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Saturday, March 3, 2012
New Zealand's quake-hit cathedral to be demolished (AP)
[unable to retrieve full-text content]AP - Anglican church officials in New Zealand say an iconic cathedral in downtown Christchurch must be demolished because earthquakes damaged it beyond repair.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Weaving Around Web Privacy Controls
Web browser manufactures often market their products to consumers with an emphasis on privacy, assuring users that their products can better control how personal information is used online. Carnegie Mellon privacy researcher Lorrie Cranor explains that many companies have developed quiet ways to step around some of that privacy-protecting code.
Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/02/24/147356632/weaving-around-web-privacy-controls?ft=1&f=1007
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Ray J Misses Whitney Houston, Releases Statement on Singer's Passing
For the first time since the death of Whitney Houston, the man who most recently dated this legendary singer has spoken out.
In a just-released statement, Ray J says: "Over the past few days, I've tried to process the emptiness that I am experiencing. What my heart feels cannot be expressed in words. The world lost an icon, but I lost my close friend."
Ray J and Whitney had been together for a few months prior to her passing, and were spotted out in Los Angeles about a week before she died. Sources say Ray raced to the Beverly Hills Hilton as soon as the tragic news broke.
"Nippy, I miss you so much!" Ray J added, using a nickname given to Whitney by her father. "You were so happy and full of love. Your smile will live in my heart forever."
Yes, this is the same Ray J best known to most as the man who filmed himself having intercourse with Kim Kardashian.
[Photos: WENN.com]
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Saturday, February 18, 2012
NeverDead Review - Video Game Reviews - Machinima.com ...
Developer: Rebellion /?Publisher: Konami /?Played On: Xbox 360 /?Price: $59.99 /?ESRB: Mature (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language)
Story
You play as the cocky, sullen hero Bryce who was cursed with immortality over 500 years ago. Not being able to die makes him the perfect specimen to take on contracts from a secret agency trying stop the threat of a demonic invasion. At Bryce?s side is the voluptuous vixen Arcadia, who works for the same agency as Bryce but doesn?t have the luxury (or curse, rather) of infinite life. The two work together to blast the baddies to pieces until they eventually rescue a young female pop star named Nikki. Soon after, the two of them unravel a bigger mystery as to why the demons want Nikki and how the fate of the world could hang in the balance. Interspersed between missions are cutscenes that chip away at Bryce?s past, providing more depth and motivation for his actions. The reasons Bryce and Arcadia work together simply does not make sense. Arcadia does not help in any meaningful way, and the fact that she can be killed means Bryce has extra baggage to look after on each mission. Their dialogue is poorly written and the characters sound boring and uninterested when delivering their lines. Bryce is easily the most likable character of the bunch compared to his accomplices and the random other demon mercenaries you?ll run into, but even he can?t escape from a dull storyline that doesn?t leave you with any real reason to want to see what happens next.
Gameplay
NeverDead is a third-person action game not unlike Devil May Cry. Bryce can use a variety of guns to dispatch his enemies: two pistols are available from the start of the game, and eventually you find SMGs, assault rifles, and a shotgun. Ammo is limited, however, so conserving firepower for the right moment can be critical. After 500 years of battling Bryce has also gotten pretty skilled using his butterfly blade, an obscenely large knife that makes slicing through enemies a breeze. You can also dodge roll to avoid incoming damage as well as jump to traverse over obstacles. As you kill enemies you gain experience that you use to buy new abilities, such as increased weapon damage, longer roll distances, and sharper aiming. Many parts of the environment can also be destroyed as well, causing ceilings to fall and opening up new pathways to explore.
Where NeverDead finds its unique style is with Bryce?s immortality. There are no life bars, but if Bryce takes enough hits (oftentimes one is enough) his legs, arms, and even head can go flying from his torso. Losing an arm or a leg isn?t so bad because you can still use your weapons and walk around somewhat normally, but losing your head is a different story. When decapitated, you must navigate Bryce?s head back to his body by rolling it around the level until you find his mangled torso. Your head will attach to your body when in close proximity, but when trying to reattach your limbs you have to roll over them to pick them back up. I guess simply walking over your severed arm was too much of a hassle. This is a pretty cool idea, having limbs lopped off during battle, but it happens far too often and far too easily. If you so much as brush past an enemy you can kiss your appendages goodbye. What?s worse, your head can sometimes go careening off in one corner of the stage while your body remains at the foot of the big ass monster that ripped you apart in the first place. So then you have to reassemble yourself just to get obliterated again by the same monster. Sometimes you can magically re-grow your missing limbs if a special meter is filled, but this does not alleviate the problem. There are instances where having severed limbs works out rather well, like when you have to rip your own arm off to throw it into the mouth of a creature to kill it from the inside, or when you have to pull your head off to loft it into a ventilation shaft to reach a new area, but these sequences still don?t make up for the infuriating scenarios while battling enemies.
