firehose

versus - Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2 (Aki - PS2 - 2007)

crookednose:

minimum wage doesn’t even TOUCH a living wage, racism and sexism are alive and well, children are killed in schools on a regular basis, those who make it to college end up with hundreds of thousands in debt, our basic rights are being stripped from us daily, and adults actually believe that SELFIES are the cause for this generation’s demise

Greetings, Arsians! Our partners at LogicBuy are back with even more deals this week. Today's featured deal is for THREE 23" HP monitors. Yes, that's right, monitors actually come in three-packs now. The trio of 1080p LCDs can be yours for $314.47, which is more than $250 off the normal price. Just make sure you have enough video cards and deskspace to support this awesome setup.

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Laptops, desktops, and tablets

Adobe Systems

Update: Around the same time this post was being edited, Adobe said the outage had been resolved.

Adobe Systems is struggling to restore access to Creative Cloud, its online subscription for software and services, after an outage has locked out some users for more than 24 hours. The extended glitch is preventing some of Adobe's most popular apps from being used at all.

The software maker first acknowledged the outage on Wednesday afternoon. A day later, officials posted a brief advisory that said trouble shooters had tentatively identified the cause, but the officials provided no estimate for when the problem would be resolved. There were also reports that Adobe's Forms Central service was completely down, leaving customer-created content that relies on the service inaccessible.

Google's $1,500, Android-powered Glass headset might have a perception issue thanks to privacy fears and many talkshow jokes, but the search giant is slowly trying to change people’s minds. Google is hiring fashion executive Ivy Ross this week to help market Glass to the masses. Ross is a design and marketing lead with vast experience at Calvin Klein, Swatch, Gap, Coach, and more. Ross is now tasked with altering Glass’ general perception, and convincing the masses that Google Glass really is a fashionable and wearable item that’s not just for developers and technology fans.

The move fits perfectly with Google’s recent approach to glass. In September the company placed a 12-page Google Glass fashion spread in September’s issue of Vogue. The shoot featured Glass alongside retro-futuristic backdrops in a piece called "Google Glass and a Futuristic Vision of Fashion." Google has also teamed up with New York Fashion Week to place Glass on the runway, and has caught the attention of the NBA with a series of promotions for the headset. While Google Glass is now available more broadly for anyone in the US to purchase as part of a beta program, a full-blown consumer launch is expected later this year. It's safe to say Google's recent hire will play a big part in that.

Many of the polymers that make up the items we rely on are relatively easy to break down. An otherwise robust styrofoam container will dissolve completely in a solvent like chloroform. Thermoplastics like the ones found in food delivery containers get soft at higher temperatures. Raise the heat a bit more, and they'll melt. These properties help make many of the plastics we use recyclable.

But there are other plastics, called thermosets, that don't show this kind of behavior. They are extremely durable, they will shrug off solvents, and they will hold up well to heat, which makes them great for the places you've probably come across them—things like auto interiors and cases for electronic devices. The problem is that the same properties that make them so robust also make them nearly impossible to recycle.

Now, materials scientists have come up with a new thermoset polymer that's quite tough and holds up to high temperatures and most solvents. Its Achilles' heel? Strong acids. Put it in a solution with a pH below 2, and it will break back down into its component molecules, which can then be reused to form the same polymer all over again.

Ron Amadeo

On Monday, May 19, travelers at London Heathrow Airport will find themselves racing to catch flights not at "Terminal 5," but instead at "Terminal Samsung Galaxy S5."

The awkward mouthful is the result of a complete branding takeover orchestrated by Samsung to promote its recently released Galaxy S5 smartphone. According to Samsung’s press release, the "revolutionary" rebranding will last for two full weeks and will see all Samsung’s name and branding plastered all over "the signage, wayfinding, website, and every single digital screen at the UK's newest terminal to promote the launch of its iconic Galaxy S5 mobile."

Unless you are actually sight-impaired, it will be impossible to avoid seeing Samsung advertisements while traversing the terminal:

Leigh Jay Temple

The legislators' reasons for objecting to the new standards aren't clear, but an audio of the hearing at which the standards were rejected is available. In it, Tiffany Neill, the director of science education for the State Board of Education, describes the process by which the new standards were created. Although Oklahoma did not adopt the Next Generation Science Standards, the committee that formulated the new rules was heavily influenced by them.

In addition, Neill said that the standards attempted to address subjects with the full education experience in mind; when the same subject was covered in a later grade, the standards attempted to build on the knowledge covered previously rather than simply repeating the lesson at a somewhat more sophisticated level. Finally—and this is apparently where the legislators' issues come in—the new standards added a separate Earth sciences section for the first time.

This man is a professional journalist.

Lee Hutchinson

A couple days ago, Comcast Executive VP David Cohen talked about the company's plans for data caps at a meeting with investors.

"I would predict that in five years Comcast at least would have a usage-based billing model rolled out across its footprint," he said.

Cohen is now saying that his remarks have been "picked up out of context and misinterpreted in a number of places." In a blog post yesterday, Cohen repeated Comcast's argument that the company doesn't put caps on data for any of its customers. In 2012, Comcast suspended its 250GB data cap "in order to conduct a few pilot programs that were more customer friendly than a static cap," he noted.

Many high-up executives at Beats are likely to become very rich in the near future. But the company has suddenly found itself facing a lawsuit from David Hyman, founder of MOG, the subscription music service that Beats purchased in 2012. Hyman and the majority of his team joined Beats after the buyout, and MOG ultimately evolved into Beats Music. But as The Wrap reports, Hyman's lawsuit claims he was unceremoniously fired in less than a year, denying him a decent stake in Beats equity that was part of his contract. Hyman was allegedly set to receive a total of 2.5 percent of Beats "currently outstanding equity interests," with 1 percent of that coming to him upon his one-year anniversary with the company. He never msw ir that far.

