Windows Blue Leaks!

Tired of speculative blog posts about Windows ?Blue,? the upcoming interim update that will allegedly fix all the problems in Windows 8 and put Microsoft back on course? Speculate no more: Blue has leaked, and now we have a much better idea of what this release really contains.

Spoiler alert: It?s exactly what you should have expected, a spit polish update to what?s already available in Windows 8, not a mulligan re-do.

According to the Polish tech blog WinForum, a leak of an ?alpha? version of Blue?not what Microsoft would call it, but whatever?or build 9364 has appeared online. Windows 8 is build 9200, so the bump in build numbers suggests a number of things, key among them that the bump is artificial as there haven?t been over 400 days since Windows 8 was completed. (Typically, Microsoft advances the Windows build number once a day unless something goes wrong, in which case it isn?t advanced.)

Whatever. What can we see in the leaked build you ask? Here?s what I see in the leaked screenshots. (I have not yet downloaded nor personally evaluated the build.)

More customizable tiles

Like Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 ?Blue? sports more tile sizes now, but Blue ups the ante by adding both new smaller and larger tile sizes. The smaller size is obvious, it?s just a tiny square, a la Windows Phone, but the bigger one is surprising: It?s a double-tall (square) version of the currently-largest tile.

As important?and this is something I expect to see added to Windows Phone ?Blue? as well?you can now customize the colors of individual tiles. It?s about time.

Simpler Start screen personalization

You can now personalize the desktop directly from the desktop, instead of figuring out how to get into PC settings. Smart. And you can now choose between a basically infinite range of background and accent colors, instead of being stuck with a select few of each. Also, it's possible to name Start screen groups without going into semantic zoom mode.

New Snap view

The current Snap mode, which is hard-coded to a particular pixel width, is almost useless, so you?ll be happy to hear that Blue adds a new Snap view, in which two apps can be snapped side-by-side with each taking up 50 percent of the screen. (This is one Blue feature I had heard about, so I can at least confirm the veracity of this bit.)

More PC Settings

And here is the second Blue feature I had heard about previously: More, but not all, of the settings in Control Panel have been ported to the Metro-based PC settings, yet another indication that the desktop environment is on the way out. I was told that the Display settings are available in PC settings now, for example. But there?s a lot more in the screenshots: New Home and Lock Screen settings groups (that may replace Personalize), Screen (as I had heard about), Accounts (replacing Users), SkyDrive, Privacy, Network, Apps (which includes sub-groups, new to Blue, for Notifications, App sizes, Search, Share, Defaults, and Switching), Time & Language, Update & Recovery (previously part of General), and so on.

Settings pane

The grid of icons in the lower-right of the Settings pane has gotten a small visual update.

Devices pane

The Devices pane has been updated with new icon treatments.

Share pane

You can now share screenshots directly from the Share pane.

Internet Explorer 11

Yes, there?s a new version of IE coming, and it will be part of Blue.

New apps?

I could be wrong but it looks like there are now Metro-style Alarms (as during the Windows 8 Beta and in Windows Phone) and Sound Recorder apps. They could be third-party apps, however.

What hasn?t changed

Setup appears to be largely unchanged from Windows 8, though the theme color picker is styled a bit differently. The desktop looks the same, complete with ominous pre-release warnings.

Source: http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-blue-leaks

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Farrakhan's Issues Bizarre Legal Threat Against a Bahamian ...

The Minister Louis Farrakhan regularly comes under media scrutiny for the divisive and controversial comments he utters during public appearances, however the fiery Nation of Islam (NOI) leader is now accusing a newspaper of taking one of its reports too far. As a result, Farrakhan has reportedly given his lawyer the green light to?pursue?legal action against The Tribune, a daily outlet in the Bahamas.

Why, you ask? The Bahamas Press, a separate news source that is actually defending Farrakhan,?reports?that the NOI head believes he was misrepresented in the Tribune newspaper.

The article that has him so frustrated claims that he recently scolded Peter Nygard, a Canadian fashion designer who invited the faith leader to attend a lavish event ? an?allegation?he rejects.

Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks during the Saviours? Day annual convention at the U.I.C. Pavilion in Chicago, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013.?Credit: AP

The original report in the Tribune was written under the header, ?Nygard Faces the Wrath of Farrakhan? and it focused on comments Farrakhan made in front of an audience at a local university. The faith leader?s main contention seems to be that his comments were misrepresented to create unnecessary drama ? but is that really worthy of a lawsuit?

Here?s how The Tribune report framed Farrakhan?s statements (read the entire article here):

NATION of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan said he was not looking for ?sport? or ?play? when he accepted an invitation to an event hosted by Canadian fashion designer Peter Nygard.

Addressing over two hundred students, college faculty, and members of the public at his lecture held in the Performing Arts Centre at the College of the Bahamas, Minister Farrakhan said he was not interested in the invitation?s affairs, including the Junkanoo show put on for him by the Lyford Cay millionaire.

?You know I?m a very simple man, my staff can tell you,? he said.??When I go, I come to do a job to teach my people what God has blessed us to have. I to teach them and go back to my hotel. I aint looking for sport and I?m not looking for play. So you can?t send no woman to me except to learn.???And I don?t mean sex education,? the 79-year-old minister said.?Minister Farrakhan?s comments about his experience at the Canadian fashion designer?s home stemmed from a subject in his lecture concerning Bahamians and land ownership.??This is a paradise for everybody else but you and we sit back and we allow ourselves to be put in a condition! And it?s not other people?s fault,? he had said before his reference to Mr Nygard.? ?I was at the home of Mr Nygard way out somewhere, a gated community, some black people can?t even go in there except as a servant, a cook, a butler, to care for the lawn.?

Farrakhan?s lawyer,?Keod Smith, has publicly said that Farrakhan?s comments were taken out of context and that he was not scolding Nygard. He has instructed the faith leader to take legal action against The Tribune in an effort to apparently set the record straight.

?These things were suggested especially when you take out of context this comment about women and sending women,? Smith said following the publication of the report, according to the Bahamas Press. ?And so these things are so reprehensible that I have now been instructed by my client to take steps toward?.finding legal remedy and recourse. It is injurious. Mr. Farrakhan is spiritual and religious leader??

Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks during the Saviours? Day annual convention at the U.I.C. Pavilion in Chicago, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013.?Credit: AP

But what, exactly, is ?so reprehensible? that it warrants a lawsuit? At the least, one must admit that the article?s structure is a bit confusing. As one of the commenters notes at the bottom of what appears to be the original Tribune piece, ?I get the message, but this was very poorly written.?

Still, one can?t help but ask themselves why a lawsuit is being advanced (it is possible that a longer version of the article went to print with more defaming content, but so far TheBlaze hasn?t yet located one). We have reached out to the journalist who wrote the article, but we have not heard back.

Confusion?abounds?as well when one also considers a subsequent media appearance in which Farrakhan explained his rejection of the purportedly malicious and slanderous article. While he noted that he believes the text was designed to pit him against Nygard, he also said that The Tribune quoted his words ?perfectly.? It is the so-called ?spin? that he decries.

?To suggest in a mischief making way that Mr. Nygard invited me to his home to offer me women and play, but they quoted my words perfectly but the spin on my words were vicious and ugly and very untrue,? Farrakhan?said. ?And the reason I take umbrage at reading such an article is because the mischief inherent in that article is, firstly, to say that I came to this island and rebuked Mr. Nygard. Secondly, rebuked all those on this island who have benefited from Mr. Nygard?s kindness??

Watch Farrakhan and Smith discuss the incident in the news report, below:

Still confused over what Farrakhan may sue over? Read the news report over at the Bahamas Press and try to make sense of it for yourself.

?

Other Must-Read Stories:

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/18/can-you-make-sense-of-farrakhans-bizarre-legal-threat-against-a-bahamian-newspaper/

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There is a season??? Please turn already! | Bloomin' Escape DIY ...

The Bryds had it right, Turn! Turn ! Turn!
Here I sit at my lap top, looking out the window at yet another huge snowfall. The wind is blowing like mad and it looks like what should be the first big snow of the winter. Nope,?it is March 18th. At this time last year, it was 20? celcius.
Complaining over

I am also listening to beautiful symphonic music~ Seeds of Spring, by John Estacio.
I have a very large cup of delicious coffee and? a cozy fire burning. I am actually beginning to feel very inspired & optimistic that this is just mother natures way of? going out with a big, albeit chilly, bang.

