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04 Dec 18:28

British Restaurant Offers Dim Sum With a Side of Condoms

by Kara Baskin

Seal the deal at their safe-sex lounge.

Here's one restaurant Kate Middleton probably won't frequent once she recovers from morning sickness hyperemesis gravidarum: Cabbages and Condoms. The Oxford restaurant has the distinction of being the first in the U.K. to offer "leaflets on protective sex when your meal ends," plus other safe-sex-themed goods. The restaurant, a chainlet that's really big in Thailand, reminds customers that "our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy" and that purchasing condoms should be as routine as, you know, buying cabbage. After wooing over "fascinating" dim sum and "wonderfully herbaceous" shrimp soup, diners can linger over condom-themed mugs, keyrings, and books, purchases that might seem presumptuous before a third or so date. It still sounds better than Modern Toilet restaurant. [Daily Mail, Earlier]

Read more posts by Kara Baskin

Filed Under: marketing gimmicks, cabbages and condoms, safe sex

04 Dec 18:27

Jenna-Louise Coleman to get boyfriend in Who?

by noreply@blogger.com (Cameron McEwan)
--

not even on the show yet and failing the Bechtel Test smashingly

Jenna-Louise Coleman, soon to be seen in the 2012 Christmas Special The Snowmen and also popped up as Oswin in Asylum of the Daleks, has been interviewed by magazine Marie Clare. The actress revealed that she is keen for her boyfriend, Game of Thrones actor Richard Madden, to appear in Doctor Who; she says: "He's a huge fan. I'm working on getting him on the show."

Coleman also reveals she is looking for a career in the USA, telling the magazine, "I've been to LA for meetings. I'll go back at some point."

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04 Dec 18:27

Listen: Snoop Lion's "Here Comes the King", Produced by Major Lazer

by Evan Minsker

Listen: Snoop Lion's "Here Comes the King", Produced by Major Lazer

Snoop Lion, the reggae alter ego of Snoop Dogg, just dropped another track from his forthcoming album Reincarnated. "Here Comes the King" features vocals from Angela Hunte and production from Ariel Rechtshaid, Major Lazer, and 6Blocc. Check it out above.

Here's the video for "La La La", which was also co-produced by Major Lazer:

04 Dec 18:25

Out of Print was an installation made for the London Design...









Out of Print was an installation made for the London Design Festival 2012. As respond to the the growth of digital media and this all data we suffer, they installed a letterpress and an online application that allowed users to generate seemingly random headlines.

These headlines were printed using a custom-built letterpress, forming a growing collection exhibited as part of the installation.

Both the software and the print process produce unexpected results. The distortions and juxtapositions in language generate headlines that are profound and confusing in equal measure; not unlike our evolving relationship with digital media.

04 Dec 18:23

andreastreeter: Last night I was obsessed with Twitter the...

by vectorbelly


andreastreeter:

Last night I was obsessed with Twitter the Comic and also looking back at all my tweets. Then this happened.

Based on a Jake Fogelnest tweet and inspired by @VectorBelly. (I CAN DRAW CUTE KITTIES GUYS!)

04 Dec 18:22

Replay Games fetches a new game and a chief creative officer (exclusive)

by Dean Takahashi

replay

Replay Games raised money earlier this year to remake the Leisure Suit Larry game, and now it’s following up that achievement by hiring a new chief creative officer and acquiring a new game that it will publish.

Those are a couple of signs that the company, born on Kickstarter, is becoming a more well-rounded game publisher. The Austin, Texas-based Replay told GamesBeat exclusively that it has hired Josh Mandel as chief creative officer. Mandel is the former director of the Sierra On-Line design department and former director of game design at Sega of America. Mandel has designed, written and produced more than 40 games for Broderbund, Microsoft, Legend, Sierra, Vicarious Visions, Sega, Midway, and Hasbro.

Mandel is helping the company re-create Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, said Paul Trowe, Replay’s chief executive. Replay raised more than $600,000 via crowdfunding on Kickstarter to bring back the Leisure Suit Larry franchise.