You fight only a few styles of enemies over and over again. Four legged dog-like creatures can lunge at you from afar but are pretty easy to take out. Grotesque monsters with huge blades for heads can only be killed by your sword, giving you reason to alternate between weapons. Other enemies can only be damaged by hitting specific areas. Also little fleshy ball monsters run around the level inhaling your severed body parts. If they inhaled your head you have to succeed at a small quick-time event or it?s game over (strangely, for a hero who can?t die). Killing enemies in the first level is fine and all, but fighting basically the same enemies just with different colors all throughout the entire game is boring. One highlight is the impressive boss battles that mark the end of each stage. I mentioned one boss that has you firing your gun inside its stomach in order to kill it, and another has you killing off electrically charged flying monsters before you?re able to attack the tender underbelly of a demon nearly three stories high. Though the bosses are cool and well designed, they simply aren?t worth trudging through level after level just to see them.
Control
Sloppy controls make an already mediocre game worse. Trying to aim with your guns is a chore, as enemies move too fast, highlighting the lack of any lock-on mechanism. Toggling aim mode helps a little bit, allowing for more accurate shots, but it still doesn?t make it much easier to hit your target. The butterfly blade does have a lock-on ability, however, making it the more sensible choice of weaponry. While using the blade, you lock on to an enemy with the left trigger, and then move the right control stick to swing in the desired direction. The game informs you that careful motions make for more damaging blade swings, but I found moving the stick left and right repeatedly was effective in just about every situation. Moving around feels sluggish, and oftentimes Bryce will get stuck behind a small piece of debris that has fallen into his path. Having to constantly roll over your body parts to pick them back up is completely unnecessary and turns the game into a gymnastics simulator instead of a demon killing marathon.
Sound and Visuals
I have to give Neverdead some credit for being fully voiced, but lackluster dialogue removes most of that credit. Arcadia is so monotone in her delivery that you?d think they had a computer reading her lines. On the other end, Nikki has an annoyingly high voice and constantly nags you even though you?re saving her life. Many lines are repeated during combat as well. I can?t tell you how many times I heard Bryce proclaim, ?Hello, anyone seen my right arm?? or ?Lookin? for my left leg? during gameplay. A heavy metal and rock-influenced soundtrack plays during each stage and sound alright. Visually the game looks good. Stages are varied and unique: first you?re in a dilapidated building, then you?re exploring a detailed museum, and later a pitch-black subway station. The characters look good, and during cutscenes they move and animate great.
Bottom Line
Ultimately NeverDead is a failed opportunity to do something special. Too many bad design choices hold back the overall experience. Repetitive gameplay, constantly having to recover your limbs, useless supporting characters, poor controls, the list goes on. The real curse for the main character isn?t immortality, but forever being a part of this game.
READ SOMETHING ELSE WHY DON'T YOU:
NeverDead Screens Will Terrify or Arouse You
NeverDead Hands-on
Neverdead Releasing In Late January
Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security Premium Edition
Many major security suite vendors are taking note of the fact that their customers need to protect multiple devices, not all of them PCs. A subscription to Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security Premium Edition ($99.99/year direct) lets you protect three PCs, three Macs, and three Android phone or tablet devices. You also get 50GB of online storage for Trend's impressive SafeSync backup tool.
Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security for PCs
Your Premium Edition subscription includes three licenses to install PC-based Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2012 ($79.95 direct for three licenses, 3.5 stars). In our testing, the PC product proved lightweight and easy to use. Its spam filter was more accurate than many. Trend Micro chose not to add a separate firewall, but rather to "boost" the effectiveness of the Windows built-in firewall, which is especially effective in Windows 7 and Vista. A system tuner component helps speed performance by eliminating unnecessary and erroneous files and Registry items.
The suite's detection of phishing (fraudulent) websites proved less effective than that of Internet Explorer alone, however. In addition, the suite's antivirus protection turned in mediocre scores in PCMag's tests and in some independent tests.
Trend Micro Smart Surfing for Mac
When you purchase Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus+ 2012 ($39.95 direct, 2.5 stars) or Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2012, you get one free license to install Trend Micro Smart Surfing for Mac, a $49.95 value. The Premium Edition extends that offer to three licenses.
