Scythe Precision Gaming Surface

Gaming mouse pads generally only have two or three things to offer gamers, namely improved sensor recognition, improved reaction and control, and a larger surface area than standard office mouse pads. The Scythe Precision Gaming Surface, the first product from newcomer Scythe Mouse Pad Company, takes that last feature?size?and dials it up to eleven. It's the biggest mouse pad I've ever seen by far, and that may be reason enough for some folks to buy it. But other than that, there's not a lot else going on.

Design and Features
This thing is huge, measuring 14 by 17 by 0.13 inches (HWD)?that's right, 238 square inches of sleek spandex and foam rubber, an expanse that's a little bit like having a roller rink to yourself. You can just go as far as you please, never worrying about where you are on the mouse pad, because you know it's so big that you probably won't make it all the way to the edge.

The Scythe is significantly larger than the already oversized Roccat Hiro and Razer Goliathus (both roughly 10 by 14 inches), and that's saying a lot. All that material is a tad heavy, as well (7.7 ounces), which is more than an ounce heavier than the Razer Goliathus (6.6 ounces), though not as heavy as the rubber laminate of the Roccat Hiro (10.2 ounces) or the all-metal Razer Ironclad (18.5 ounces).

The Scythe is also very smooth. Covered in 1,200-plus thread count polyester/spandex blend, this cloth-covered mouse pad lets you glide at a good clip?I actually found myself dialing down my DPI to compensate for the speedy movement.

In a lot of ways, the Scythe is very similar to the Razer Goliathus, with a few small but key differences?the Scythe is bigger. A lot bigger. But the Razer Goliathus is better made, with a frame of heavy stitching around the edges to prevent the otherwise inevitable separation of the rubber and cloth, and the subsequent fraying that renders the mouse pad useless. Despite this, you can rest easy, because Texas Duratile (the company behind the Scythe Pad) covers the mouse pad with a lifetime warranty, putting to shame both Razer (180 days) and Roccat (no warranty) mouse pads.

Performance
To test the Scythe, I spread it across my workbench in the PC Labs and used it for over a week for all of my work and gaming. The broad expanse certainly is big, and the resulting freedom of movement is nice, but I never felt hemmed in while using the Roccat Hiro or Razer Goliathus. If anything, the sheer size of the Scythe is overwhelming?not in the sense that I was overwhelmed, but in the sense that this enormous mouse pad covers half my desk.

In day-to-day activities, like Excel and Photoshop, the extra-large surface gave me more than enough room to move. Tested in gaming, the polyester/spandex blend offers a low-friction surface, which lets you zip around as quickly as you please. I personally prefer textured surfaces, but I can't deny that the oversized, low-friction mouse pad let me react quickly, move freely, and play at a high level.

The Scythe Precision Gaming Surface offers only one thing that you won't find offered by other gaming mouse pads, and that is size. Other surfaces, like the Roccat Hiro and the Razer Goliathus offer better tactile control and better construction while still offering the flexibility of a soft mouse pad. If even the large size of standard gaming mouse pads cramps your style, then definitely consider the ultra-large Scythe?but if size isn't an issue, I'd look elsewhere.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/a5UxlJjUVhs/0,2817,2417481,00.asp

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BeFunky (for iPhone)

BeFunky's goal is bigger than just to be a good mobile-and-Web photo editor/enhancer: The company wants to create a new, automated way for you to organize and find your photos and those of others, whether you're at a computer's browser or off somewhere with your mobile device. Unlike Instagram, each BeFunky entry point gets full citizenship, so, you can edit and upload photos in the browser as well as in the app. Like Instagram, there are filters and social discovery, but it's more organized, with categories for photo types, such as nature, pets, faces, and so on. Unfortunately, the app and service don't deliver its goals of editing plus discovery as well as the competition.

Getting Started with BeFunky
You can start with BeFunky either by installing the app from the iTunes Store or signing up on the web. Versions are available for iPad and Android as well as iPhone. Doing the latter is streamlined if you simply click the big blue button that uses a certain social network. This requires access to your public profile, friend list, email address, birthday, status updates, photos and your friends' photos. It also requests the ability to post publicly on your behalf, but given BeFunky's purpose, that makes sense. Once you've clicked the two OKs, you've got yourself a fully functional BeFunky page and account. The default profile description is cute: "One magical day a unicorn handed me a camera and showed me BeFunky. The rest is history."?

