antoinetice: December 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Robert Parker and the End of an Era in California

My recent interest in the work of Robert Parker flows from the recognition that in my 20 years working in wine marketing, this critic has ranked among the most influential forces in the American marketplace. It's a remarkable story insofar...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FermentationTheDailyWineBlog/~3/-mXH7TXlz_8/robert-parker-and-the-end-of-an-era-in-california.html

Naoki Hattori Nick Heidfeld

Sand Trap is a fun and difficult physics maze game

Sand Trap is one of those games that at first seem too hard to bother with, but when you try to stop playing it you discover you're hooked.

The goal is to get as much sand as you possibly can out of the maze and into the bucket at the bottom of the screen. You need to rotate your maze every which way to get the sand rolling around it. You then try to direct the sand to one of the exits of the maze, and hopefully into the bucket. It took me several tries to actually get sand into the bucket, but that might be due to the fact that I didn't even realize the bucket was there at first. Things improved significantly after that.

As you level up, the mazes get more complicated, with moving parts and other things making your life more difficult. Once you manage to get through all these obstacles and get enough sand into your bucket, you can move on.

As I mentioned, this is not an easy game, but it's highly addictive. The graphics remind me of some long lost game from the 80s, but this just proves that you don't need super graphics and crazy sound to make a game work. There's a soothing guitar track playing in the background and that's it, as far as I could hear, and you can enjoy it just as much with no sound at all.

If you like a fun physics challenge, don't miss out on this one!

Sand Trap is a fun and difficult physics maze game originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/sand-trap-is-a-fun-physics-maze-game/

XILINX WESTERN DIGITAL

ExpansionWire: La Jolla-based Sammy's Woodfired Pizza, the...

Source: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/12/23/expansionwire.php

ITRON IXYS

Reviews of Darbar and Garry's Grill

Source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/2011/06/reviews_of_darbar_and_garrys_g.html

Mike Brown Paul Cooper

Wine Word of the Week: Alcohol

This week?s Wine Word of the Week is alcohol. Official definition from Jancis Robinson?s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Alcohol is the common name for ethanol. Alcoholic strength, an important measurement of any wine, is its concentration of the intoxicant ethyl alcohol, or ethanol. It can be measured in several different ways, the most common [...]

Wine Word of the Week: Alcohol was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WinePeeps/~3/P580YkDiyqQ/

Dido Diora Baird

Crushing at CrossRoads in Frisco, Tx

The grapes are moving in and the crushing has began at CrossRoads in Frisco, Tx. Grapes are looking good and promising for the 2011 year. Hot Texas weather has made the grapes push for a early harvest and from the looks of it in North Texas looking promising. I had the opportunity to for just […]

Source: http://thegrapesaroundtexas.com/2011/07/24/crushing-at-crossroads-in-frisco-tx/

MICRON TECHNOLOGY MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY

ComScore: Android up, RIM down, water wet

Stop us (oh, oh, oh stop us) if you've heard this one before, but in the world of cellphone market share: nothing's changed -- or at least almost nothing. The quarterly data from ComScore say you all still love Android and iOS only slightly more than you used to. Of the 91.4 million smartphones in the US, Google gained the 3.1 percent of the market that RIM lost, and is now inching toward controlling half the nation's phones with 46.9 percent, whilst Apple swallowed the modest gains that Microsoft and Symbian lost. Samsung remains top manufacturer in a report where the only surprise is that 72.6 percent of users send text messages, so what do the other 27.4 percent do when they've been delayed or way-laid?

[Thanks, Wilson]

Continue reading ComScore: Android up, RIM down, water wet

ComScore: Android up, RIM down, water wet originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/_koi-3EdEmA/

Paul Cooper Rick Burgett

Think You Got What It Takes To Work For Stephen Hawking? [Stephen Hawking]

Click here to read Think You Got What It Takes To Work For Stephen Hawking?