“This is a priceless opportunity for me both personally and professionally. On a personal level, it allows me to be creative with people I’ve come to know and love over the course of the past 25 years,” Mandel said. “On a professional level, it puts me in a place where I can create the kinds of humorous, literate games that engendered the original market for computer games and bring them to a whole new generation of gamers.”

Replay Games is also publishing a retro-style adventure game, Fester Mudd: The Curse of the Gold. This should ship in January for Mac, PC, iOS, and Android. Fester Mudd is a throwback to the old-school adventure games that dominated gaming in the ’80s and ’90s. It has a Western theme and humor. Al Lowe, the famed creator of the Leisure Suit Larry series, said, “I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. Actually, that crying part is a lie. Fester is a good ol’-timey adventure game in the true spirit of Sierra’s best games.”

Fester under development at Finland’s Prank Entertainment. It’s a Steam Greenlight submission. Greenlight is Valve’s service where members of the digital distribution community can review and vote on the submissions. If approved, Fester Mudd could make its way to the Steam platform.

“We’re thrilled to be joining with Replay Games and Josh Mandel in order to bring Fester Mudd to audiences new and old,” said Seppo Santapukki, the chief creative officer at Prank Entertainment. “Our game is a virtual love letter to classic adventure gaming, and Replay’s ability to tap into that audience is exactly what we’d hoped to find in a partner. We’re also hoping to introduce our style of classic gaming to today’s audiences, so they can experience the charm, the humor, and the cleverness of these games firsthand.”


Filed under: Games
04 Dec 18:21

Converse One Time Shot Sale: 25% off sitewide, stacks with sale + free shipping

Today only, Converse takes 25% off sitewide, including sale items, as part of its One Time Shot Sale. (The discount is taken in-cart.) Plus, all orders qualify for free shipping. That's tied with our Cyber Monday mention as the best percent-off discount combined with free shipping sale we've seen from Converse in recent months. (For further comparison, we saw 30% off sitewide last month, however that sale did not include free shipping.) Sales tax is added where applicable and some exclusions apply, such as Design Your Own and DC Comics shoes.

A best bet is the Converse Men's and Women's Chuck Taylor All-Star Slip Shoes in Gingersnap (pictured) for $39.99 before cart, $29.99 after. With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we could find for any Chuck Taylor slip shoes by $13. They come in men's sizes 3 to 13 and women's 5 to 15.

04 Dec 18:21

Spending Time With Hanksy, Mini Documentary Following The NYC Parody Street Artist

by Justin Page

Spending Time With Hanksy is a mini documentary that follows New York City parody street artist Christopher Lee Rios (aka “Hanksy”) as he creates his Graffigan wheatpaste poster series of Jim Gaffigan and a Stark & Recreation mash-up stencil of Aziz Ansari & Iron Man. The short clip was shot and edited by videographer Keith Haskel as part of his ongoing Spending Time With series. We have previously written about Hanksy and his various works.

Spending Time With Hanksy

Spending Time With Hanksy

submitted by Keith Haskel

04 Dec 18:20

Dick Armey leaves Tea Party group with $8 million payout

by The Associated Press
--

The Tea Party isn't lead by the Dick Army anymore?
Also, how shitty is your secret deal when the AP reports on it almost immediately?

The former Republican House majority leader leaves, FreedomWorks under a secret deal The former Republican House majority leader leaves FreedomWorks under a secret deal. that will pay him $8 million.
04 Dec 18:19

Appeals court rules against Verizon challenge to FCC rule

by The Associated Press
A court ruled that the FCC had the legal authority to issue the "data roaming rule," which requires big wireless carriers to open their data networks to smaller regional operators in certain places.
04 Dec 18:18

New WebKit builds offer scrolling relief for retina MacBook Pros

by Jacqui Cheng

Retina MacBook Pro owners who have been frustrated at slow Safari performance may find some relief in the recent WebKit nightly builds. The discovery was originally dug up by a MacRumors forum post and tested by AnandTech on Tuesday, showing a significant increase in frame rates when scrolling through certain sites, such as Facebook.