Interface
The app's Home screen features two large buttons on top: Camera, and Camera Roll. Above this, a Settings gear and a smaller Create button, which you can't use unless you've selected a photo. I'm not sure why this button is even on the home screen, since you can't have a photo selected there. But the largest part of the screen is dedicated to photo thumbnails for categories like Nature, Pets, Love, and Tattoo. Along the bottom are five more buttons, in addition to Home, we get Profile, Explore, My Stream, and Activity. It seems like a couple of these are redundant, and could have been eliminated to make room for the standard Camera icon for shooting pictures that you find in most photo apps.

Editing and Enhancing Photos
For shooting pictures, the app uses the built in iPhone Camera app, so you don't get anything in the way of? extras like separate focus and exposure points. Befunky has a lot more basic photo editing tools than Instagram, including white balance, leveling, fill light, and sharpening. These offer the Snapseed-like swiping gestures to increase and decrease the effects. But these work in an unusual way: You have to hit the Check mark icon once you're happy with an edit, otherwise it will be lost when you swipe over to apply another. There's an Undo arrow, that shows a small thumbnail showing each edit step, rather than actually undoing your last action. At first I found this process odd, but then it seemed to make sense.

Next come the effect filters. Unlike a lot of photo apps that use funky names for these, BeFunky welcomely uses straightforward descriptive names like Cross Process, Instant, and Lomo. I also like how the illustrative thumbnail for each effect shows your actual photo, rather than a sample image like Instagram's balloon. I counted 29 filters in the free app, with a lot of eye-catching choices like Pop Art, Sketch, and Holga. You can purchase even more in categories like Instant, Old Photo, and Duotone for 99 cents each. Alternatively, you can buy the whole set of 65 effects in the form of BeFunky Pro, for $1.99, a seemingly better value.

Borders and frames are a similar deal: You get plenty to choose from in the app, but if those don't meet your visual desires, you can purchase more.

The text feature is something with no equivalent in Instagram. You can choose from six fonts, many background colors (or transparent background over your image), and coolest of all, you can rotate your text on three axes! Happily, you're not restricted to square output, as you are in Instagram.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/jkg3QkAjYFM/0,2817,2417637,00.asp

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Microsoft releases Surface RT and Pro updates, aims to fix WiFi issues again

Surface RT devices have already scored two updates that aim to fix problems with 'limited' WiFi connectivity, and now Microsoft is pushing out a third patch that aims to put its wireless troubles to rest. Redmond's fresh code also beefs up support for a "wide range" of access points and stomps out system crashes caused by some WiFi issues. As for Surface Pro, its own April update smoothes out Surface Type and Touch cover connectivity kinks, adds support for Japanese keyboards on North American hardware, stomps a bug that disables the WiFi driver when airplane mode is toggled and addresses an issue with touch navigation in the UEFI boot menu. Microsoft's remedy should get sucked down to your slate automatically, but you can grab it by hand through Windows Update as well.

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Via: The Register

Source: Microsoft (1), (2)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/oXY7XV_hykc/

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The 7-Step Soil Improvement Plan

Gardeners know they need to weed, water, and prune for a healthy, vibrant garden. What they might forget, says Gary Heilig, horticulture educator at Michigan State University Extension, is some soil TLC.

"When we grow something in the soil and harvest it, we're always taking nutrients out," he says. The changes may be imperceptible initially, but eventually you'll find your plants are smaller, more susceptible to problems, and maybe discolored and misshapen. If your garden goes downhill and other problems like pests aren't too blame, you could have poor soil quality. Keep your soil healthy and fertile with this seven-step soil-improvement plan.

1. Get Your Soil Tested

This is nonnegotiable: Get a soil test to find out its nutrient levels. Check with your local extension office, which probably offers testing services. There are also private companies that offering soil testing. You'll get know the status of what Heilig calls the big three???nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium???as well as the pH level of the soil and possibly the organic-matter levels.

2. ID Your Soil Type

Soil consists of a mixture of sand, silt, and clay particles, along with organic matter. As part of the soil test, Heilig says, have a soil-texture test run to show what you're dealing with.

Or, try this quick test: Rub some soil in your hands, and if it's sandy, you'll feel the sand particles. If it's heavy clay, it will feel very slippery when wet because clay particles are the smallest. Heavy clay soil also is slower to drain and takes longer to warm up and dry off in the spring. Silty soil is usually found on land near water that may have flooded and left the silt sediment.

The preferred soil, says Heilig, is a sandy (but not too sandy) loam???it's easier to work with and drains quickly.