Sometimes who you work with can be just as important as the job itself. And if physics is your passion the opportunity of a lifetime has just popped up, as Stephen Hawking is now looking for a new assistant. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/789yd2BkX2c/think-you-got-what-it-takes-to-work-for-stephen-hawking

Frederic Bolley INTERNATIONAL GAME TECHNOLOGY

Friday, December 30, 2011

Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere

Color, the $41-million-in-funding location-oriented photo sharing startup, is susceptible to simple GPS spoofing. With nothing more than a jailbroken iPad or iPhone, you can use FakeLocation to trick Color into thinking you're somewhere else. Within seconds you can be browsing photos that were snapped thousands of miles away. With a little digging, you can pore through photos not intended for your eyes.

Of course, such a hack isn't illegal as such -- every photo you take with Color is public. With FakeLocation you are simply circumventing Color's very limited location-oriented security mechanism. It does undermine Color's usefulness (and uniqueness), though -- if nefarious types can sit in their bedroom or basement and eavesdrop on classy dinner parties and wild night club soirees, people might be less inclined to share personal photos with those around them.

Fortunately, both for Color and its users, this is an easy security hole to plug -- at least in the short term. The app (or server-side) code simply checks to see if the user has 'teleported' an impossibly large distance, without any intermediate steps in between. In the long term, though, Color's users must be aware that its social graph is completely public. Color's users must realize that every photo they upload is visible by anyone, from any place.

After the break, just to elucidate a little on Color's actual business model and ultimate intention, we have two amazing quotes from Bill Nguyen, Color's founder.

Continue reading Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere

Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/color-vulnerable-to-simple-gps-hack-lets-you-spy-on-anyone-any/

Roger De Coster Sven Breugelmans

Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight

So this professor comes up with a new toilet cleaner that works by "eating" the dirt; or so he thinks. That's how the plot starts for Tasty Planet. You play the role of the toilet cleaner, but you're not really a toilet cleaner after all -- you're a blob of gray goo that can eat anything that's smaller than yourself.

As you chomp away, you grow -- and as you grow, you can eat bigger and bigger stuff. The first level pits you against microscopic particles; by the time I stopped playing, I got all the way to eating cats and dogs. I know that sounds disturbing, but it's a really cute game, and there's no gore or anything like that.

Supposedly you keep growing and growing until you're able to eat whole planets (hence the name). The challenge factor comes when you realize you can't touch any critter larger than yourself - you'll get "bitten" and become smaller. In the beginning you're so small, that a single touch can kill you. Later on, you're big enough that touching larger animals doesn't kill you on the spot, but it does reduce your size. Each level is timed, so if you're not large enough by the time your clock runs out, you need to start again. As long as you don't touch the larger animals, you should be fine.

All in all, a fun, addictive little game. It's available for iOS, too.

Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/08/tasty-planet-is-a-fun-flash-game-where-you-eat-everything-in-sight/

Peter Hirt David Hobbs

DEALFEED: Ray's & Stark Bar

Source: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/12/22/rays_stark_bar.php

Naoki Hattori Nick Heidfeld

The unwelcome implications of another la nina winter for Paso Robles vineyards

Source: http://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2011/12/the-unwelcome-implications-of-another-la-nina-winter-for-paso-robles-vineyards.html

FIRST SOLAR FINISAR

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules

The developer of iCab Mobile, a feature-rich alternative to the Safari Web browser on iPad and iPhone, has been ordered by Apple to remove its ability to download and install JavaScript modules.

Presumably it's not the fact that iCab can execute JavaScript that's causing Apple to apoplectically puff and splutter, but rather its ability to download modules. Both Apple and Google frown upon apps that contain market-like functionality, and someone at Apple probably thought that iCab's JavaScript modules looked like a bit too much like discrete apps.

Alexander Clauss, iCab's developer, has rather a lot to say on the matter. "Maybe if I would have called the modules 'smart bookmarks' and would have made installing them much more complicated, Apple would have never asked to remove the ability to download them from the internet. The great user experience of installing modules has probably created a suspicion that these modules are more than just a piece of JavaScript code. From a pure technical point of view, if Apple does not allow to download modules (JavaScript code), Apple would also have to disallow to load web pages in general, because these do also contain JavaScript code."

In conclusion, to circumvent Apple's draconian decree, iCab Mobile now simply comes bundled with some 20 JavaScript modules. The ability to download modules made by third-party developers has been disabled, however -- but even then, Clauss says that you can simply contact him and ask for your module to be bundled with the next version of iCab.