AnandTech put one of the recent builds to the test on a 13-inch MacBook Pro with retina display running Mountain Lion at 1440x900 (AnandTech used version r135516, though the most recent build as of publication is version r136460). Using Quartz Debug to look at the differences in frame rate, the site saw the average of sites like Facebook more than double, from an average of around 20fps to around ~47fps. But this "fix" only applies to media-heavy sites that previously caused the MacBook Pro to choke up—when testing on sites that otherwise performed fine in Safari on the retina MacBook Pro, performance remained roughly the same.

According to the MacRumors forum thread, Apple plans to eventually release a full version of Safari with this level of optimization, so if you're wary of running prerelease builds of WebKit, you may not have to wait long. But if you're a retina MacBook Pro user whose blood pressure ticks up every time Safari gets laggy, the nightly build could offer you sweet, sweet relief until the next major Safari release comes down the pipeline.

Read on Ars Technica | Comments

04 Dec 18:18

I CAN’T TELL IF I’M HONESTLY FULFILLING MY DEEPEST...



I CAN’T TELL IF I’M HONESTLY FULFILLING MY DEEPEST WISHES AND PURSUING MY DREAMS OR IF I’VE JUST BEEN YELLING “YOLO” EVERY TIME I DO SOMETHING EXCEEDINGLY STUPID.

IT’S NOT LIKE I’LL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RECTIFY ANY SERIOUS MISTAKES I MIGHT MAKE.

YOLO, AND ALL THAT.

04 Dec 18:00

Street youths and foodcart operators brawl in downtown Portland

by Tom Hallman Jr., The Oregonian
--

PDX as heck

The dispute, which can be traced back to last summer, finally boiled over.
04 Dec 17:59

Sent Directly to the Spam Filter of My ♥

by Dorothy

Comic

04 Dec 17:58

Spearhead From Space Remastered In High Definition

by John Bowman
The debut story of Jon Pertwee has been given the high-definition treatment for Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

Spearhead From Space - Doctor Who's first colour story - is the only adventure from the classic era that can be remastered into true HD say experts because, thanks to industrial action at BBC TV Centre, all four episodes were shot on location on 16mm film rather than being recorded on videotape - the only time this was ever done on the show.

The digital media services team of BBC Studios and Post Production was commissioned by BBC Worldwide to remaster the story, which was first broadcast in January 1970 and also introduced Caroline John as assistant Liz Shaw. The "facelift" has given the story a cinematic finish, and the Blu-ray is now scheduled for release on Monday 15th July 2013.

The original 16mm negatives were scanned and digitised using state-of-the-art equipment, and other work has included repairing damage done to one episode's negative caused by a reaction with chemicals during a printing process some years ago. Dirt has also been removed, grain lessened, joins cleaned up, and picture movement stabilised. The soundtrack, which had previously been remastered, was then added to the final master version.

Jonathan Wood, the team's lead colourist, said: The look of this HD remaster is a low-key filmic approach, which gives it more of a dramatic result. Working with the original negative and using a powerful, non-linear grading system, we decided to treat this four-part story like an individual filmed drama rather than thinking of it as part of an ongoing series normally shot in a TV studio. Clive Hodge, the digital media services head, said: We're delighted to have teamed up with BBC Worldwide to have remastered such an iconic programme for its 50th anniversary. Doctor Who is one of the few series to remain popular through the ages, and it's fantastic that the younger generations will have the chance to see this landmark story in the same picture quality that they've become used to with the more recent series.
News Links: 4rfv.co.uk; Ariel

Doctor Who News
04 Dec 17:50

Watch this: the twisted yet wonderful Russian adaptation of 'The Hobbit'

by Ben Kersey
Russian 'The Hobbit'

Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the The Hobbit is set to win the hearts and minds of Tolkien fans over Christmas, but the film’s use of 3D and HFR will no doubt cause ticket prices to skyrocket. Why pay an exorbitant amount of money in the cinema when there’s a fantastic Russian version from 1984 waiting to be watched right now? It's a legitimate film that follows the rough plot of the book, but the parody subtitles simply serve to make the whole affair even more delightful. Some may question the production values combined with the absurd English translations, but even the most hardened skeptics have to admit that this take on the novel will probably be more entertaining than the forthcoming blockbuster.