While it doesn't include all the features of the PC-based suite, Smart Surfing is more than just a Mac antivirus. Phishing attacks rely on fooling the user and hence are platform-independent, so Smart Surfing aims to steer users away from fraudulent sites. It also blocks malware-hosting sites and marks up dangerous links in email and instant messages.
If your kids use the household Mac, you'll want to enable Smart Surfing's content filtering component, which blocks access to inappropriate sites in various content categories. Parents can also set it to block specific websites.
Trend Micro Mobile Security Personal Edition
A subscription to the standalone Trend Micro suite comes with one license for Trend Micro Mobile Security Personal Edition, while the Premium Edition includes three licenses. This product protects Android phones and tablets in a number of ways. Naturally it offers on-demand and on-access scanning for malware. In addition, it can scan all apps on the device and warn about any whose permissions could compromise security.
For smartphone devices, the product can block unwanted calls and text. It can locate a lost or stolen Android device or tablet and remotely lock or wipe the device, or trigger an ear-piercing alarm. The parental control component blocks access to inappropriate websites using a simple slider to set low, medium, or high sensitivity.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/GdaEaEzoQ9g/0,2817,2400236,00.asp
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
Romney targets auto bailout in battle for Michigan
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney waves at a campaign rally in Mesa, Ariz., Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney waves at a campaign rally in Mesa, Ariz., Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign rally in Mesa, Ariz., Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign rally in Mesa, Ariz., Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is wooing tea partyers in his home state of Michigan with a potentially risky strategy: blasting the auto industry bailout that many people credit with saving the state's most vital industry.
The tactic seems designed to undermine Rick Santorum's popularity with conservatives who dislike government intervention in business, even when the results appear defensible. It also reinforces Romney's image as an experienced capitalist who understands the pain sometimes involved in making companies work.
Santorum's fast rise in national polls has forced Romney to sharpen his criticisms of the former Pennsylvania senator. Santorum says his team will "plant our flag" in Michigan while also campaigning in other states.
A Romney loss in Michigan's Feb. 28 primary would be hugely embarrassing, or worse, to his campaign. His team has promoted an aura of inevitability for months, but Romney has failed to persuade the party's most conservative segments to embrace him.
Romney's father was a top auto executive and three-term governor of Michigan, and Romney still holds big financial advantages over Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Thus far, he has bought far more TV advertising time than they have.
When longtime Michigan political analyst Craig Ruff was asked if a Romney loss here is conceivable, he said: "I'm astounded, but yes." Ruff worked for Republican Gov. William Milliken but now is an independent.
He said he was surprised by how vigorously Romney is criticizing the government rescue of General Motors and Chrysler in 2008-2009.
"Many, many Republicans have ties to the auto industry," through investments or current or former employment, Ruff said. "He's got a lot of explaining to do."
Some GOP activists, however, said Romney's actions make sense. He already was on record opposing the bailouts. So his Tuesday op-ed in the Detroit News gave him a chance to elaborate, they said. And his stance will appeal to business-oriented Republicans as well as more libertarian-leaning voters who oppose government intrusion in general.
"It may be dicey in the general election, but it's not dicey in the primary," said Lansing-based Republican strategist Steve Mitchell. "Republicans opposed the auto bailout. They opposed other bailouts. They oppose bailouts."
A May 2010 poll conducted by EPIC-MRA for the Detroit Free Press found that nearly two-thirds of Michigan adults thought the auto bailout was a good idea. Republicans were more closely divided, with 51 percent calling it a good idea, and 43 percent calling it a bad idea.
Santorum, Gingrich and Paul also criticized the auto industry rescue, but Romney's remarks have drawn more attention because of his ties to the state and the auto industry.
Santorum hopes Michigan's tea party supporters will vote in big numbers, possibly overwhelming Romney's advantage with party insiders. Insurgent candidates have done well here at times. Pat Robertson won the GOP primary in 1988. John McCain beat George W. Bush here in 2000 after then-Gov. John Engler promised Michigan would be Bush's firewall.
The auto bailout started when the Bush administration loaned money to GM and Chrysler to keep them from collapsing during the 2008 financial crisis.
President Barack Obama's administration brought the total to $81 billion, and Obama now calls the results a triumph.
"When I took office, the American auto industry was on the verge of collapse. And there were some folks who said we should let it die," Obama said Wednesday in Wisconsin in a veiled swipe at Romney. "With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen."
GM emerged from bankruptcy as a considerably smaller company. It has repaid billions of dollars, but the federal government still holds much of the firm.