Perhaps it is so?we are more appreciative of the glorious days of sunshine and heat that are inevitably going to arrive, even though?today it seems like an eternity away. In?reality, at least?in our corner of the world, there is always the possiblity?of? a?crazy warm?weather surge in a single day.
I should be waking my children to get their day and school started, but I have reconsidered, just like that very thick blanket of white, so sleep my kids. They, like those green tendrils of spring, are not ready to make an appearance. I will go and refill my cup and perhaps linger over some gardening and decor magazines, inspiring me further, as the first real ?day of spring lingers just days away.

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Source: http://bloominescape.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/there-is-a-season-please-turn-already/

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Oregon Ducks Basketball: Gaming The RPI Is Key To Tourney ...

The selection committee has made it obvious: the RPI, flawed as it is, is the most important factor in tournament seeding.

As we enter Tuesday, a full two days after the NCAA bracket was unveiled, the topic of conversation around the water cooler is still the idea that the Oregon Ducks were "snubbed" by receiving a 12-seed in the bracket. The top-25 polls, both of which have Oregon ranked in the top-25, have done nothing to quell those thoughts, neither have explanations that Oregon was a "true 11-seed" that was moved down due to bracketing purposes, as even an 11 seems woefully low to most people.

While we contemplate reasons that this happened, the answers are coming much more clear. The committee followed the RPI pretty closely, even though RPI is a pretty bad statistic that can be manipulated fairly easily. Oregon was ranked 46 in RPI, ranked almost right with Ole Miss, Akron, and California, the other 12 seeds. The Big Lead came and just said it:

If you think that is just funny math and will have no impact, think again. Let's compare Maryland to Boise State, and also throw in Oregon. There is some thought that Oregon got screwed (yes, they did), but it wasn't because of an East Coast Bias. It was a RPI bias. Oregon got seeded where the RPI dictated.

The flaws of RPI are well documented: it judges who you've played, but doesn't do a lot to judge whether you've actually beaten them, doesn't take context (injuries, home/road) into account, nor margin of victory. Furthermore, as the Big Lead article I linked to earlier says, games against Division II opponents don't even count in the RPI. So while Boise State was busy padding victories against Walla Walla and Corban, and not having to suffer an RPI hit, Oregon was demolished for playing Portland State (RPI 359) and Idaho State (RPI 337). That's a loophole that that the NCAA needs to close in short order, and one that the Mountain West, who played 14 games against non-D1 opponents that counted on the win ledgers, but not against their RPI, needs to fix in short order.

The question, though, is should Oregon have been able to see this RPI bomb coming, and what, if anything, should the Ducks to do prevent it in the future?

Non-conference scheduling is a tricky business. It's determined partly by what games you can get and how many home games you need to satisfy revenue demands, but also by where you are as a program. Everyone wants to play Duke or Louisville, but those teams are only going to play you if it's worth their while. Furthermore, it wouldn't have made sense for Oregon the past few years to schedule those games anyway--sending rebuilding teams in to get crushed by top ten teams isn't a way to build a program.

The first thing to note is that the Pac-12 had three teams that finished 150th or worse in the RPI. The Ducks beat Oregon State, Washington State, and Utah twice each (while also losing to Utah once). There is simply nothing you can do when the bottom of your conference is that bad. The RPI will pummel you for even playing them (of which you have no choice). The onus is simply on those programs to get better. Utah is headed in the right direction. Oregon State has been the conference RPI killer for two decades now. Those things are out of Oregon's control, as are the fact that the Ducks played Arizona and UCLA only once this season.

What is under Oregon's control is who they schedule, and, on paper, there was reason to believe that the non-conference schedule should have turned out better than it did. The Ducks won AT UNLV (No. 22 RPI) which was a big time win, maybe the second best in the conference behind Arizona's upset of Florida. They also lost to Cincinnati (No. 50 RPI) and at UTEP (No. 98 RPI). The only "bad loss" was the late season loss at Utah. Furthermore, the Ducks had reason to believe that a home game against Vanderbilt would have been a good win on the ledger, but Vandy had a disappointing season (No. 110 RPI) and that win didn't count for a whole lot of anything at the end. Maybe the Ducks should have scheduled one more difficult game, but they played a fairly ambitious non-conference schedule last year, and then were basically left out for losing too many non-conference games early on while Devoe Joseph was out. With Dana Altman figuring he would be starting a freshman backcourt, you can understand his hesitation to risk too many losses early. That shouldn't be an issue next year with a more experienced team coming back.

