personally construct, then use this system of joints, legs and beams to bridge the gaps.

On display at Milan Deign Week, the IKEA HACKA toolbox consists of a key set of metal joints that create connections between modular wooden beams, all using regular dimensions for ease and consistency of construction. Cutting beams down to size, users can effectively create new hybrid furniture or built-ins styled and fit to their own unique spaces, stacking, supporting and hanging things between. Minimalist, modern, funky, the connectors are neutral enough to suit all personalities and approaches, as illustrated in the examples below.

Together, these parts allow for the construction of support systems that turn individual elements into part of a network, allowing personalized touches and enabling space-saving solutions. They can also be re-hacked into new shapes as your needs grow or change.

An effort to bridge the gap between purely hacked-together creations and existing products, IKEA HACKA was developed as a collaboration between IKEA, IDEO and a group of industrial design and technology students. It is intended to be part of a “future kitchen that bridges the gap between the hacking movement and the modular systems of today. Its flexibility helps people to create their own solutions, and makes it easy for them to hack it to suit their unique needs and style.”

---

---

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

I was reading the Top 47 Log Management Tools from ProfitBricks' blog. During quick scanning the key features and cost, I decided to give LOG Storm a try. This post is the recording steps for installation and basic configuration of this product.

• In-depth threat analysis
• Flexible deployment options
• Intuitive graphical user interface
• Incident response, forensics, and discovery
• Built-in support for 1,000+ devices
• Simple device integration tool
• Reporting packs for major regulatory compliance standards
• Master console for centralized log management
• MetaRules Correlation

• LOG Storm Virtual SIEM Appliance: FREE
• Other deployment options and advanced solutions: Contact for a quote

1. Download

Click the image file the downloading will automatically started. You will get a 1.39G LOG_Storm_4.5.0.20_Eval_VA.ova file.

2. Import OVA into VM lab environment

Double click the downloaded ova file, VM Workstation will import it into your default Virtual Machine folder.

Default vm setting for LOG Storm is using 6GB memory. I changed it to 4GB and it is still working fine in my lab environment.

3. Start your VM 

Default user name/password is htadmin/htadmin
You will have to accept the agreement, change the htadmin password, do basic network and information configuration. Then wait at most 5 minutes to let virtual appliance to configure itself based on your input.

4. First SSH Log in

After virtual appliance rebooted, use SSH log into system with htadmin username.

After logged into system, it will ask you to enter valid license you got from the email.


Linux logstorm 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Tue May 13 16:34:35 UTC 2014 x86_64
Last login: Tue Jan  6 11:02:13 2015
Do you need to change your configuration before entering your license? ([Y]es, [N]o, Enter = , '?' for help) : N
Please enter your LOG Storm appliance license (what you enter will NOT be echoed back to you): ('help' for help) : 
License is valid

Activating LOG Storm services

 From the main menu, you will need to select 2. Password Management to set Admin Account Password which will be used to log into WebUI

5. WebUI Log in

 Click 'Launch Client'
 Enter Admin username and password
 Now it is the dashboard for your SIEM Virtual Appliance.

6. Reference

The creator of Community, Dan Harmon, has been hosting a mashup podcast meets role-playing game with a collection of his friends. And now these hilarious podcasts have been animated, thanks to the series Harmonquest. And we have an exclusive look inside the fantasy world Harmon created.

Read more...

Eyewitnesses on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula have seen a convoy of hundreds of Russian troops heading toward the regional capital, Simferopol.

Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is the most important and widely used debugging tool on Android. With ADB, it’s possible to push a file to the /system partition, make a backup, or even get a logcat for debugging. The official way to install ADB is to download the ADT Bundle or SDK tools, which are nearly 100 MB.

Configuring the ADB on Windows is not the easiest as well, as you need to add its path in order to access it from anywhere on your PC. Downloading a huge package and the troublesome installation process may discourage new users from installing these tools, but there’s now a handy solution thanks to XDA Forum Member snoop5, who created a simple tool to install ADB on a Windows machine in approximately 15 seconds.