Thanks, Momchil!

Continue reading…

04 Dec 17:50

UK newspaper The Times offering subsidized Nexus 7 tablet with its digital subscription

by Vlad Savov
the times nexus 7

The only major UK newspaper to embrace paywalls, The Times, is seeking to sweeten its deal this month by throwing in a subsidized Nexus 7 tablet as part of a new "Digi Bundle." In short, you get a £149 discount on the £199 32GB Nexus 7, which The TImes will sell you for £50 when bought alongside an 18-month subscription to its Digital Pack. The latter provides access to the newspaper's web and mobile app content, acting as its digital subscription service, and costs £17.33 per month. The overall cost of pairing the Android 4.2 tablet and Times plus Sunday Times digital access is then £361.94, but you can chop that down with an additional discount taking the price to £299 if you opt to pay for everything in one payment up front.

M...

Continue reading…

04 Dec 17:49

"Forest" Skull

by noreply@blogger.com (Tatman)
--

maps + skulls = together at last

This paper mache map skull, appropriately titled "Forest", is courtesy of Kurtiss Lofstrom of Portland, OR.


It's not a good thing when you can't see the forest for the trees, but seeing the forest on the skull is much better. Thanks for the reminder, Kurtiss!
04 Dec 17:48

Run, jump, and warp through test chambers on your TI graphing calculator in 'Portal Prelude'

by Justin Rubio
portal prelude ti calculator

As if you needed more distractions from class, Reddit user Builderboy2005 has created his own version of Valve's hit game Portal for use on TI-83 and TI-84 calculators. Unlike the original game, which uses a first person perspective, Portal Prelude is a side-scrolling platformer filled with 38 test chambers to make your way through with the help of your trusty portal gun. The game's creator says it took several years to create, and the scripted dialogue that is interspersed throughout shows his close attention to detail. Take a look at the video below to see Portal Prelude in action, and if you have one of Texas Instruments' graphing calculators handy, feel free to download the game for yourself.

Continue reading…

04 Dec 17:47

This season, Boardwalk Empire got great

by Jason Kottke
--

"Fortunately, Season 3 has changed everything."
sheeeeeeeeeeeeeit

My wife and I have been watching Boardwalk Empire for the past three seasons and it's seemed at times like we were the only ones. Writing for Grantland, Carles argues that the show got great this season and I totally agree. (Warning: tons of spoilers.)

Basically, I spent the first two seasons of Boardwalk Empire trying to figure out whether or not I even enjoyed the show. It featured premium producers, directors, writers, and actors, but it never felt like you were watching the show of the moment. Boardwalk Empire has been popular enough to get renewed regularly (it will be back for a fourth season next year), but it's been difficult to come to a consensus on whether or not it has been a fulfilling experience. There's a gap between high-end critical acclaim and casual fans. The uninitiated never get it. 'It's boring,' they say. 'It's trying to be something it isn't.' And maybe they were right. Fortunately, Season 3 has changed everything.

The show's tough to recommend to people because it's such a slow starter (compared to something like Breaking Bad or Homeland or whatever), but I'm happy we stuck with it.

Tags: Boardwalk Empire   TV
04 Dec 17:46

Woodward scoop: Murdoch and Fox News chief Ailes tried to get Petraeus to run for president

by Jeff Sonderman
--

Fox News, everybody

The Washington Post | Fox News
Bob Woodward reports that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes had a Fox analyst visiting Afghanistan deliver a message to Gen. David Petraeus in 2011 — that the general should demand to be appointed chairman … Read more

04 Dec 17:45

Gmail 2.0 for iOS released with redesigned interface, multiple account support, and more

by Bryan Bishop
via f.cl.ly

Android users got an updated version of Gmail yesterday, and now iPhone and iPad users are getting some attention. Version 2.0 of the Gmail app is now available in Apple's App Store, offering an assortment of enhancements — including support for multiple accounts, predictive search results as the user is typing, and an "infinite scrolling" inbox. The app also features better integration with Google's own services as well; users can now reply to Google Calendar invites directly within the app, and can add comments to Google+ posts as well.