Download iCab Mobile for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch ($1.99)

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/apple-orders-icab-ios-browser-to-cripple-javascript-modules/

FEI COMPANY FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR INTERNATIONAL

Crushing at CrossRoads in Frisco, Tx

Source: http://thegrapesaroundtexas.com/2011/07/24/crushing-at-crossroads-in-frisco-tx/

GOOGLE FORMFACTOR

Charlie Parker and the Notion of Wine as Art

Wine Is not Art. I remain quite interested in the nature of wine and winemaking. Often this fascination of mine finds expression in the consideration of whether wine is art and winemakers artists. I was returned to this theme this...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FermentationTheDailyWineBlog/~3/MYLSSgateSg/charlie-parker-and-the-notion-of-wine-as-art.html

GOOGLE FORMFACTOR

Thursday, December 29, 2011

This Nerdy Instrument is Part Atari Console Part Guitar [Video]

Click here to read This Nerdy Instrument is Part Atari Console Part Guitar

The gAtari is a "musical instrument" that basically consists of an Atari 2600 playing pre-programmed tunes, which has been hacked together with a few guitar effects processors. It's kind of like an Atari keytar. The resulting music is scatterbrained weirdness that's impossible to describe. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ochBMkMyu6g/this-nerdy-instrument-is-part-atari-console-part-guitar

LSI MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES

A tasting of hipster wines

I recently tweeted that I’d be leading a tasting of hipster wines. “Will you wear a wool hat?,” someone asked in response. Another tweep asked if there would be any PBR on hand for afterward. The tasting on Manhattan’s Upper East Side came and went and I didn’t wear a woolen cap, flannel shirt, or [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/GuSC/~3/CPO8t4gitK4/

Josh Coppins KEY

Alli?s most-used iPhone and iPad apps of 2011

If you look at my iPhone and iPad home screens, you see almost nothing in common. You might think they were owned by two different people. I use them...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/80gPUdpOJlQ/story01.htm

ZIONS BAN YAHOO

Verizon keen on making major changes in January, it seems

Verizon changes

It really doesn't seem that long ago, but with today's news that Verizon will be charging an extra $2 a month for some methods of bill payment starting Jan. 15, 2012, we got to thinking about some of the bigger changes we saw in 2011 -- and exactly 366 days before this latest move takes effect. To wit:

We broke the news nearly two weeks early that Verizon was going to change its upgrade policy so that you'd have to wait through 20 months of a two-year contract before being eligible for a hardware update -- seven months longer than was the previous policy.
And we also broke the news that return windows would shrink from 30 days to 14 days -- from a month to two weeks.

And both of those major changes came on Jan. 16. That's not really a great surprise -- start of the year and all. But does anyone want to do some doomcasting and predict what Verizon customers will lose come January 2012?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ZYGQrHCIGlE/story01.htm

Antonio Cairoli Cody Copper

Moving day is Thursday

Source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/2011/06/moving_day_is_thursday.html

Cody Copper Craig Dack

Top Ten Wines of 2011

It's one thing to publish a Top 10 or Top 100 list of your favorite individual wines of the year. My hat is off to those who can determine such detailed conclusions. It's another thing to list one's Top 10...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FermentationTheDailyWineBlog/~3/cK71l7cWxZs/top-ten-wines-of-2011.html

Denise Richards Desiree Dymond

New software uses facial recognition to defend against prying eyes

Having the right programs and hardware to keep the information on your display safe from prying eyes is never a bad idea, and new software from Oculis Labs offers a very interesting take on how to do just that. It's called PrivateEye, and it utilizes facial recognition to automatically pixelate the contents of your display when you look away.

If you step away from your system and someone else decides to sit down and poke around, PrivateEye will present a confusing jumble of garbled text. It'll even notify you if someone tries to peek over your shoulder -- and display a picture of your peeping Tom, throw up an alert, or sound an alarm.

Check out the video embed after the break, and share your thoughts in the comments!

Continue reading New software uses facial recognition to defend against prying eyes

New software uses facial recognition to defend against prying eyes originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/new-software-uses-facial-recognition-to-defend-against-prying-ey/

Al Herman Boy Hayje