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The Wire: RIP George Jones; Tsarnaev moved; Bangladesh toll; Pussy Riot ... San Jose Mercury News National editor's pick of the top news stories in the nation and world at this hour: Country star George Jones dies at 81. George Jones, a country music star whose career spanned five decades, best known for his hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today," died Friday ... Russian court denies parole for Pussy Riot's Tolokonnikova - ReverbReverb (blog) all 36 news articles »

Looks like New York City isn't going to hold a grudge against Uber for attempting to launch its taxi-hailing service without permission last summer. The San Francisco startup just became the first company to be approved under New York's new pilot program, which will allow selected companies to offer smartphone apps that let customers hail a cab from their phones.

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"There are several other companies in various stages of our approval process with others sure to join them, and we are excited about the prospect of seeing the universe of choices expand," David Yassky, commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine (TLC), said in a statement. It looks like at least one has jumped the gun in its excitement to start delivering cabs to riders: Hailo sent out an email offering to let riders into an "invitation only beta" starting today.

The pilot program was just cleared earlier this week when a judge ruled against a group of traditional taxi companies that had accused the new smartphone startups of violating city regulations. The 12-month program starts today, so New Yorkers in need of a ride may be able to drop the rigorous arm-waving this weekend — as long as there are enough Uber cabs on the street, that is.

• Via Valleywag
• Source NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission
• Related Items uber taxi apps hailo flywheel sidecar ridesharing transit apps taxi and limousine commission

This is Omar Borkan Al Gala, an Emirati photographer supposed to be one of the three men who were deported from Saudi Arabia last week for being “too handsome.” Omg, just look at them cheekbones.

News item: Yankee Candle unveils Boston Strong-scented candle, says it features "a heartwarming blend of cinnamon, baking spices, and a hint of freshly poured tea."

What do you think Boston Strong smells like?

read more

Original Source

petermorwood:

tumblebuggie:

[Legend of the Reichenbach Fall]

um, i bought a book about the Book of Kells and then i re-watched the Reichenbach Fall. yea >_>;;;

happy St. Patricks day lolol.

=>get it as print here

This is quite something (that’s an American quite, not a British one.) The Book of Kells meets The Lindisfarne Gospels with a generous dash of Jim Fitzpatrick. Impressive indeed!

Now THIS is glorious.

We got a glimpse at the specifications of the Google Glass Explorer Edition earlier this month thanks to Google, and one early adopter has been able to glean even more information from the device itself. After hacker Liam McLoughlin discovered a debug mode on the Explorer Edition, Jay Lee was able to connect the device to the Android Debug Bridge and discover the operating system, processor type, and amount of RAM.

According to Lee, the device runs Android 4.0.4. Ice Cream Sandwich, and lists 682MB of RAM — though various messages lead Lee to believe the device actually has 1GB of RAM, with part of the memory reserved for unknown hardware-specific reasons. The processor, however, is somewhat of a surprise. The device is listed as running a dual-core OMAP 4430 CPU, though Lee was unable to confirm the speed of the processor. While the OMAP family made appearances in the original Kindle Fire and the then-flagship Galaxy Nexus, its never seen the broad adoption in mobile device Texas Instruments had hoped for. Smartphone manufacturers relied so heavily on options from the likes of Qualcomm, in fact, that Texas Instruments decided last year to drop smartphone development from its OMAP plans altogether. As more Explorer Editions make their way into users' hands, we expect even more revelations to emerge about the device — to say nothing of the Google Glass apps that are rolling out.

• Via Gizmodo
• Source Jay Lee (Google+)
• Related Items google glass explorer edition omap processor jay lee Texas Instruments Google

Pinterest scrapped a lot of features in its March redesign, but after backlash from users, the company announced today that it's bringing many of the old features back, including "via" links and @-mention functionality. Pinterest also announced new features familiar from other sites, like predictive search and a Facebook-style notification scroll in the upper right corner of the site. The changes won't alter the user experience too much, but they're a sign of the company's newfound technical chops, coming just a month after the site's redesign and backend overhaul. Pinners can opt into the redesign by clicking on the "get it now" button at the top of their feed.

• Via Engadget
• Source Pinterest Blog
• Related Items pinterest redesign notifications backlash

The Neo Geo X Gold console has reached its lowest price yet, with Best Buy putting the handheld (with Neo Geo-shaped dock, full-size joystick, and Ninja Master's cartridge) on sale for $99.99, $100 cheaper than its original price. If you'd like an extra arcade stick, it's also half-price, on sale now for $25.