3. Soil Adjustment

It takes a while to change the texture of your soil, but it is possible. Heilig advises working 6 to 8 inches of organic matter, such as leaves, into the soil. Spread leaves on your garden, use your lawnmower to chop them up, and then spread liquid nitrogen on top to speed up the decomposition process. Let this sit for about a month, then turn it into the soil. The earthworms will do the rest. (Ideally, you want to do this in the fall before it gets cold.)

4. Choose the Right Fertilizer

"Every time you harvest something out of your garden, it's like making a withdrawal from your soil, like a withdrawal from the bank," Heilig says. "If you want to have a healthy situation at the bank, you have to make some deposits too. It's the same thing in the garden. You need to put something back if you want to keep the soil healthy."

This is why a soil test is important???so you can choose the fertilizer with the correct ratio of nutrients. "What you need to do is put it down in the amounts you need and not apply stuff that you don't need," Heilig says. For instance, nitrogen often has to be added. Find a fertilizer with the correct phosphorus and potassium ratio and add nitrogen separately.

5. Choose Between Organic and Conventional Fertilizer

Organic will do more for the soil overall, and some types, such as manure, also add valuable fungi that help improve the till and water-holding capacity. The downside: It's more expensive, and you'll need to apply more.

Conventional fertilizers are cheaper and easier to apply, but you won't get the same soil-building benefits. You can mix organic and conventional. One example: If you need to up potassium levels, use potassium sulfate or potassium, then revert to organic.

"You need to look at things in a holistic way," Heilig says. "There are about 16 nutrients that plants need, and the majority of fertilizers only give you about three or four." The best way to get the remainder is by composting. A simple method: Dig a hole in your garden about 16 inches deep and throw in your kitchen scraps. Cover it, and let the earthworms do their thing. You can do this in several areas of your garden where the soil needs help, both before you plant in the spring and after garden season.

6. Choose Between Liquid and Granular

Liquid fertilizer is valuable for its secondary benefits and extra micronutrients. However, because it's diluted with water, you'll need to apply it more often???around every two weeks.

With granular fertilizer, you'll need only about two applications, but you won't get the extra nutrients. Before you plant, put down all of phosphorus, potassium, and two-thirds of the nitrogen, and till into the soil. Put the remaining one-third of the nitrogen six to eight weeks after the garden is growing.

7. Choose Plants for Your Soil

Particularly for ornamentals, selecting plants that grow well in your soil will save you time and work. This is another job for your local extension office, which ought to have a list. Native plants are always a good idea, as they're acclimatized to your area.

If you have poor-quality topsoil, heavy clay content, and a lot of rocks, some root crops, such as carrots, will be tricky. You can select varieties with shorter roots, and some of the many varietals that grow well in poor soil, such as these carrots and cabbage.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/lawn-garden/the-7-step-soil-improvement-plan-15326625?src=rss

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The Damaging Links Between Food, Fuel and Finance: A Growing ...

By Timothy Wise, Director of the Research and Policy Program at the Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University. Cross posted from Triple Crisis

Just when you thought the unhealthy ties between food, fuel, and financial markets couldn?t get more perverse, we get the announcement that Vitol, the world?s largest independent oil trader, is entering the grain-trading business, hiring a team from Viterra, based in Toronto, to run the show. And lest we toss this off as just another corporate deal, Javier Blas in the Financial Times reminds us that Viterra has itself recently been bought by Glencore, perhaps the world?s greatest global commodity speculator.

What could go wrong?

For the world?s poor, plenty. They?ve already endured three food price spikes in the last six years, fueled in part by financial speculators gambling on agricultural, energy, and metals commodities as they fled the wreckage of the housing and stock market crashes. This corporate deal may not change a thing, but it is a powerful symbol of what?s wrong with our broken food system.

Vitol isn?t alone, of course. Mercuria, another leading energy trader, recently hired commodity traders from Morgan Stanley to build an agriculture portfolio. The connections couldn?t be clearer: energy trader hires investment bank to get it into agricultural commodities. According to Blas, the moves reflect declining profitability in energy. Why? Too little volatility. Remember, the traders are speculating, not investing. They need large and frequent price movements to make money. And if there?s one thing agricultural commodities markets are, it?s bullish on volatility.

Blas points out that the extension into agricultural markets is a natural because it can ?allow oil traders to profit from the link between gasoline and diesel and the biofuel market.? And who wouldn?t want oil traders, whose interest is making money trading on vast energy markets, to use their insider knowledge to make money from movements on agricultural commodities markets, when in fact oil price movements are one of the main drivers of agricultural futures prices?

