Nollywood: Nigerian Film Center, 3rd Largest in the World

As John Naisbitt predicted in the book Megatrends, tastes non-mainstream increasingly gain a place on the planet is in line with the further cheapening of technology.Nollywood, as for the film industry in Nigeria, has emerged as a force in the world's second movie, after Bollywood (Indian film industry) and on the Hollywood (U.S. film industry). This measure is based on the number of films produced per year. Meanwhile, according to The Guardian (March 2006), in terms of revenue, Nigeria movie industry is ranked third. Its value? According to CNN, the Nigerian film industry currently has a value of U.S. $ 250 million.Initially, precisely in the 1960s, the Nigerian government to limit the circulation of foreign films in his country, so that the producers in Lagos began to produce local films for television. In addition, they also distribute them in the form of videos, which in turn creates seed video distribution industry. The use of English for more than local languages-is also one key success factor that makes the circulation of films in Nigeria can grow throughout Africa and the world.

 Song Iyke with Onlookers
Many of the movies are produced and marketed within the space of a week. 

Emeka Uzzi
Nigeria's film business, a.k.a. Nollywood, is the third largest in the world.

Its filmmakers produce as many as 1,000 movies each year for the home-video market.

In terms of distribution, Nigeria also recorded an impressive step. According to the records of Wikipedia, Nollywood films are now beating the circulation of Hollywood films in Nigeria and other African countries. Producer-producer Nigeria also recorded high productivity. About 30 new titles released to video stores every week via DVD and VCD, which can sell 50,000 copies per week. The size of the U.S. dollar, a disc copies can be sold for U.S. $ 2, price is affordable for most Nigerians. On the other hand, the price is enough to make producers coffers bulging.

The secret seems to lie in the topics presented in these films, namely a variety of everyday problems faced by African communities. For example, the problem of corruption, religious differences, women's rights, or AIDS. In addition, there are also films that give priority to certain religious values, such as Islam, or Christianity. In essence, the film is presented gives the value of contemplation and inspiration for the various problems of modern African society, not just Nigeria. No wonder that the values ​​contained in Nollywood films are more familiar than the values ​​of Hollywood movies.What about piracy? In www.nigeriancuriousity.com site, there are some notes on how to avoid piracy Nollywood DVD. One of them was cut up the movie into several parts. Not cut-cut style of Warner Bros.., Like Superman 1, Superman 2, and so on, but truly a cut in the middle of the film. Thus, it becomes a disincentive for the hijackers. Perhaps this unique technique can not guarantee 100% reduction in piracy, but obviously quite difficult for piracy.

 Maureen Obise
The production companies have extremely limited budgets and only the most basic scripts.

 Chika, Onyejekwe, Junior Ofokansi, Thomas Okafor
The narratives are almost always overdramatic, with no happy endings.

Emilie Ibeh, Doris Orji and Sharon Opiah
Plots revolve around situations familiar to the audience and include witchcraft, bribery and prostitution, in addition to romance and comedy.

In a note of Bollywood, Nollywood is also regarded as an industry that plays a significant decrease in popularity in Africa. In this case, Bollywood is being increasingly integrated into Western culture, such as sex, action, and freedom (in the direction of Hollywood), while African audiences still want the old Bollywood films are more family oriented or issues about the effects of Western colonization in the ago.

 Gabazzini Zuo
The preferred aesthetic is loud, violent and excessive.

Obechukwu Nwoye
Most of the films are shot not in studios but on location in ordinary homes, hotels and offices.

In the past, Indian films have a sizable influence in Africa. Mother India (1957), for example, be acceptable in Nigeria several decades after its release. Indian films also had influenced the writers of his novel. Even in northern Nigeria, a sticker affixed to Indian films in the taxis and buses them. But now, even after Bollywood more "modern", they left behind. (Magusba)