The Windows-only tool automatically installs ADB, Fastboot, and the required device drivers, so nothing more is required and your device should work like a charm. The package comes in at only 9 MB, so it’s quite a bit smaller than the original SDK Tools. You don’t need to worry about your system being 32- or 64-bits, as this tool will take care to determine which version are you on.

If the process of installing Fastboot and ADB have been holding you back from further tweaking your device, make your way over to the tool thread and give this a try.

 

Take that, Amazon!

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, US bookseller Barnes & Noble has refreshed its Nook line of e-readers with an upgraded glowing E Ink model.…

One step beyond the anti-hero, there's the amoral or morally challenged main character. Sometimes, a protagonist is so dark, you can't even use the term "hero" to describe him or her. But how do you get your audience to root for a character who might throw an old lady under a bus? Here are 10 ways.

Read more...

Epic Browser is not the first nor will it be the last Chromium-based web browser that aims to improve user privacy. When Google Chrome was released years ago, third party Chromium-based browsers appeared shortly thereafter that offered most of what Chrome had to offer, but without several of the tracking or privacy-invading features that Google's browser shipped with.

The majority of those browsers are still around, and Epic Browser will have to compete against them and Chrome, and probably other web browsers as well.

The homepage of Epic Browser focuses on privacy, first explaining how you are being tracked on the Internet, and then how Epic Browser helps you protect yourself when you are browsing the Internet.

Epic Browser review

According to that page, it fixes 11 potential leaks that may reveal information about you and your browsing habits to Internet companies such as Google.

1. No address bar suggest
2. No URL checks
3. Auto-translate has been removed.
4. No URL Tracker
5. Installation ID removed
6. RLZ-Tracking number removed
7. Default Updater removed.
8. Installation time stamp removed.
9. No alternate error pages.
10. No navigation error suggestions
11. No error reporting

In addition to that, it more or less defaults to private browsing mode by preventing the recording of history, caches, passwords, pre-fetching and other features that may reveal information about the user.

That is however still not enough. It clears all browsing data on exit by default, making sure that any information that were needed during the session are removed from the system in the process.

As you may have noticed, this may impact how you work with the browser as you cannot make use of features that you may have come to rely on.

The developers of Epic Browser have added features to the browser that neither Chrome nor Chromium ship with. This includes a one-click US proxy server (powered by Spotflux) that users can make use of to hide their original IP address when they are browsing on the Internet (yes, this includes access to US-only services such as Hulu), integrated ad blocking and tracker blocking, automatic blocking of third party cookies, and automatic use of https versions of websites if provided.

It is interesting to note that Epic will enable the proxy by default on Google to prevent the tracking of your IP address on the site. What more? It blocks the sending of the referral header when you use the search engine so that third party websites do not know what your search term was that led you to their website.

Another interesting feature is the umbrella icon that you can use for quick access to several core features such as ad and third party cookie blocking.

Downsides

You are probably wondering about downsides of using the browser. The first thing that comes to mind are the features that you cannot use, like spell checking, auto-translation or session restore. Some features are left for the user to decide, like the saving of passwords in the browser, while others cannot be altered in any form or way.

The address bar search provider is set to epicsearch.in. According to the developers, revenue generated here is used to support the browser and services it provides. They furthermore state that the ads displayed here are only based on a user's search query and a rough location check.

Closing Words

It is too early to tell if Epic Browser will make a big splash or remain a niche browser that appeals to a privacy-focused audience.

I wish it would provide users with choice in regards to some of the features as it would improve the browser's usability. It would then be the user's decision to sacrifice some privacy for convenience.

The developers have promised to release the source code of the browser soon. For now though, it is not available.

The post Epic Browser: a privacy-focused web browser based on Chromium appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

Eliott Lilly is a concept artist who works as a freelancer in both the film and games industry. Most recently on the gaming side of things, he's worked on RAGE, the next Doom game and FEAR 3.