As a recent Oxfam report documents, the links go the other way as well, with the Big Four grains traders ?Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, known collectively as ABCD ? heavily invested in financial trading in the very commodities over which they have a high degree of control.

UNCTAD brought home these perverse connections in a short policy brief last year. They offered two telling graphs that compared price movements of the stock market (red), oil prices (green) and commodity prices (blue) in the first eight months of 2002 and 2012. (Forgive the resolution; they are clearer in the UNCTAD brief.)

In 2002, before the rise of biofuels and before deregulated financial markets had gone full-in on commodities, price movements were largely independent of one another. Particularly notable is the opposite movement of the stock market from oil and from the broader commodity index, the very relationship that led portfolio managers to recommend commodity investments as a hedge against stock market losses.

In 2012 that hedge was a fiction, though still a profitable one for traders who get paid partly by the trade. As the graph shows, co-movement is nearly complete. Co-movement suggests that supply and demand fundamentals in oil and broader commodities markets, which are indeed independent of one another, no longer determine price. UNCTAD attributes this to ?herding behavior? among financial investors still flush with speculative capital in search of quick returns.

UNCTAD?s conclusions: ?Because of these distortions, commodity prices in financialized markets do not provide correct signals about the relative scarcity of commodities. This impairs the allocation of resources and has negative effects on the real economy. To restore the proper functioning of commodity markets, swift political action is required on a global scale.?

It hasn?t happened yet, as the financial industry uses the profits from trading to weaken regulations and tie them up in court, a battle that is still going on in the United States.

Why does this matter? Because what happens on international commodity markets does not stay on commodity markets. It ripples out through an increasingly interconnected world. Large international price movements, which may or may not be driven by supply and demand fundamentals in those particular markets, drive commodities prices all over the world. Price transmission is by no means immediate nor complete; local conditions and weak integration with global markets still have an impact on local price movements. But global price volatility is highly contagious.

Consider Uganda, a net exporter of maize. As the graph below shows, maize price spikes transmitted to local retail markets, with a short lag. High demand from Kenya, in response to high global prices, contributed to price transmission. Not atypically, the high prices were ?sticky,? holding on despite declining global prices. This is often an indicator of the market power of local traders, who can extend scarcity-prices by inducing continued scarcity.

The food security impacts? An estimated 65% of Ugandans? cash income is used for the purchase of food, and the urban poor are most dependent on purchased maize, which gives them 20% of their calories. With the price spikes, the poor get poorer. (See my report.)

Energy traders hiring Wall Street firms to get them into agricultural commodities is truly the least of our problems when it comes to the unhealthy links between food, fuel and financial markets. But it is yet another powerful symbol.

More important is getting Wall Street to stop gambling on food, and getting food out of our gas tanks.

Source: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/04/the-damaging-links-between-food-fuel-and-finance-a-growing-threat-to-food-security.html

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Top admiral: US can intercept a North Korean missile

While testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Adm. Samuel Locklear, Commander of the US military's Pacific Command, says he's confident missile defenses are capable of intercepting a ballistic missile launched by North Korea towards the U.S. — or any of its allies.

By Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, NBC News

If North Korea decides to launch a missile, the United States is ready to respond and is capable of intercepting it, a top U.S. military commander told Congress on Tuesday.

The Commander of U.S. Pacific Command also said that he cannot recollect a more tense time between the U.S., South Korea, and North Korea since the end of the Korean War.

---

Responding to Sen. John McCain's statement that he doesn't know a time of greater tension in the decades since the war, Admiral Sam Locklear said that "I would agree that in my recollection I don't know a greater time."

Locklear told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the U.S. is ready to respond to a North Korean missile launch or other threat.

"I am satisfied that we are ready today, yes," Locklear said.

South Korean official have said since Sunday that a missile launch by the North could come as early as Wednesday but U.S. military and intelligence officials have seen no movement or preparations that would indicate that a launch of the Musudan missiles from the launch site on North Korea's east coast is imminent.

Locklear acknowledged that the U.S. believes North Korea has placed a Musadan missile on that coast, adding the missile has a range of roughly 1,800 to 2,100 miles, with a minimum range of about 400 miles.

He said it does not threaten the mainland United States or Hawaii, but it could put Guam at risk. He added that the U.S. has "capability in place" to protect Guam.