The app's redesign does bear some resemblance to Sparrow, the popular email application that Google picked up in July, though according to MG Siegler the Sparrow team was not part of the effort. The...

Continue reading…

04 Dec 17:43

Devs slam Hitman: Absolution promotion that invited you to identify female Facebook friends by their "small tits" and then kill them

--

#gamerculture

UPDATE: Hitman: Absolution publisher Square Enix has issued a short statement in response to the promotion, apologising for the app's content which it described as "wide of the mark".

"Earlier today we launched an app based around Hitman: Absolution that allowed you to place virtual hits on your Facebook friends. Those hits would only be viewable by the recipient, and could only be sent to people who were confirmed friends," the message passed to Eurogamer reads.

"We were wide of the mark with the app, and following feedback from the community we decided the best thing to do was remove it completely and quickly. This we've now done.

Read more…

04 Dec 16:34

Adobe hopes for more Flash developers with Game Developer Tools

--

"converting C++ games to run on Flash"
why

Adobe is hoping to attract budget-minded (read "indie") game developers to make games for Flash by offering a full range of game development tools in one subscription-based package. The company launched its Game Developer Tools at a San Francisco event Monday evening, a package that includes its Adobe Gaming SDK, its Flash C++ Compiler (for converting C++ games to run on Flash), and several related programs, including Flash Professional and both Photoshop and Illustrator. Premiering ...

04 Dec 16:34

Battlestar Galactica: Complete Series on Blu-ray (UK) for $52 + $5 s&h

Amazon.co.uk offers Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series on Blu-ray Disc for $62.82 (£39). At the final stage of checkout, it falls to $52.35 (£32.50). With $4.96 (£3.08) for shipping, that's $14 below our October mention and $112 under the lowest total price we could find for the U.S. release of this box set. It includes all 75 episodes on 20 discs.

Of note, although the episodes themselves will play on US Blu-ray players, the extras and special features may not.

04 Dec 16:29

Refurb Barnes & Noble NOOK Simple Touch eReader for $50 + free shipping

--

tempting

Walmart offers the refurbished Barnes & Noble NOOK Simple Touch eBook Reader, model no. BNRV300, for $49.99 with free shipping. That's the lowest total price we could find for a new or refurbished unit by $33, although we saw a new one for a buck less via in-store pickup on Black Friday. It features a 6" 800x600 touchscreen greyscale E-Ink display, on-screen keyboard, 802.11n wireless (with free access at AT&T hotspots or in Barnes & Noble stores), 2GB internal memory, microSD card slot, eBook library viewing, NOOK Friends social networking, up to two months of reading time on a single charge, and more.

Note: A 1-year warranty applies, although it's unclear who supports it.

04 Dec 16:28

What I Loathe About Far Cry 3

by John Walker
--

"I do wonder what would have stopped the story being about a local of the island rising up against the pirate oppressors. And then at least the problematic mystical bullshit would have at least been a part of his or her culture, even if it would still have remained entirely unnecessary. Or maybe just have the island be inhabited by an indigenous race that isn’t generally pathetic."

"General rule: unless your game is about rape, or willing to truly deal with the subject, maybe steer clear of rape."
From the comments: "It’s White Man’s Burden: The Game."

Yesterday I celebrated what is definitely a really fantastic game. A game that deserves celebration, a surprise treat from a series that never promised anything this involved, mad, and genre-busting. It is, overall, a very positive experience. And as I said yesterday, such experiences come at a price – when stuff is wrong, it looks very, very wrong. But in the case of Far Cry 3, this isn’t about picking up on issues that would pass in a more mediocre game – this is about really wantonly stupid mistakes, issues that defy the belief that any human being can have played the game before it was released, further evidencing the theory that this was indeed a game coded by tigers.