Amazon still offers the set for $129.99 - which will be the MSRP of the standalone Neo Geo X (with no dock) when that launches.

Neo Geo X hits $100 at Best Buy originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Boston Festival of Indie Games will return to MIT's campus in September, and organizers hope to make this year's show bigger, better, and less sweltering than last year's event with help from Kickstarter backers.

Showcasing tabletop games, interactive art, and video games developed by local studios like Owlchemy Labs (Snuggle Truck) and Wadjet Eye Games (Resonance), the inaugural Boston Festival of Indie Games was a bigger success than its creators anticipated, attracting an estimated 2,000 attendees.

"[Last year's] festival was a lot of fun, but it was cramped and hot," the Kickstarter pitch notes. "MIT's Stratton Student Center and Johnson Athletic Center will better accommodate the crowds, exhibitors and game developers at Boston Festival of Indie Games. Our goal is to have plenty of room for all the great features that come with the festival, like the game developer showcase, tabletop game play, art gallery, game jam, keynote speakers, films and much more."

Backers who pledge $25 or more will receive an advance pass to 2013's event, along with the "Figgie Bundle," a downloadable PC game compilation that includes Subatomic Studios' Fieldrunners, Fire Hose Games' Go Home Dinosaurs, Popcannibal's Fish Listening to the Radio, and Binary Takeover's Lost Marbles. More titles will be added to the bundle as money continues to roll in.

Boston Festival of Indie Games offers PC game bundle as Kickstarter incentive originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update: According to an internal memo sent to EA staff and obtained by Kotaku, the publisher's latest restructuring plan includes moving EA's Origin business under the organization of Frank Gibeau's Labels group and placed EA Sports head Andrew Wilson in charge of the Origin Network.

The memo says "the workforce reductions which we communicated in the last two weeks represent the majority of our planned personnel actions."

Original Story: Following more rumored layoffs and the reported closure of EA Partners, Electronic Arts has posted the following statement regarding the constant drip of employees being let go across divisions.

"In recent weeks, EA has aligned all elements of its organizational structure behind priorities in new technologies and mobile. This has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of our employees - those that are leaving EA will be missed by their colleagues and friends," reads a company statement posted this afternoon.

"These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us."

The extent of the EA layoffs and restructuring should come into full view when the company announces its fiscal year results on May 7.

EA admits to more layoffs, still won't give specifics [Update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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meme4u:

http://memeblock.com/

Ever since he left Epic Games, Cliff Bleszinski’s been letting his opinions fly fast and unfettered. At this week’s East Coast Game Conference, he talked about where the future of games might be heading.

During the 25-minute talk—spotted on GamersNexus—he offers up opinions on the folks who pirate games and the heavy-handed top-down approach protecting copyright on the internet. He also talked about what’s special about the Oculus Rift and the tension between AAA and indie games.

[Via GamersNexus]

Today news of a bizarre bug affecting Apple's iMessage platform is quickly spreading across Twitter. The bug appears to render the final word of certain messages sent from an iPhone or Mac invisible to both sender and recipient. Two phrases have been confirmed as affected by the issue, with one oddly including President Barack Obama. Attempting to send "I could be the next Obama" followed by a trailing space will result in Obama's name being hidden from the received message. Everything looks fine until you hit the "send" button, after which — on both screens — the final word vanishes and is replaced with blank space. Oddly, copying and pasting the message (blank text and all) reveals the original composition. We've been able to confirm the strange issue firsthand on various iPhones.

"The best prize is a surprise " seems to be another phrase that triggers the phenomenon. And though it's only being widely publicized today, iPhone owners have been complaining about the issue (which extends beyond the above samples) for several months now. An Apple support forums thread from December points out the repeatable problem on Mac OS X Mountain Lion, with later posts concluding that the visual bug only affects iPhone (messages show up properly on iPad). We've reached out to Apple for comment on the situation.

• Related Items imessage bug text ios Apple

Thank God it’s Frida

On their Twitter feed, The White House has just announced their new Tumblr blog, Whitehouse.Tumblr.com, which they promise will have GIFs.