Asked specifically whether U.S. forces can intercept a missile from North Korea, Locklear said, "I believe we have a credible ability to defend the homeland, to defend Hawaii, defend Guam, to defend our forward-deployed forces and defend our allies."

He went on to say that the U.S. could intercept a missile even if it happens in the next several days.

Locklear said he would not recommend intercepting a missile, however, until the U.S. is certain what the target is.

"If the missile was in defense of the homeland, I would certainly recommend that action. And if it was defense of our allies, I would recommend that action," he said.

He added that they will know "pretty quickly" where the missile is going and "what we need to do about it."

Locklear also acknowledged that China, the North's only diplomatic and financial ally, could play a key role in stopping the rhetoric from North Korea.

Asked whether the Chinese government has done enough to restrain North Korea, Locklear said, "I think they could do more."

The admiral's comments come as world leaders have shown alarm at the prospects of a conflict involving a reclusive state that claims to be developing a nuclear weapon.

South Koreans expect Pyongyang to launch a medium-range missile near the border as North Korea warned foreigners in South Korea to be prepared to evacuate. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

Addressing North Korea's latest saber-rattling that warned foreigners to leave South Korea, the White House on Tuesday called the rhetoric "unhelpful" and "provocative."

President Barack Obama called North Korea's nuclear test in February "highly provocative." Russian President Vladimir Putin has said?hostilities?could create a cataclysm worse than the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.?

Yet in South Korea, where most of the harsh rhetoric is aimed, people?numbed by years of threats?are calmly going about their business. Restaurants and hotels are full in Seoul - a mere 30 miles from 700,000 North Korean soldiers -- and no emergency supplies such as gas mask or drugs are being distributed.

Admiral Locklear meanwhile referred to North Korean leader Kim Jung Un as the "impetuous young leader" who "continues to focus on provocation rather than on his own people.?

Locklear said that Kim Jung Un is more unpredictable that his father or grandfather who "always figured into their provocation cycle an off ramp of how to get out of it."

"It's not clear to me that he has thought through how to get out of it. And so, this is what makes this scenario, I think, particularly challenging," Locklear said.

As to any potential missile launch, U.S. officials say that they firmly believe that missiles would be aimed out to open sea, not at South Korea, Japan or Guam.

And despite the taunts from North Korea, which?include a call for foreigners to leave the South, the U.S. State Department hasn?t issued any new security warnings to Americans in South Korea or planning to travel there.

At the State dept. briefing today, Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell said that no new security warnings are being issued to Americans in South Korea or planning to travel to South Korea based on recent taunts from North Korea.

"There's no specific information to suggest imminent threat to U.S. citizens or facilities in the Republic of Korea,? State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Tuesday. ?So the U.S. embassy has not changed its security posture. We have not recommended that U.S. citizens who reside in or plan to visit the Republic of Korea take special security precautions at this time."

NBC News' Jim Maceda and Jeff Black contributed to this report.

Related:

Google+ Hangout: Richard Engel answers questions on North Korea

North Korea warns foreigners to leave South

Who is North Korea's secretive leader? Here is what we know

'Positive thinking' after years of threats keeps South Koreans going

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Fox threatens to become a pay-TV channel if courts greenlight Aereo, probably doesn't mean it

Quick: what's the difference between a broadcast TV network (Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC) and a cable channel (TBS, TNT, ESPN, etc.)? Oh, only millions and millions of viewers. Nevertheless, Fox's COO Chase Carey is perturbed enough by the mere thought of Aereo getting its way, that he's already claiming that the network will go dark in favor of becoming a cable channel -- if and when OTA network streaming over the internet is completely legalized, that is. Causticism aside, Carey's remarks are certainly indicative of how the networks feel about the potential disruption of their revenue stream, and moreover, showcases just how far we are from living in a world that isn't dominated by the same old processes when it comes to entertainment.

Carey stated: "We need to be able to be fairly compensated for our content. This is not an ideal path we look to pursue, but we can't sit idly by and let an entity steal our signal. We will move to a subscription model if that's our only recourse."

Is it possible that Fox would suddenly vanish from over-the-air antennas everywhere, screwing up countless programming agreements with a near-endless amount of partners? Sure... but it's also possible that the ninth circle of Hades will be converted into an NHL arena. We're calling your bluff, Carey.

Update: According to the New York Times, Univision chairman Haim Saban joined the saber rattling, stating that his network is ready to consider all options, including converting to pay-tv.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Source: Bloomberg

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/08/fox-threatens-cable-channel-aereo-court-battle/

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