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Amazon reportedly negotiating to acquire Texas Instruments’ OMAP chip division

I’m a huge fan of the business model for the Kindle Fire. Amazon sells the hardware to the consumer at cost and makes a profit by selling content. It also offers a great platform for App developers to make money. Amazon was even kind enough to offer the source code for the original Kindle Fire a few weeks after it was released, allowing developers to customize the OS and create create custom ROMs. If Amazon is able to pull off this deal to acquire Texas Instruments chip division, they could potentially be able to offer the Kindle Fire at a lower price by cutting out the middle man and producing a chip in-house. Amazon would also be able to wipe out one of their main competitors in Barnes and Nobles by cutting off their chip supplier and forcing Barnes and Nobles to completely redesign the Nook. Frankly, I don’t think Barnes and Nobles is up to the task. They’re hanging on by a thread as it stands now.

With the amount of free books and apps available on Amazon, sometimes I wonder how the Kindle Fire makes any money at all. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says that Kindle Fire owners purchase 4 times the amount of books of non-owners. As a Kindle Fire owner myself, I’m inclined to believe him. I’ve read more in the year since I bought the Kindle Fire than I had in the previous ten. I’ve also been purchasing apps. A lot of those apps were created by small developers. I’m glad to see that Amazon is tapping into the market and creating an environment where the little guy can still get a slice of the pie. I think potential Texas Instruments OMAP acquisition would be good for everyone.

October 15th, 2012

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World of Warcraft Hacker: Nuisance or Visionary?

World of Warcraft is a social phenomenon that is completely unique in the entire span of the human experience. Millions of people inhabit a virtual universe that exists outside the constraints of the physical world. Many people become so preoccupied with the game that they lose jobs, friends, and spouses. Sociologists have suggested that video games like World of Warcraft might help fulfill some primal desire to hunt that is hard wired into our brain.

This weekend, a hacker exploited a weakness in the game and eviscerated hundreds of users and entire cities within the game. It immediately reminded me of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah from the Christian bible where God sends an angel to destroy two cities which are so morally corrupted that they must be completely purged. It begs the question: did the hacker feel the same way about World of Warcraft? Are the users so rotten that they too are beyond saving?

Blizzard was able to repair the damage to the game within about 4 hours. In an official statement, they acknowledged that they had not contacted the police about the incident. They did ask users for information that might identify the hacker. I don’t believe this particular hacker actually meant to destroy the game. Killing a character is only a minor nuisance because you can just re-spawn with hardly any consequence. The more obvious ways to do any meaningful damage would have been to attack the monetary system within the game or to completely reset characters on the server. Resetting a character would negate hundreds of hours of work. If this had been the case, many users might have left WOW and cancelled their subscriptions, never to return. I’m sure Blizzard has safeguards in place to keep this from happening. Also if you are looking for another online gaming experience check www.aboutmyarea.co.uk.

Eventually, a new and better game will be released and users will migrate away from World of Warcraft. Video games will continue to enthrall and ensnare us. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, since people keep playing different games as multiplayer or casino games like baccarat online where people can gamble online. What we’re left with is a whole generation of socially inept hermits with skills that don’t translate to the real world. If they ever catch the hacker, chances are he’ll pay a hefty fine. He might even serve some jail time. History might see him in a different light. I imagine him sitting in filthy room, pizza boxes piled 4 feet high, hundreds of empty Mountain Dew bottles strewn across the floor, when suddenly he had a moment of clarity. Maybe he was only trying to set us free.

October 12th, 2012

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RockBox

You already know that benefits come when you prioritize physical fitness. The trick is understanding what, exactly, “fitness” is and how you can go about achieving it.

That’s where the five components of fitness come in. They are the blueprint for the American College of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM’s) physical activity guidelines and serve as a helpful tool for organizing and executing your own well-balanced workout routine.1

The five components of fitness are:

  • Cardiovascular endurance
  • Muscular strength
  • Muscular endurance
  • Flexibility
  • Body composition

Creating a fitness plan that incorporates each of these elements can help ensure that you get the most health benefits from your routine. Take a look to the latest okinawa flat belly tonic reviews.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) links regular physical activity to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, improved bone health, enhanced mental health, and improved quality of life with age.