We see some great things here at the White House every day, and sharing that stuff with you is one of the best parts of our jobs. That’s why we’re launching a Tumblr. We’ll post things like the best quotes from President Obama, or video of young scientists visiting the White House for the science fair, or photos of adorable moments with Bo. We’ve got some wonky charts, too. Because to us, those are actually kind of exciting.

But this is also about you. President Obama is committed to making this the most open and accessible administration in history, and our Tumblr is no exception.

We want to see what you have to share: Questions you have for the White House, stories of what a policy like immigration reform means to you, or ways we can improve our Tumbling. We’re new here, and we’re all ears.

So give us a follow, send a post our way using the submission tool, and stick around to see some things you won’t want to miss.

And yes, of course there will be GIFs.

Breaking: The White House is now on @tumblr (and there will be GIFs). at.wh.gov/ksJHi, twitter.com/whitehouse/sta…

— The White House (@whitehouse) April 26, 2013

via The Verge

By Chris Plante on Apr 26, 2013 at 2:37p

All is not well in Montreal.

The reboot of the medieval stealth franchise Thief has been in production at Eidos Montreal for five years. According to anonymous sources familiar with the studio, corporate politics, creative confusion and a lack of publisher oversight have inflated production costs, impeded the game's creation and led to the departures of numerous senior and junior team members. Now, after half a decade, publisher Square Enix is hoping to release Thief on the next generation of consoles and PCs.

The Thief reboot began in 2008, first as a series of conceptual meetings, then as vertical slice from a team within Eidos Montreal. "Vertical slice" is industry terminology for a condensed demonstration of a game's potential art, design, gameplay and tone. A vertical slice is made by small team and helps the publisher decide whether a project should enter full production.

Around the same time and in the same building, a different Eidos Montreal team began production on Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which would go on to be a critical and financial success. In early 2009, Square Enix acquired Eidos Interactive and its numerous brands, including Thief and Deus Ex. Ensuring the completion and promotion of Deus Ex: Human Revolution demanded much of Square Enix's attention, so the Thief team created its vertical slice relatively free of supervision. After nine months, the project was finished. Happy with the result, Square Enix greenlit Thief.

Thief's vertical slice took nine months to complete

Backed by a large AAA budget, the Thief team expanded rapidly. While the project attracted a few designers, programmers and artists from across the globe, many came from other Montreal studios. A number of senior team members previously worked together at Ubisoft Montreal, and were quick to recruit local colleagues. According to one source, collegial favoritism began to divide the office.

The lead and senior design roles were fluid, with some team members departing after less than two years. According to one source, each new lead and senior designer would come with a new vision for the game. Old ideas — including stages and mechanics — would be rebuilt or scrapped. In March of this year, the same month as the game's publicity push on the cover of Game Informer magazine, Lead Game Designer Dominic Fleury left the studio.

The studio has seen a number of high level departures

Sources emphasized the high level of talent and enthusiasm of team members, many of whom came to work on Thief because of their love of the franchise. Those same sources cited team politics and conflicting visions as cause for many departures and setbacks.

Due to a need to hit promotional deadlines, the latter part of 2012 and early 2013 was focused on creating press demos, the first of which was shown for the Game Informer cover and also at last month's Game Developers Conference. According to a source, the demo took nearly 10 months of development time, roughly six of which required the participation of nearly every content creator on the team. The level, which takes place in part inside a brothel, apparently featured "Cinemax-level" sex sequences at one point that some animators were uncomfortable creating.

Over the past few years, Square Enix has become increasingly concerned with the status of the game, now half a decade into development. A source says Eidos Montreal turned to a German investment firm for additional funds, something superiors within the studio claimed to be a common strategy in the industry and not cause for concern.

The current version of Thief barely resembles the initial concept, says a source. The vertical slice doesn't load inside Thief's current heavily modified version of Unreal Engine 3. Many programming tricks were necessary to run the current demonstration, like turning off non-playable character AI — the engine has trouble when too many characters are on screen.

Thief's development troubles come at a difficult time for Square Enix. This year, the company shipped 3.4 million copies of its Tomb Raider reboot, but failed to meet the company's expectations of 5 to 6 million copies. Last year, the company's stealth-action game Hitman: Absolution and open-world crime game Sleeping Dogs also underperformed, despite selling millions of copies. For the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2013 Square Enix originally predicted a net profit of ¥3.5 billion ($37m), but recently expected to report a net loss of ¥13 billion ($138m). In reaction to what the company called an "extraordinary loss," company president Yoichi Wada has stepped down and will be replaced by CFO Yosuke Matsuda in June.

