Slice HD: you will hurt your fingers on your iPad

I once saw a humorous experiment where a rubber hand was put in front of a test subject, and the subject watched the fake hand being brushed with a feather while their own hand was brushed with a similar feather in exactly the same way. People began to feel as if that rubber hand was their own, and then they were surprised when the rubber hand was slammed with a very real hammer. The subjects reacted with horror, for a moment feeling as if their own hand had been broken. Slice HD elicits the same moments of horror, except with blades instead of hammers.

The $3 iPad app is graphic, filled with cold, gray coloring and splashes of red blood when your hand is "cut," and at times it can be hard to play. Take a look at a video of the game in action to see what I mean.

Slice HD

Ars was offered a review code to check out the game, so I responded to the e-mail and waited impatiently for the copy to come in. Then I remembered it was three freakin' dollars and I bought it myself. The video shows the entirety of the game's concept: you manipulate knives, stabbing instruments, and razors in order to hit the red button. Sometimes the objects move in ways you don't expect, and in other levels moving one piece triggers something else. It's nerve-wracking, and if you have a fear of blood or sharp objects, this is going to turn you into a shaking wreck.

The game forces you to contort your hands to move the knives or to keep knives from moving, and in one memorable moment I had to bend down and hit the red button with my nose, as my hands were all occupied. I'm not sure what would have happened had a blade flown across the screen at that moment, but I believe I might have screamed.

This is a fun game to play, and I often found myself jerking my hand back after being virtually "cut." It hurt every now and again, but just for a split second before my brain caught up with what's going on. This is one of the best uses of the touchscreen I've seen in a long time, and while a few levels ended with me being cut when I was sure my hand was far enough away from the blade, everything works well enough to avoid frustration. For about the cost of a cup of coffee, this is a game you need to try.

via arstechnica.com

BRILLIANT IDEA! Horror gaming in it's simplest form!

Google Inadvertently Classifies Google Places As A “Content Farm” And Removes From Search Index

Power struggles within Google’s executive team, which have been brewing since the announcement of long time CEO Eric Schmidt’s departure, are apparently bubbling up to the surface.

Case in point: In an extraordinary move to illustrate its independence, say sources, the Google webspam team actually classified Google Places as spam and a content farm, and temporarily removed it from search results.

Rewind to February 24, when Google announced major revisions to its search algorithms to reduce the amount of “content farm” and other low quality content appearing in Google search results. Google specifically targeted “sites that copy others’ content and sites with low levels of original content.” See for example, a blog post by Matt Cutts, who leads Google’s webspam team, here.

The changes were targeted at the huge content farms gaining notoriety on the Internet – Demand Media, Yahoo (via Associated Content), Huffington Post, etc. Google was just settling in to the changes when those sites fired back via even more complicated SEO ploys, say sources. And then Google made yet more changes to the way they classify spam and other low value sites.

That’s when everything fell apart.

The Google webspam team has made extraordinary efforts to explain that they are completely independent of other parts of Google. The fact that most content farms generate the large majority of their revenue from Google Adsense ads placed around their content has been a problem for Google. Cutts has been unequivocal on Google’s policy: “Google absolutely takes action on sites that violate our quality guidelines regardless of whether they have ads powered by Google” he said back in January on the official Google blog.

That has angered Google revenue chief Nikesh Arora, who has reportedly lashed out at the webspam team privately at various sales events for targeting some of Google’s most valuable partners. Tellingly, Arora recently returned back from a two week jaunt in the Caribbean with Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt, reported TMZ, where the two spent time on Rosenblatt’s new $40 million megayacht pictured left and called (I’m not kidding), The Adsense. Demand Media, worth around $2 billion, generates approximately 100% of its revenues from low quality content wrapped in Google Adsense ads

And now Cutts has earned the ire of another longtime Google exec, Marissa Mayer. Mayer controls Google Places, a service that gives information about local businesses and aggregates reviews from sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, among other properties. Google Places, like many other Google properties, automatically show at the top of search results. The content aggregated by Places from third party sites is found, if at all, much lower in results.

Google’s new algorithm changes automatically classified Google Places as spam, say sources inside Google, and for a few hours most Google Places results were inadvertently stripped from Google search results.

The fact that many Place pages only contain content scraped from third party sites and little or no original content was a key factor in the automatic change, say sources. This has been a source of constant tension between Google and the sites they scrape. See, for example, the drama between Google and Yelp last year as Yelp content on Google Places was purged and then re-added.

Place pages were quickly restored to Google search results over loud objections from Cutts and the webspam team.

Cutts refused to comment specifically on this story, although he did say in an email exchange that Google absolutely does not use humans in determining search results and that the algorithms make ranking decisions based on a proprietary blend of a variety of signals, such as how much revenue Google generates from the results. “If Google were to determine that Google properties were not providing high quality results, it would not matter whether or not those Google properties were displaying Google ads,” he said. “It wouldn’t matter for what?” I replied, “I’m not sure you actually said anything.” He has not responded to that last inquiry.