Chrysler was forced to join forces with Fiat. The federal government and the United Auto Workers union also became big stockholders.
General Motors says it made $8 billion in profits in 2011. Chrysler claimed profits of $225 million for the fourth quarter of 2011.
In his op-ed, Romney said the car companies should have gone through regular bankruptcy procedures. Obama rushed in to help pro-Democratic labor unions while putting taxpayers at risk, Romney said, calling it "crony capitalism on a grand scale."
"Without his intervention, things there would be better," Romney wrote. "Managed bankruptcy may sound like a death knell. But in fact, it is a way for a troubled company to restructure itself rapidly."
Steven Rattner, who oversaw the auto rescue for Obama, told the Free Press that Romney's remarks were "a complete denial of the facts." There was no private financing at the time to sustain the car companies, which would have been shuttered and sold in pieces in normal bankruptcy procedures, he said.
Many nonpartisan economists agree with that view.
John Feehery, a Washington-based GOP strategist, said Romney is taking a risk. "My own view is that the auto bailout was pretty popular in Michigan, so re-litigating that is stupid," Feehery said.
As for Romney's stakes here, Feehery said: "Losing Michigan could be fatal."
Romney was campaigning in Grand Rapids on Wednesday. Both he and Santorum planned to appear in the Detroit area Thursday.
Michigan voters are just starting to see the sort of TV ads that flooded Iowa, South Carolina and other early states. Romney and Santorum, and the independent committees that support them, are airing or preparing to put up positive and negative ads.
A pro-Romney spot notes he "grew up in Michigan."
An anti-Santorum ad, which ran in earlier states, says Santorum voted five times in Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling, an issue the tea party has turned into a battle cry. The ad calls Santorum a "big spender" and "Washington insider."
Santorum is pushing back with an ad in which a Romney look-alike fires mud from a gun but ends up splattering himself. "Mitt Romney's ugly attacks are going to backfire," the narrator says.
It's not clear that Santorum can raise enough money to make it a fair fight on the airwaves. He says he has raised several million dollars since his surprise wins in the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses last week. But Democrats who track GOP media buys said Romney and his friendly political action committee have spent $1.8 million for TV time in Michigan, while Santorum has spent less than $45,000.
Santorum told The Associated Press he hopes to finish "a good strong second" in Michigan. "We think we can plant our flag there and do well," he said.
Romney's backers are praying Santorum doesn't do better than that.
___
Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont, Steve Peoples and Kathy Barks Hoffman contributed to this report.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Jsis Article Directory ? Get Helpful Tricks on Company Leasing
Many companies have a policy of giving their employees company cars as part of their employees? welfare package. In companies that have a large number of employees, implementing such a policy may very well be rather expensive as it may be difficult to buy such a big number of cars for its employees. In such a case, company car leasing becomes the only best alternative. This is usually the case with companies where their employees are expected to make frequent business trips to various destination for the well being of the firm. Such companies would need a convenience and affordable method of travel for their employees when travelling either within or outside of the country. One of the major reasons why companies opt to lease cars for an employees is that company car leasing services supply a warranty on all the leased cars the industry major benefit to the firm.
Many car dealers are always thrilled by the idea of leasing their cars to companies. This is because they are aware that such companies will tend to maintain a long term method of trading with the leasing companies that offer more benefit to them. Customer loyalty is always fundamental in any sort of business. As a company involved yourself in leasing cars to your employees, maintaining a good reputation is very essential as this not only guarantee you fair leasing costs but it also ensures that you get the best leasing services.
Company car leasing truly a hard task to get a company to accomplish. The simplest way you can go about it as a company is leasing cars over the internet. This can be the most efficient way to lease vehicles for a company that ensures that you get the best deals in the market. With the emergence of many online car leasing websites, you are not only able to compare leasing rates among different companies but you can as well read customers reviews to make sure that you are engaged within leasing agreements with reputable leasing companies. This is because as companies will usually tend to lease many cars at once for all their people, it makes sense that they need to enter into leasing agreements with more credible company car leasing services in the market.
Another trick that companies can utilize throughout their leasing process is leasing through the phone. This can be a better alternative for smaller companies that have not fully adopted technological on their operations. In this way, you don?t have to remain rubbing shoulders with irritating sales men. These sales men can waste high of your valuable time by looking to force you to enter into deals you will be not interested in. simply by giving a leasing company your company details, you can be assured of a smooth leasing process along with the least hassles if any.
Company car leasing should not be a hard task for a company to accomplish. Click here to know more about Company car leasing.
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