Read more...

An anonymous reader writes "After the airline lost his father's luggage (and presumably was less than helpful in resolving the issue), one man decided to use Twitter's self-serve ad platform to issue a warning to fellow travelers in the New York and UK markets. The tweets have gotten the attention not only of media outlets, but also of fellow airlines. A JetBlue executive even retweeted it. While companies use the platform to target customers, it's interesting to see it being turned around."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Topic: Video Games

The Guest: Jamie Madigan

The Episode: Download – iTunes – Stitcher – RSS – Soundcloud

“The Last of Us” is a video game, a work of interactive art, and a question will arise in the back of your mind while playing, “What would I do in this situation?” and the answer will make you feel emotions no other art form can elicit.

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic United States, 20 years after the fall of mankind, in a world nature has mostly reclaimed, where resources are few and trust is scarce. Hope is the commodity in shortest supply. Most everyone has given up on rebuilding the old world. This is just how it is now. Every encounter with strangers pings that most primal of judgments under uncertainty: “Is this a potential friend or foe?”

Familiar? Sure, it’s a theme being explored all over in fiction. Something in the zeitgeist has us fretting over these things again, but in a game you have the opportunity to actually test yourself in a virtual reality, to see what you would do when the stakes are as high as possible. Would you trust others? Would you help strangers? Would you kill to survive?

In addition, “The Last of Us” explores something the gaming world calls ludonarrative dissonance. Many modern games have detailed stories with great writing and well-acted scenes interspersed between what amounts to bursts of mass murder. It can make a player feel like his or her agency in the world has been stolen by the storyteller, that the characters you are asked to portray live in two realities, one you control and one you do not. This can feel really off-putting when the characters are jaunty, smarmy, and noble in the cutscenes, but then you are asked to use those people to do terrible things. In an effort to solve this problem, Naughty Dog, the developers of “The Last of Us”, crafted an experience where you and the character feel justified when pushed to do harm, but afterward you, the gamer, feel disgusted with yourself and horrified by the power of the situation to change your behavior and shift your moral center. You find yourself quickly learning to avoid violence – a behavior I was astonished to see evoked in myself inside a game world, and was thrilled to experience. That’s something you won’t get watching “Breaking Bad.”

Watch a teaser trailer showing a friend-or-foe scenario here: Link

In this episode of the YANSS podcast, we explore games and their potential to reveal our self delusions. I interview Jamie Madigan, the curator of psychologyofgames.com, who writes about the behaviors and cognitions that games both exploit and uncover. It’s a great interview. We discuss everything from the motivational nudging in “Candy Crush Saga” to the power of endowed progress when endorsing people on LinkedIn. Please forgive us for geeking out so hard during it. I promise, non-gamers will learn plenty in this episode. Links to the things mentioned in the episode are at the bottom of this post.

After the interview, as in every episode, I read a bit of self delusion news and taste a cookie baked from a recipe sent in by a listener/reader. That listener/reader wins a signed copy of the new book, You Are Now Less Dumb, and I post the recipe on the YANSS Pinterest page. This episode’s winner is Violet Sinnarkar who submitted a recipe for white chocolate oatmeal cookies. Send your own recipes to david {at} youarenotsosmart.com.

Links:

Download – iTunes – Stitcher – RSS – Soundcloud

Boing Boing Podcasts

Psychology of Games

Papers, Please

Spent

Newsgaming

Underground Railroad Game

The Walking Dead 

Narco Guerilla 

The Last of Us

Candy Crush Youtube Video 1

Candy Crush Youtube Video 2

Candy Crush Youtube Video 3

Candy Crush Youtube Video 4

The study concerning the cognitive load of poverty

Gabe: This is an online exclusive set meaning it will not be sold at any shows. You can get it right now in the Penny Arcade store. -Gabe out

Whether you're interested in a stovetop or an electric pressure cooker, we'll go over the basics. READ MORE...