(more…)

04 Dec 16:24

Creating Interactive PDF Forms in InDesign CS6

by jeff witchel
--

it's still not great, but it's getting there
I want Adobe to smash Acrobat and InDesign together, specifically so you can make forms that are dynamically interactive.
fuck it you know what I'm trying to say, I want to make form-fillable character sheets in InDesign with calculations without having to add the logic in Acrobat, it makes no sense

Use InDesign to create interactive PDF forms. In this video, Jeff Witchel shows viewers how to create text boxes, radio buttons, drop down lists, and action buttons to print and email the completed form.

04 Dec 16:18

Kickstarter Projects: Dungeon Panic! (Josh Lesnick)

by Danny Cowan
--

Animal Crossing roguelike

Austin-based artist Josh Lesnick (Girly, You Suck) and the Princess Panic team recently reached their funding goal for Dungeon Panic!, an Android and iOS roguelike that focuses on building relationships with your fellow adventurers.

Dungeon Panic! is a turn-based roguelike in which many elements -- from levels layouts to the NPCs residing in the game's world -- are procedurally generated. The town sequences, inspired by Animal Crossing and the Harvest Moon games, allow players to forge alliances and become better acquainted with potential teammates. You're also given a house, which you can furnish with treasure looted during your dungeon trips.

Dungeon Panic! has surpassed its initial funding goal of $4,000, and has reached its first two stretch goals for Ouya and iOS ports. Campaign organizers also note that a PC port is possible, pending backer support.

The Premium version of Dungeon Panic! (which has no advertising and will feature "significantly less (if any) In-App purchasing") will be given to backers who pledge $4 or more. Higher reward tiers offer exclusive in-game items, sticker packs, and digital art books, among other incentives.

04 Dec 16:15

Enterprise gamification goes big as Badgeville teams up with Capgemini

by Dean Takahashi
--

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH NO

badgeville cap gemini

Gamification, the use of game-like mechanics to make non-game applications more engaging, of the business world has moved beyond its experimental phase. Add achievements, such as badges and leaderboards, to the sales process, and all of a sudden you have salespeople who are seriously motivated to win.

That idea is getting a big endorsement today as Capgemini Consulting, a giant enterprise consulting firm that specializes in transforming companies for the digital age, is teaming up with gamification provider Badgeville to accelerate the adoption of gamification in the workplace. The aim is to engage, reward, and motivate employees and customers.

“Engagement is a critical part of the technology infrastructure, and we help make sure the technology gets adopted,” said a Badgeville senior vice president, Kevin Akeroyd, in an interview with GamesBeat.

Capgemini’s digital transformation division will offer advice related to gamification to companies that are considering adopting it. Badgeville could then provide the gamification service based on the leads from Capgemini. Badgeville can set up its service to let companies reward employees for collaboration, workforce efficiency, and  loyalty.

“Serious businesses cannot ignore the transformative possibilities of gamification across their enterprise,” said Carter Lusher of Ovum Research. “The partnership between Capgemini Consulting and Badgeville signifies two global leaders teaming up to bring these powerful techniques to businesses aiming to modernize their entire employee and customer management experiences.”

Capgemini and the MIT Center for Digital Business recently studied more than 400 companies and found that digital leaders invest significantly in engaging the workforce about the digital transformation.

Maggie Buggie, a vice president at Capgemini Consulting, said, “The bringing together of Badgeville’s gamification expertise with our track record in large-scale strategic transformation is very exciting. Large and complex digitally enabled business transformations are often dependent on a significant cultural and behavioral shift, and the use of smartly applied game mechanics as part of a behavioral change program can tackle that need in an innovative, engaging, and meaningful way.”

Akeroyd said that his team worked with Capgemini over the past nine months to prepare for the partnership. He said that the alliance will give a nudge to companies that are considering new ways to motivate their workforces. Capgemini has more than 120,000 employees, including 3,600 working on digital transformation. Badgeville, founded in 2010, has more than 200 companies for its software-as-a-service gamification business.


Filed under: Business, Enterprise, Games, VentureBeat