 

Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular Endurance
Martin Novak / Getty Images

Cardiovascular endurance (also known as cardiorespiratory endurance or aerobic fitness) refers to your body’s ability to efficiently and effectively intake oxygen and deliver it to your body’s tissues by way of the heart, lungs, arteries, vessels, and veins. By engaging in regular exercise that challenges your heart and lungs, you can:

  • Maintain or even improve the efficient delivery and uptake of oxygen to your body’s systems
  • Enhance cellular metabolism
  • Ease the physical challenges of everyday life

Given that heart disease accounts for roughly 630,000 deaths in the United States each year, starting a workout program that enhances cardiovascular fitness is of particular importance. Running, walking, cycling, swimming, dancing, circuit training, and boxing are just a few of the many workouts designed to benefit heart health. Keep your temperature on a stable way with blast portable ac.

The ACSM’s physical activity guidelines call for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.

The key, of course, is consistency. It may sound like a lot, but 150 minutes breaks down to just 20 to 30 minutes of exercise per day, five to seven days a week, depending on how hard you push yourself.

October 1st, 2012

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5 Reasons to upgrade from Windows XP to Linux Ubuntu

1. Ubuntu is more secure. Now that Windows is no longer supporting XP, many older systems are extremely vulnerable to viruses and hackers. Ubuntu is virtually virus free.
2. Ubuntu takes up less hard drive space. Many older systems are hampered by limited hard drive space. A full installation of Ubuntu only takes up 5GB of storage space. Users looking for a truly minimal version of Ubuntu should consider XUbuntu http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=xubuntu
3. Ubuntu is faster than Windows XP. A fully upgraded version of Windows XP eats up a ton of system resources. If you don’t re-install XP every few years, it can become extremely bogged down, eventually rendering your computer unusable. A fresh install of Ubuntu will usually yield a significant performance boost on older machines.
4. Ubuntu comes bundled with better software. LibreOffice, Firefox, and the Ubuntu Software Center are all included with Ubuntu completely free of charge. Ubuntu can do everything that Windows XP can do, and all for free with no hidden charges and no bloatware.
5. Ubuntu is fully customizable and compatible. Most comouters running Windows XP can be seamlessly and painlessly upgraded to Ubuntu without downloading a single driver. Ubuntu will automatically detect your hardware. After a quick install from an Ubuntu live cd, you can be up and running in a matter of minutes. Ubuntu is so intuitive and feels so familiar that most people who switch will never look back. Get your copy of Ubuntu here. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

September 24th, 2012

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Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on the Kindle Fire

With the release of the new Kindle Fire HD 8.9” in November, a lot of Kindle users are going to be upgrading.  Amazon allows previously purchased content to be stored in the cloud and transferred between devices, so users will be able to transfer all of their books, apps, music and movies to their new device. There are going to be a ton of used last gen Kindle Fire tablets going up for sale of craigslist with hundreds of dollars in pre-loaded content.  I’m considering upgrading myself, and the lucky person who buys my old Kindle Fire is going to be enjoying a side-loaded version of Grand Theft Auto 3, over 500 books, and a dozen free music albums.   For all of the criticism of the device by tech writers, the first generation of the Kindle Fire was Amazon’s best ever selling device and maintains a rating of 4/5 stars. It has a reputation for being relatively free of defects or malfunctions. Most of the people I know who actually own a Kindle Fire love it.  When I stop to think about, I’m finding myself hesitant to give mine up.  A recent hack that allows users to run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on my old Kindle Fire has me second guessing my decision to sell it. The Jelly Bean OS is still in the beta-testing stage on the Fire, but developers have worked out most of the major kinks. The International Business Times reports, “Issues with HD codecs are found to affect users on YouTube and Netflix. With Texas instruments reportedly updating the libion code for Jelly Bean, it should help Hashcode in fixing this issue soon. Apart from the codecs issue, the screen over-rotates while changing position, besides turning on UMS in the ROM appears to be a major difficulty.” A Kindle Fire with access to the Google Play store is defnitely a device worth keeping, especially when the alternative is selling it for 50$. It sounds like a more stable version of Jelly Bean for the Kindle could be released a few weeks after the new Kindle Fire is shipped and just in time for Christmas.   For now, users must manually install Jelly Bean onto the Kindle Fire in a relatively simple 4 step process.   Step 1: Download Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 ROM for your Kindle Fire. It’s around 108MB and might be time consuming particularly on slower connections.   Step 2: Download Jelly Bean Gapps that needs to be flashed onto your device.   Step 3: Power off your device and boot into recovery.   Step 4: Flash the ROM/Gapps, which you downloaded in previous steps from ClockworkMod Recovery. Ensure you do a complete wipe of the data and cache. You are done. Just restart your device from CyanogenWorkMod (CWM) and your Kindle Fire should automatically boot into Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1. If you find issues with Wi-Fi after flashing, you just have to run the command: adb shell su fix-mac.sh and you are all set.

September 10th, 2012

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