Bye-bye pineapple and hotdog crusts. Indie restaurants and mini chains now serve the authentic Neapolitan deal with sourdough bases, Italian tomatoes and fresh authentic ingredients
• Below, our testers try eight of the best pizzerias

There's a pizza revolution going on – and it doesn't involve pineapple or hotdog-stuffed crusts. Authentic, Neapolitan-style pizzas are winning over an army of British fans thanks to mini-chains such as Franco Manca and Rossopomodoro in London and Birmingham, independents PizzaFace in Brighton and La Favorita in Edinburgh, and street food crews Homeslice and Pizza Pilgrims, both of which have recently opened restaurants. (Pizza Pilgrims has also published a cookbook.)

Why does it matter? Because Naples is the spiritual home of the pizza. While Rome has its pizza al taglio (by the slice), Chicago its deep-dish, and every high street in Britain its Sloppy Giuseppe and American Hot, Naples gave the world what the Oxford Companion to Food terms "the archetype of modern pizzas".

The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana produces a mind-bendingly long and precise booklet about what constitutes an authentic Napoletana pizza, with edicts on acceptable toppings (sorry, no pineapple). But for British producers of Neapolitan-style pizzas, what matters are the quality ingredients and techniques: 00 flour, Italian tinned tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), fresh basil and firm fior di latte (mozzarella made from cow's milk) in the case of a classic margherita. The dough is left to rise slowly, then cooked for 60 to 90 seconds in a blisteringly hot wood-fired oven. The bases should be thin and softer in the middle of the circle, with a puffy cornicione (crust).

To many, all this marks a sea change from the chains. "When Francos [the forerunner of Franco Manca] opened in 1987, there was no one else doing authentic Neapolitan pizzas," says Sami Wasif, co-founder with Giuseppe Mascoli of Franco Manca and owner of Eco pizza. "It was all Pizza Hut and Pizzaland." Franco Manca developed a cult following for its delicious cornicione and sourdough bases, which Wasif says are "easily digestible" thanks to the dough's slow fermentation. "The big chains do things cheaper. They use big quantities of dry yeast plus other agents to accelerate the dough fermentation, and tend to buy cheap cheese," he says. Not that chain pizza is without its merits. "Cheese, dough, tomatoes and meat together is never bad," says Thom Elliot of Pizza Pilgrims, who says he has a "great place in my heart for Pizza Express".

But Pizza Pilgrims and Franco Manca hope to elevate what can be an average dish into a truly memorable one. Franco Manca leaves its sourdough to rise for at least 20 hours before baking it at 500C in a custom-built oven made by "artisans from Naples". Thom and James Elliot of Pizza Pilgrims earned their merit badges by taking a six-week road trip around Italy, meeting pizzaioli and collecting traditional recipes. "Neapolitan gets used to mean an indicator of quality rather than referring to a specific style," says Thom Elliot. In other words, unless there is a wood-fired oven on full blast behind the bakery counter, it isn't a Neapolitan-style pizza.

Franco Manca, London
12in pizzas from £4.50

francomanca.co.uk

Those famous sourdough pizzas are still packing people in. Now a small chain, with five London branches, Franco Manca's original outlet in Brixton market is a shrine to pizza minimalism with its sparse decor and short menu. On our visit, the margherita was faultless – a rich and sweet tomato sauce, soft base, creamy mozzarella and that perfectly chewy crust. Katy Salter

Gusto, Manchester
12in pizzas from £7.25

gustorestaurants.uk.com

It may do a Peking duck pizza, but purists will be pleasantly surprised by this small chain. Thanks to its wood-fired ovens and a dough recipe inherited from a Tuscan monk (it's a long story), its pizzas are a palpable cut above. Their elegantly thin, airy bases have real character, reassuring char and, if arguably they are a little crisp, plenty of fresh chew, too. Gusto's loosely pulped tomato sauce is unusually vibrant. Quality toppings seal the deal. Tony Naylor

