4th Of July Desserts fireworks fireworks 4th of July Andy Griffith joe johnson scientology
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Sony Poised to Fire Next Shot in Next-Gen Console Wars
Sony issued an invite Thursday to an event on Feb. 20 that could give gamers their first glimpse at the PlayStation 4, the company's next-generation console to go head-to-head against Nintendo's Wii U and whatever Microsoft unveils later this year. Sony had previously hinted that it would provide PS4 details in advance of this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in Los Angeles in June.
Stratego iPad App - Business Insider
Stratego, the epic 80-piece board game, has arrived on the iPad.
The translation from tabletop war game to self-contained iPad game is, in a word,?awesome.
It would've been very easy to turn out a functional but phoned-in app, but there were clearly no corners cut here. This is detailed, thought-out, and beautiful.
If it seems like I'm waxing poetic over a silly board game, it's only because this one has something of a special place in my heart. My family discovered it during a trip to the Netherlands however long ago, and we simply never stopped playing it. When I moved to New York, this obviously put a damper in my ability to play with friends and family.
But this app makes multiplayer Stratego completely possible, along with chat functionality and cross-platform capabilities. You no longer need the board and the pieces to replicate the gaming experience. Just an app.
We got to speak to Keesing Games, the folks responsible for bringing the app to market, to learn more.
The company is most proud of the app's cross-platform functionality. Not only will it run on your iPad, but you can engage in realtime games with friends on Facebook as well. It prides itself on having created a truly "social" game with realtime gameplay and chat functionality. Compare this to Farmville, with no comparable social aspect.
Since its release this week, Stratego won a dedicated fanbase. Even though it takes 20-30 minutes to complete a game, Keesing Games told us that users are engaged inside the app for an average of 70 minutes, playing two to three games per session.
They also introduced a speedier 10-piece minigame if you'd rather play for shorter sessions.
Designing the AI proved a unique challenge. Unlike chess, where the position of every piece is known, Stratego uses "closed pieces" in which a unit's identity is unknown until it's time to do battle. This makes it far more difficult for a computer to calculate moves, but having played several single player matches against the AI, I can tell you that it's a strong opponent.
But not as strong as my dad. That guy's unstoppable.
You can pick up Stratego in the App Store for $6.99. I definitely recommend it.
Keesing Games produced the video below to teach people how to play Stratego. The game is already pretty straightforward, but this video makes it completely accessible.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/stratego-ipad-app-2013-2
obama birth certificate nick cannon lindsay lohan saturday night live snl lindsay lohan valley fever project x the lorax
Friday, February 1, 2013
Lohan seeks $1M from company over fashion line
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, Lindsay Lohan attends the Mr. Pink Ginseng launch party at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. A scheduling hearing for a case alleging Lohan lied to police, drove recklessly and obstructed officers from performing their duties is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, before a judge who has previously sentenced the actress to house arrest and jail time. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, Lindsay Lohan attends the Mr. Pink Ginseng launch party at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. A scheduling hearing for a case alleging Lohan lied to police, drove recklessly and obstructed officers from performing their duties is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, before a judge who has previously sentenced the actress to house arrest and jail time. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, Lindsay Lohan attends the Mr. Pink Ginseng launch party at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. A scheduling hearing for a case alleging Lohan lied to police, drove recklessly and obstructed officers from performing their duties is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 before a judge who has previously sentenced the actress to house arrest and jail time. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Lindsay Lohan sued her former collaborators on a clothing line on Thursday, seeking more than $1.1 million and renewed control of the brand's trademarks.
The lawsuit claims a clothing manufacturer who previously worked with Lohan continues to sell items under the actress' 6126 Collection, which started out as a legging brand and had ambitions to expand into other clothing items.
The breach of contract, fraud and trademark infringement lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles federal court seeks royalties and other payments from D.N.A.M. Apparel Industries LLC.
The suit claims D.N.A.M. has failed to pay Lohan more than $1 million in royalties and has not abided by an agreement to seek the "Liz & Dick" star's input on merchandise. D.N.A.M. also agreed to promote and expand the 6126 into swimwear, cosmetics and other apparel and open a showroom in New York, according to the lawsuit.
The case asks a judge to order the company to stop using the 6126 name and trademarks. Lohan named the clothing line after the June 1, 1926, birthdate of her idol, Marilyn Monroe.
A phone number for D.N.A.M. Apparel was unanswered on Thursday morning and other attempts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.
"Lindsay's very passionate about her apparel line and about designing," her attorney Perry Wander said. "The purpose of this suit is to wrest control of her trademark away from this company that's been selling items overseas and online under the 6126 trademark."
He said Lohan is looking forward to designing a new line and will negotiate with a new company to license her trademarks.
The actress, who faces possible jail time over charges she lied to police about a car crash, briefly appeared in a criminal court on Wednesday.
She has sued several times over alleged misuse of her name and image, including a lawsuit she settled in 2010 against E-Trade over a Super Bowl ad that featured babies talking about a "milkaholic" named Lindsay.
___
Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
Associated Pressmlk being human being human chicago news chicago news golden girls robert e lee
Defiant Iran plans to speed up nuclear fuel work
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has announced plans to install advanced uranium enrichment machines in what would be a technological leap allowing it to significantly speed up production of material the West fears could be put to developing nuclear weapons.
In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran said it would introduce new centrifuges to its main enrichment plant near Natanz, according to an IAEA communication to member states seen by Reuters.