Hyman claims he was canned after trying to get rid of another "problematic" employee. As a result, his equity grant never vested and Hyman says he lost out on millions. Apple is reportedly nearing its own acquisition of Beats for the hefty sum of $3.2 billion. If he were still tied to Beats, Hyman would presumably be on a course to receive a huge payoff as part of the deal. But obviously that won't be happening either, and the riches will be left to Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and other top leadership at Beats. Hyman is suing his former employer  for damages "in excess of $20 million."

Earlier this week, Airbnb announced that it would revamp its app with separate sections for last-minute bookings and more elaborate weekend getaways. The latter category is meant to "inspire" users to take trips they might otherwise have overlooked, and Airbnb has apparently been testing a feature that takes this one step further, letting people directly sell tours, classes, or other "experiences" through its site. In Paris, for example, users can book a sightseeing scavenger hunt for $55 a person. In San Francisco, they can "make pickles with a pro" for $60. Like rooms, these are all provided by local hosts, who could be either skilled experts or people who want to make some money by sharing something like a home-cooked meal or a favorite hiking trail.

Airbnb already offers neighborhood guides to help users pick a room, and in 2011, it reportedly partnered with "travel experience" service Vayable to suggest activities along with rentals. Last year, it allowed at least one host to sell a private tour. This, however, would add an entirely new branch to Airbnb's services. Each page includes links for four categories: food and drink, sightseeing, learning, and "outdoors" experiences. They're organized by location, and only a few cities seem to have any listings; some broken links point to pages that could go live later. Overall, experiences are all grouped under one directory, which makes them fairly easy to navigate; the URLs indicate that there are 82 listings currently online.

The feature seems to have been first noted by travel site Tnooz earlier this week, but some pages include reviews from April, so at least a few people may have been using it for several weeks. Others don't seem to let you book at all. An Airbnb statement to TechCrunch is typically tight-lipped, saying that the company is "always experimenting with new ways to create meaningful experiences on Airbnb."

Attendee registration for the Boston Festival of Indie Games is open to all and available in two ticket types, organizers announced today.

Those interested can pick up a single, general admission badge for $10. Anyone looking to buy in bulk can pick up two or more badges for $7.50 each with the Family Pack. Children under the age of 13 can register at the door for free.

The Boston Festival of Indie Games is a celebration of independent game development that debuted in 2012. It offers video and tabletop games for attendees to play, as well as game jams, lectures and the chance to mix with developers and game enthusiasts.

Submissions for tabletop game creators are open until June 6, while game devs can submit their projects until June 19.

The third annual festival takes place on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Mass., on Sept. 13.

With Mario Kart 8, Nintendo has mastered the easy-to-pick-up, fast-paced fun that it's been developing for over 20 years now.

Beyond letting me have fun however I wanted, Mario Kart 8's multiplayer also helped me remember those good times with a simple, fast and functional replay editor. Rather than showing off a full race, this editor creates highlight reels. I was able to choose whether it focused on specific drivers, moments when players got hit by shells or a handful of other entertaining possibilities.

Once done the saved clips can be uploaded to either Miiverse or (more importantly) YouTube. YouTube uploading was not working yet as of review time, so I wasn't able to test its speed or quality, but the simple fact that Nintendo has thought ahead enough to implement it as an option is a good sign.

All of the online multiplayer functionality in Mario Kart 8 is fantastic — on par with what I'd expect from any online game these days rather than the sparse showings of Nintendo's recent past — but I'm still concerned that there might not be enough here to keep players racing long-term. There are eight cups of four races each to unlock, and you unlock characters by winning each of those cups across three different difficulty levels. You also get new vehicle parts by collecting coins as you race.

But these unlocks came rather quickly for me, and once I had them, there wasn't much left to the game. Beyond a small collection of Miiverse stamps, there aren't further bonus unlockables. There isn't a fleshed out leveling or ranking system to encourage continued online play. Those weaknesses don't take away from the incredible design on display here, but the game could only be better if they were improved upon.

Wrap Up:

Mario Kart 8 doesn't mess with the formula much, but it left me smiling

Then again, "You might only be able to have tons of fun for a month or two" is the closest thing to a complaint I could level against Mario Kart 8. It doesn't bring massive innovations to the formula, but it's overflowing in that Nintendo magic that makes it so easy to forget about minor shortcomings. Its gorgeous looks and tightly developed sense of speed ensured that I was never left unhappy after a race, even when I blew it and came in near the end. What more could I ask for than a game that keeps me smiling even when I lose?

Mario Kart 8 was reviewed using an early final review code provided by Nintendo. You can find additional information about Polygon's ethics policy here.

The next iteration of Epic Games' next-gen game engine, Unreal Engine 4, will add support for vehicles, a new camera animation system and assets, technical writer Ian Shadden announced via the game's blog.

Update 4.2, due out soon, offers more in-depth editing options and blueprint functions. Users will be able to draw canvas UI straight to a texture, create vehicles with a template and debug animations with more commands, in addition to a large number of improvements and bug fixes. The full list is available on the Unreal Engine website.

In a livestream today, Epic discussed update 4.2, answered questions and announced meet-ups on May 22 in Sweden and May 25 in Portland. You can watch the stream on Twitch; check out the 25-minute mark for more on update 4.2.

In March, Epic Games announced that it would give Unreal Engine 4 users "access to everything" the engine has to offer for $19 a month and a 5 percent royalty fee on game sales. Earlier this month, the company also announced that it's working on the next entry in the Unreal Tournament franchise, titled Unreal Tournament, for Linux, Mac and Windows PC.