Santa Maria, Ealing
12in pizza from £5.45

santamariapizzeria.com

This is a rigorously authentic, Neapolitan-owned pizzeria. Its wood-fired oven was imported from Italy, where they are built using clay from around Vesuvius which, experts insist, reflects heat in a specific way. Paper-thin in the middle and patched with char, Santa Maria's easily digested, springy bases are topped with A1 imported ingredients. Once you fold your slice of its buffalo mozzarella bufalina, it's like eating a sandwich of the sweetest tomatoes and double cream. Best pizza in London? Quite possibly. TN

La Favorita, Edinburgh
10in pizzas from £8.50

lafavoritadelivered.com

There are now two outlets for the much-loved Leith Walk pizzeria, run by the Crollas, a Scots-Italian catering family who have been putting the Mediterranean into Edinburgh diets for nearly 100 years. Fresh dough is made daily instore from Italian flour, making proper Neapolitan-style thin-crust pizza. All the usual toppings, plus some novelties – radicchio, figs, baby spinach, parsley pesto, nduja sausage. Recommended: the seriously fiery Vesuvio, the voluptuous cinque formaggi (five cheeses), or the Ggiro d'Italia – a 14in "tour of Italy" with 10 hams and cheeses for £14.95. Alex Renton

La Fiamma, Tunbridge Wells
12in pizzas from £7.50

realpizza.co.uk

"It is on the same level as my home town," exclaimed the man from, no kidding, Naples, who was sitting with his family at the next table in this tiny outpost in Tunbridge Wells. Owned by TV chef Rosemary Schrager's son Simon, La Fiamma dishes up pizzas with blistered bottoms and beautifully charred cornicione from its wood-fired oven. The namesake pizza comes topped with firm-ish mozzarella, shreds of wood-fired ham and salty olives. Delicious. KS

Croma, Loughborough
10in pizzas from £5.25

cromapizza.co.uk

Croma is owned by a group of ex-Pizza Express employees. It started in Manchester and now has six branches, including a couple at Odeon cinemas. While the menu veers alarmingly into novelty territory (tandoori chicken pizza, anyone?), the simpler options are more than acceptable. The Cotto is covered in gooey mozzarella and firm, salty chunks of pancetta, on top of a sweet tomato sauce. While the base is pale and tastes a little doughy in places, there are good patches of char on the crust. KS

Pizza Pilgrims, London
12in pizzas from £7

pizzapilgrims.co.uk

Pizza Pilgrims feels like a neighbourhood joint somewhere in southern Italy – from the green-checked tablecloths to the all-important Neapolitan pizzas that made its name. So, do said pizzas live up to the hype? Resoundingly so. The Bufala is dotted with Buffalo mozzarella – creamy and slightly golden from the oven. The sauce, made simply from crushed San Marzanos, tastes like purest essence of tomato, and the chewy, charred crust contrasts nicely with the soft middle. KS

Great British Pizza Co, Margate
12in pizza from £6

greatbritishpizzacompany.wordpress.com

A serious slice on the seafront. GBP majors on local ingredients across a menu that, beyond the staples, features modish, creative toppings such as chorizo and chilli, and specials such as parma ham and nectarine. A simple margherita sings with flavour. The base is super-thin, wood-fired, crisply edged. The tomato sauce (a painstaking amalgam of cherry tomatoes, honey, lemon juice and slow-roasted garlic) is remarkably clean and strident. Ice-cream comes from Soho's God-like Gelupo. TN

BioShock Infinite, PC – £12

Registers on Steam.

Even if you've mastered making pickles and jams, preserving meat feels like a whole different game. This week we are sharing experts' picks for the preserved foods they can't live without and today we hear from Salumi and Charcuterie author Michael Ruhlman, who talks about why you should be keeping duck confit on hand and shares his easy olive oil method for making it.

More