The defiant move will increase concerns in the West and Israel about Iran's nuclear ambitions, which Tehran says are entirely peaceful, and may further complicate efforts by big powers to negotiate curbs on its enrichment program.
Enriched uranium can fuel nuclear power plants, Iran's stated aim, or provide material for bombs if refined to a high degree, which the West suspects is Tehran's underlying purpose.
"It is certainly a provocation to increase any enrichment capacity at all," a senior Western diplomat said.
It was not clear how many of the new centrifuges Iran planned to put in place at Natanz, which is designed for tens of thousands of machines, but the wording of the IAEA's note implied it could be up to roughly 3,000.
Analysts say U.N. sanctions have limited Iran's access abroad to special steel and other components needed to produce sophisticated enrichment machines in larger numbers.
Iran has for years been trying to develop centrifuges more efficient than the erratic 1970s IR-1 model it now has, but their introduction for full-scale production has been dogged by delays and technical hurdles, experts and diplomats say.
Iran's announcement coincides with wrangling between Tehran and six world powers over when and where to meet next, delaying a resumption of talks aimed at reaching a negotiated deal and avert a new Middle East war.
The powers - the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China - want Iran to scale back its enrichment to ensure it remains within peaceful dimensions and submit to stricter U.N. nuclear inspections.
"We along with the other U.N. Security Council members have called upon the Iranians to freeze enrichment work during negotiations," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency on Thursday.
Western states have intensified the sanctions pressure on Iran over the past year, targeting its lifeline oil sector. This has inflicted increasing damage to Iran's economy but its clerical leadership is showing no sign of backing down.
Israel, believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed state, has hinted at possible military action against Iran if sanctions and diplomacy fail to resolve the nuclear stand-off.
GAME CHANGER?
Iran asserts a right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and has repeatedly refused to halt the work, a stance underlined anew by its new centrifuge plans. Centrifuges spin at supersonic speed to increase the ratio of uranium's fissile isotope.
Iran said it would use the new model at a unit in Natanz, where it is now refining uranium to a fissile concentration of up to five percent, according to the IAEA's communication.
The IAEA "received a letter from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) dated 23 January 2013 informing the Agency that 'centrifuge machines type IR2m will be used in Unit A-22' at the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz," it said.
The IAEA said it had asked Iran, in a letter earlier this week, to provide technical and other information about the plans. A unit can house more than 3,000 centrifuges.
The Vienna-based U.N. agency, whose mission it is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in the world, regularly inspects Natanz and other, declared Iranian nuclear sites.
Nuclear expert Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank said that employing the new centrifuges at Natanz could be "a most unfortunate game changer," depending on how many there were.
"Using the IR-2m in large numbers would enable Iran to enrich uranium much faster," Fitzpatrick said.
Iran says it refines uranium to power a planned network of nuclear energy plants. But just one of these plants would take many years to complete, raising many questions abroad about the motivations of a major oil and gas producer speeding up its accumulation of enriched uranium and, since early 2010, refining to a level beyond the 5 percent suitable for civilian energy.
The part of Iran's enrichment work that most worries Western diplomats - to a fissile purity of 20 percent - is carried out at the Fordow underground facility near the town of Qom.
This higher level of enrichment represents a significant step closer to weapons-grade uranium. Iran says it needs 20 percent uranium to fuel a medical research reactor in Tehran.
Fordow "has increasingly been the focus of concern about Iran's capability, but a technological breakthrough at the much bigger Natanz plant might be still more provocative," said nuclear expert Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment think-tank.
(Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich in London and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-plans-upgrade-uranium-enrichment-natanz-diplomat-081034490.html
Art Modell Frank Ocean Gay bill clinton andy roddick Costa Rica Earthquake sandra fluke kellie pickler
IDC: iPad leads record worldwide tablet shipments but loses marketshare in Q4 2012
AppleInsider writes, According to new data from research firm IDC, Apple's iPad led worldwide tablet shipments hit 51.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, but dipped in overall marketshare amid booming sales from rival Samsung.
Continue reading IDC: iPad leads record worldwide tablet shipments but loses marketshare in Q4 2012 at AppleInsider
gabby giffords geithner gabrielle giffords juliette lewis chelsea handler mitch daniels shirataki noodles
Congratulations to Crystal Cruises | Trusted Luxury
Conde? Nast gave readers six categories to vote on to determine this years winner. The categories included:
? Service:
? Activities:
? Shore Excursions:
? Staterooms:
? Food:
? Design
What separates luxury cruise lines from other mass market cruise lines is their ability to provide luxury travelers exceptional service, fine dining, a variety of leisure activities, and the space to take it all in. Luxury travelers experience the luxury cruise difference the moment they board the ship. It is believed a bad day on a luxury cruise ship is still better than a good day on any other cruise ship.
All the luxury cruise lines represent on Trusted Luxury where ranked on the list in the small or mid-size cruise rankings. Regent Seven Seas, Oceania Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises followed Crystal Cruises in the mid-size ship rankings. Seabourn Cruises lead the way in the small ship category followed by Regent Seven Seas and Silversea Cruises. Crystal received the highest ranking of any of the luxury cruise ships in either category.
Trusted Luxury congratulates Crystal Cruises and all the luxury cruise ships that were recognized for their excellence.
Source: http://www.trustedluxurycruises.com/congratulations-to-crystal-cruises/
macauly culkin joe namath stefon diggs nazi ss naomi watts andrej pejic steve jobs fbi
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)