However, it wasn't this that killed Oregon's RPI. They had much more meat at the top of their schedule than many teams ranked ahead of them in the RPI. St Mary's (No. 30), Wichita State (No. 38), Southern Miss (No. 34), Belmont (No. 19), Memphis (No. 14) are among teams that have top lines and good wins that pale in comparison to what the Ducks have accomplished. However, what those teams have done that give them the RPI edge is avoid games against sub-300 RPI teams.

The Ducks had three wins against such teams (PSU, Idaho State, and Houston Baptist), and two more games against sub-250 teams (UTSA and Northern Arizona). We're essentially deciding these things on whether you crush Texas Southern or Hartford as opposed to Portland State, when any decent team is going to crush any of those teams. The RPI treats that 100 point difference the same as they would treat the difference between playing Duke or playing Fresno State, which is, of course, ridiculous.

Scheduling your guarantee games are tricky, especially out west where you have fewer such teams to choose from. We're going to play Portland State pretty much every year, and probably should, given that it's another state school. I hope Dana Altman, with a bit more of a veteran squad returning next season, can get a few more great top line games on the schedule, and maybe being seen as a rising program coming off a tourney berth will make that option more available. But avoiding those bad games are trickier--small programs are inherently unstable, and the loss of a coach or a single player can turn a team from really good one year to pretty bad the next (see Portland State post Ken Bone). This isn't something you should rationally have to worry about, but the NCAA has made it clear time and again that the RPI is paramount.

The good news is that for the first time since 2008, the Ducks are back in the Tourney. And when you look at what's in the pipeline, talent-wise, we should expect to be there more often that not in the future. The NCAA has sent a clear message to Dana Altman--start scheduling with gaming the RPI in mind. Which means schedule the right patsies. Or schedule Northwest Christian and Corban because, as the Mountain West learned, apparently there is no difference.

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Source: http://www.addictedtoquack.com/2013/3/18/4119322/oregon-ducks-basketball-gaming-the-rpi-is-key-to-tourney-seeding

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While Asian military spending rises, Europe's declines : Voice of ...

A brigade of Chinese troops exercising in Nanjing. One of the key findings of the new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies is that military spending in Asia is continuing to rise and steeply in some places. In Asia as a whole spending rose 4.9%-4% last year. Just last week China announced a 10.7% rise in its military expenditure. But as China puts more money into military budgets, Europe spends less. John Chipman, Director General of the IISS:

?2012 saw nominal Asian defense spending overtake that of NATO European states for the first time. This is not simply a result of Asia spending more. It's as much a result of states in Europe spending less. In 2012 European NATO members defense spending was in real terms around 11% lower than in 2006.?

U.S. Army Trainers in Afghanistan - many of them will be returning to bases at home over the next year. But the U.S. continues to spend more on its military than the next 14 nations put together, spending, in fact, more than 45% of total global military expenditure. So is that military heading eastward to combat arising China? Strategically, both Pr. Barack Obama and U.S. military planners have often spoken of a pivot to the east. But the IISS says this is as yet more symbolic than real.

?Although much has been said about ?rebalancing? to the Pacific, in military terms, there's less there than first appeared. It will of course be important in the longer term, but the rebalance should mainly be seen as a signal that the U.S. who will remain engaged in Asia-Pacific security reflecting not just U.S. economic ties to the region, but also the emergence of China as original competitor in both economic and military terms.?

The continued unrest in the Middle East may be one of the reasons behind the slowness of the American pivot to East Asia. The Institute's experts say the conflict in Syria, for example, has kept America focused on the region. The U.N. says 70,000 people have died in Syria over the past two years. And the Institute says it expects the violence to continue for at least another year, as neither the government nor the rebels are sufficiently dominant to subdue the other. Tony George is a Senior Consulting Fellow at the Institute.