The vertical slice no longer runs in the game's engine.

We were shown the long-in-development Thief demo at the Game Developers Conference last month, and noted both the game's impressive technology and curious design choices. Footage from the demo was originally intended to be shared with the public, but a source says those plans were recently scrapped due to internal unhappiness with the quality of the captured footage.

We've heard that Eidos will show the game publicly for the first time at this year's E3 in June.

Whisk Yourself Away Into the Faniverse!

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Kill9 has reimagined events from first two seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones as a kid’s puppet show called Dany & Friends. The first episode features Baby Khaleesi dancing with her dragons and interacting with other characters from the show.

via io9

via http://brettjohn.tumblr.com/

How do you know if Dating Freedom Lovers is right for you? Well, you should probably adore Alex Jones, who makes Piers Morgan seem rational by comparison.

Nintendo's Wii U has not sold well, and among those who own or have at least played it, a chief complaint has been slow load times. A patch released last night improves things dramatically — improving load times by up to 31 percent, according to an analysis done by Polygon. Still, the system takes anywhere from 8 to 21 seconds to complete simple tasks including returning to the main menu. Check out Polygon's video analysis below and see for yourself.

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But for Nintendo, which recently reported its its second straight year of operating losse, any load time improvements aren't likely to be enough to help it regain its once dominant position in the increasingly turbulent console market. That's especially true given the imminent launch of more fierce competition in the form of the PS4 and a new Xbox. However, Nintendo has been counted out many times before only to re-emerge as a console king, so this update surely can't hurt its future prospects.

• Source Polygon
• Related Items patch speed test loading Wii U Wii Nintendo Home consoles

1. Tweak Unity.

Click the button below to install Unity Tweak Tool:


Or use the following command in a terminal to install it:

sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool

If you use GNOME Shell, install GNOME Tweak Tool instead.

2. Privacy settings.

• delete recent history
• blacklist applications or folders / partitions from showing up in Dash

sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:diesch/testing
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install indicator-privacy

3. Solution for popular missing features: weather and calendar indicators.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install my-weather-indicator

Install Google Calendar Indicator using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install calendar-indicator

For more indicators, check out our AppIndicator tag.

4. Improve battery life, other important tweaks

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw
sudo tlp start

More about TLP.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia

More about Bumblebee, using the Primus backend, etc.

5. Fix Google Chrome, Skype.

• libudev0 for 32bit
• libudev0 for 64bit

Then, Google Chrome Stable or Beta should install in Ubuntu 13.04.

sudo sed -i 's/^Exec=skype.*/Exec=bash -c "export LD_PRELOAD=\/usr\/lib\/i386-linux-gnu\/mesa\/libGL\.so\.1 \&\& skype %U"/' /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop

sudo sed -i 's/^Exec=bash.*/Exec=skype %U/' /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop

6. Migrate / upgrade PPAs (advanced users)

To install Y PPA Manager, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install y-ppa-manager

7. Install codecs, Java.

Or install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Or by using the following command:

sudo apt-get install libavformat-extra-53 libavcodec-extra-53

Or by using the following command:

sudo apt-get install icedtea-7-plugin openjdk-7-jre

Or by using the following command:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

In 24 charts, the Washington Post reveals how George W. Bush's presidency screwed up the country and the rest of the world for many years to come. Health, employment, the GDP, public services, the Middle East, and almost every other measurable condition of civilization's health and welfare were severely damaged by Bush's policies, all of which were enacted to make rich people richer. In achieving that goal, Bush's presidency was a resounding success.

Even if you don’t blame the [debt] crisis on Bush, at least half the debt is directly attributable to his policy choices. Racking up debt isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and some have even argued that surpluses can be economically dangerous, but for whatever it’s worth, Bush played a big role there. It’s also worth noting that Bush was increasing the deficit at a time when the economy was expanding — which is exactly the opposite of what Keynesians believe makes sense, and which also made it more difficult for the country to respond to the recession.

George W. Bush’s presidency, in 24 charts

Submitted by: Iron-man01

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It can backfire quickly.

Being Snobby On Facebook is a post from: The Inquisitr

If your hair is wrong, your entire life is wrong.