Mayer, for her part, was even less forthcoming. In an off the record phone conversation she said “Screw the webspam team,” and “It’s not like people are going to start using Bing.”

via techcrunch.com

lol. take that right hand (says unknowing left hand)

The Terrible C-Word - The Oatmeal

via theoatmeal.com

nsfw

"I Saw A Hole In the Man" ~ A Mayan Story of Why Humanity Suffers

via youtube.com

nuff said

Happy Talk Like William Shatner Day! | tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts

William Shatner is turning 80 years old today and in honor of this momentous occasion, it’s Talk Like William Shatner Day!

In case you could ever forget that. particular... cadence, we’ve assembled the best of the good captain’s spoken word song catalogue. Satisfy yourself with the above version of “It Was a Very Good Year,” featuring Shatner and a good number of familiar Trek poses. (He is Kirok at least once during the recitation.)

Or, click below the cut for an amazing range of absurdity, from a serenade to George Lucas, to a rap about Caesar, and then off into some kind of psychological breakdown regarding a flying taxi.

“Your Way”: Shatner sings during a celebration (roast?) of George Lucas.

 

“No Tears For Caesar”: An original spoken rap composition, as featured in the film Free Enterprise. (Starts 20 seconds in.)

 

“Taxi”: Starts out slow but stick with it, if only to hear him scream, “There’s a wild man wizard, he’s hiding in me! Illuminating my mind!”

 

“Common People”: Paired with clips from the animated series and a healthy dose of Spock/Kirk.

 

“Rocket Man”: We couldn’t forego this Shatner classic.

 

We had to limit our selections to five or six, as Shatner’s ouevre in regards to song and spoken word is practically bottomless. (And we didn’t even get to Nimoy!) Let us know if we missed any hidden gems!

Stubby the Rocket is the mascot and often random voice of Tor.com. It also has problems with wizards hiding in it, illuminating its mind.

via tor.com

it was a very good year

a teeny, tiny documentary of mikal on Vimeo

via vimeo.com

enchanting mini documentary of my real life musician friend Mikal Shapiro. A fascinating person and a talented artist!

DUGI'S Guides Contest -What's your favorite Zone? | World of Warcraft Guides

NEWS: DUGI’S Guides Contest – What’s your favorite Zone?

Posted on 2011 under Contests, Dugi's Guides, News, World of Warcraft, WoW | No Comment · Edit

18 Mar

DUGI’S Guides Contest -- What’s your favorite Zone?

Dugi is hosting a contest where you can get
up to 5 in-game pets and a lifetime account
with Dugi Guides to receive free all his guides
for free (including future products)

All you have to do is visit the link below…

CLICK HERE TO ENTER DUGI’S Guides Contest -What’s your favorite Zone

and post on the comment section about your
favourite questing Zone for WoW, that it!

This is 100% free to enter and no registration
of any sort required.

Dugi has a long history of releasing awesome
new guides, this is an awesome opportunity
so don’t miss out!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER DUGI’S Guides Contest -What’s your favorite Zone

Popularity: unranked [?]

via wow-guides.net

awesome contest! tell Dugi your favorite zone and why and if he likes it best- you get al his products free forever!

Pet Minders | Pet Care | Pet Sitting

Pet Minders – Professional Pet Sitting Dog Walking In Lawrence, KS!

Leslie, Georgie, and Sara Soden

Pet Minders Pet Sitting Dog Walking provides Professional Pet Care Services for you, your family and your pets!  We are fully bonded and insured for your security while providing pet sitting, dog walking, mid-day potty breaks, and vacation pet care. We are also proud members of the professional pet sitting organization Pet Sitters International.

Pet minders owner has roots in the community since 1996, and is firmly committed to the Lawrence Kansas area and it’s citizens- including the pets and other furry friends, which is why we’ve been providing quality Dog Walker and Pet care since 2006 and will continue to do so into the very far future!

We personalize our visits for you, which makes for a happy and fun time no matter what type of service you and your pets need. We would enjoy meeting you and your pets – give us a call today!

Check Out Our Services Here!

Pet Minders of Lawrence, KS. – Experience:

We know that your pets are part of your family, and we take our responsibility as pet sitters very seriously.  All of our pet sitters are pet parents themselves. We are American Red Cross Certified in Pet First Aid and CPR and Accredited through Pet Sitters International.

Why Use In-Home Pet Sitting instead of Boarding?

• Animals are less stressed staying at home.
• Familiar smells, sights, and sounds offer comfort even when you’re not there.
• Animals are creatures of habit and don’t like change.
• No risk of illness, parasites or disease from other animals.
• Having a daily pet sitter helps secure against crime by giving your home a lived-in look.
• Mail and newspaper delivery can continue, as usual.
• No need to impose on neighbors, friends or family.

 

The BEST Dog Walkers In Lawrence, KS!

Call Us Today For A FREE Pet Care or Dog Walking Consultation in Lawrence, KS.!

Pet Minders Inc.

Professional Pet Sitting

Lawrence, KS 66044

(785) 312-4314

Contact Us Today!

via petminders.org

A wonderful dog walker, pet sitter and over all pet care provider - Pet Minders of Lawrence Kansas is a great business to leave to the sitting of your pet- regardless of their breed or type.
Awesome service can be had with the down to earth and very professional owner, Leslie, from Pet Minders of Lawrence Kansas!