?The longer this conflict goes on ? and I think it has got more years to run, ? the more Syria will be a magnet for region-wide jihadists, international jihadists and jihadists from Britain and Europe. Therefore we have a comparable situation in Afghanistan before and during the Taliban, where basically an empty uncontrolled space is taken over by radical Islamists, who use it as a base from which to strike out into the Middle East and beyond.?

Meanwhile, British and French military support for the rebels in Syria look set to take tangible form. The two countries, along with Germany, are putting pressure on the E.U. to lift its arms embargo ? position made clear by the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius today on French radio:

?The position we are taking, which is moreover also that of the British, is to ask Europe to lift the arms embargo so that the rebels are able to defend themselves.?

That's a position likely to draw heavy criticism from the Russian government. But the brigadier Ben Barry of the IISS says Russia's stance towards the government of Bashar al Assad could cause problems in Moscow if he falls. Not, he says, that it's clear what will happen in Syria. One possibility is a fairly orderly transfer of power, but brigadier Barry says that's unlikely.

?A much more likely scenario is something that resembles Lebanon at the height of its civil war. Now, to what extent other regional parts, such as the Gulf States, such as Turkey, are able to shape events in a positive way? It's very unclear to see.?

Such a lack of clarity is one of the reasons why global military expenditure looks set to climb. Uncertainty and international rivalries continue to breed a perceived need for armed security and in an increasingly multipolar world, set frequently with fresh crisis, there's little chance that trend will reverse soon.

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_15/While-Asian-military-spending-rises-Europe-s-declines/

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Cover Your Walls With an Adorable Reminder That One Day Robots Will Be Everywhere... EVERYWHERE

At one time the notion of a world filled with robots was just science-fiction fodder. But our kids are probably staring down a future where automatons and other artificial intelligences will play a big part in their lives. And with a nursery covered in this whimsical robot wallpaper, that's a life they'll be well prepared for. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JL6S5_1Vpfg/cover-your-walls-with-an-adorable-reminder-that-one-day-robots-will-be-everywhere-everywhere

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'Big Bang' stars talk 'bittersweet' story, romance

Our beloved "Big Bang Theory" characters are growing up so fast! OK, maybe that's a stretch, but in Thursday night's "Closet Reconfiguration," the gang not only have a "grown-up cocktail party," but we see a new level of emotional maturity, especially in Howard and Bernadette's marriage.

Monty Brinton/CBS

As Simon Helberg explained to The Clicker at Wednesday night's PaleyFest, "A letter surfaces from Howard's father who abandoned him and his mother when he was a kid and sent the letter to Howard on his 18th birthday. And Howard never opened it. Unfortunately, Sheldon does -- innocently -- and with that comes kind of a disaster ... everything kind of spirals out of control..."

"But the entire gang -- they're the best friends anybody can have," he added. "They do everything they can to make Howard feel better about this. There are a lot of emotions -- I think it should be pretty bittersweet."

Melissa Rauch told The Clicker that the episode is one of her favorites and touched her deeply.

"I think it's so beautifully written," she said. "When I got the script, the night before, I cried on my couch reading it. I just think it's so beautiful -- the writers have done such a good job making their relationship progress at a normal speed and now they've just such a wonderful job with the marriage of these characters.

"You see them navigating the sticky stuff, but when it comes down to it they love each other so much and the fact that Howard's going through this?Bernadette feels like she's going through it with him. I think that's a marriage."

Aw! Don't expect the same level of commitment between Amy and Sheldon any time soon, the actors warn.

"Their relationship's very delicate and our writers are very careful about it," Mayim Bialik told The Clicker. "So it's not going to progress super rapidly either way."

Emmy winner Jim Parsons agrees. "I don't think (Sheldon) will want to move faster," he said. "I think he is intrigued by Amy on that level you would hope to feel. I do think he finds something mysterious about her. He must, or why would he be with her at this level? She doesn't bug him any less than other people do. She gets him and there's something about her that he doesn't want to be apart from."

Meanwhile, Raj is finally getting lucky in love!

"You gotta be excited about Raj and Lucy," enthused producer Chuck Lorre. "They have so many obstacles to overcome to have a meaningful relationship. You have to root for them."

Are you excited about all the romance in the air on "The Big Bang Theory"? Tell us on our Facebook page!

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/03/14/17313112-big-bang-theory-stars-tease-bittersweet-episode-romance?lite

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