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Posted in: Update News

Chinese herbal for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion. It is a functional bowel disorder characterized by chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, and alteration of bowel habits in the absence of any detectable organic cause. In some cases, the symptoms are relieved by bowel movements. Diarrhea or constipation may predominate, or they may alternate (classified as IBS-D, IBS-C or IBS-A, respectively). IBS may begin after an infection (post-infectious, IBS-PI), a stressful life event, or onset of maturity without any other medical indicators. Although there is no cure for IBS, there are treatments that attempt to relieve symptoms, including dietary adjustments, medication and psychological interventions. Patient education and a good doctor-patient relationship are also important
An Australian study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association lends strong scientific support to the traditional use of Chinese herbs in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The authors believe theirs is the first clinical study to rigorously document the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of IBS - and the first to incorporate traditional Chinese diagnosis and treatment methods for IBS into a strictly controlled, conventional study model [Bensoussan et al., 1998].
The randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study involved 116 people with active IBS recruited from hospitals and private gastroenterology practices in Sydney, Australia. Patients were diagnosed first by gastroenterologists using standard western diagnostic methods, and then by Chinese herbalists according to the principles of Chinese medicine.
Forty-three subjects were randomized to receive a standard Chinese herbal formula "considered to regulate and strengthen bowel function," 38 took individualized herbal formulas, and 35 received a placebo deemed to be indistinguishable from the herbal treatments. Treatments were administered by capsule. Individualized treatments were custom-designed by the Chinese herbalists, who also supervised treatment during the course of the trial. Each subject worked with only one herbalist for the duration of the study. Results were evaluated by gastroenterologists after eight weeks and again at the end of the 16-week treatment period.
Both the standard herbal formula and the individualized treatments were significantly more effective than placebo in relieving IBS symptoms. Not only did Chinese herbal therapy prove superior to placebo, the researchers concluded that treatment benefits were more sustained in patients who took individualized formulas than in those who took the standard formula. Patients receiving the herbal formulas had significantly better scores in four out of five key outcome measures. Those taking the standard formula improved by 44 percent (according to patient assessments) and 59 percent (according to physician assessments) and those receiving individualized treatments improved by 42 percent and 40 percent, compared to 22 percent and 19 percent improvements in subjects taking placebo.The standard formula used in the trial, consisting of 20 Chinese herbs, was not identified by name in the paper, nor were the individualized formulas described. The herbs included in the highest proportions in the standard formula were yin chen at 13 percent (Artemisia capillaris Thunb., Asteraceae), bai zhu at 9 percent (Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz., Asteraceae), dang shen at 7 percent (Codonopsis pilosula [Franch.] Nannfeldt., Campanulaceae), yi yi ren (Job's tears) at 7 percent (Coix lacryma-jobi L., Poaceae), and wu wei zi (schizandra) at 7 percent (Schisandra chinensis [Turcz.] Baill., Schisandraceae).
Two patients withdrew from the study because of adverse effects related to the herbal treatment (gastrointestinal discomfort and headache). No other major adverse effects were reported.
As many as 10 to 20 percent of Americans and Australians may be afflicted with IBS, a chronic gastrointestinal disorder marked by abdominal pain, bloating, and disturbances in bowel function alternating from constipation to diarrhea. According to the authors of the study, no single medical treatment provides reliable relief or resolution of the condition. According to physician assessments in this study, 78 percent of patients taking the standard Chinese herbal formula and 50 percent of those receiving individualized formulas improved during treatment, compared with 30 percent of those taking placebo.
For additional we can using treatments have been found to be better than placebo, including fiber, antispasmodics, and peppermint oil. Some of treatments :

 
Diet

Some people with IBS are likely to have food intolerances. In 2007 the evidence base was not strong enough to recommend restrictive diets.
Many different dietary modifications have been attempted to improve the symptoms of IBS. Some are effective in certain sub-populations. As lactose intolerance and IBS have such similar symptoms a trial of a lactose free diet is often recommended. A diet restricting fructose and fructan intake has been shown to successfully treat the symptoms in a dose-dependant manner in patients with fructose malabsorption and IBS.
While many IBS patients believe they have some form of dietary intolerance, tests attempting to predict food sensitivity in IBS have been disappointing. One study reported that an IgG antibody test was effective in determining food sensitivity in IBS patients, with patients on the elimination diet experiencing 10% greater symptom reduction than those on a sham diet. More data is necessary before IgG testing can be recommended.
There is no evidence that digestion of food or absorption of nutrients is problematic for those with IBS at rates different from those without IBS. However, the very act of eating or drinking can provoke an overreaction of the gastrocolic response in some patients with IBS due to their heightened visceral sensitivity, and this may lead to abdominal pain, diarrhea, and/or constipation.

Fiber

There is convincing evidence that soluble fiber supplementation (e.g., psyllium) is effective in the general IBS population. Insoluble fiber (e.g., bran) has not been found to be effective for IBS. In some people, insoluble fiber supplementation may aggravate symptoms.
Fiber might be beneficial in those who have a predominance of constipation. In patients who have constipation predominant irritable bowel, soluble fiber at doses of 20 grams per day can reduce overall symptoms but will not reduce pain. The research supporting dietary fiber contains conflicting, small studies that are complicated by the heterogeneity of types of fiber and doses used.
One meta-analysis found that only soluble fiber improved global symptoms of irritable bowel, but neither type of fiber reduced pain. However, an updated meta-analysis by the same authors found that soluble fiber reduced symptoms. Positive studies have used 10–30 grams per day of psyllium seed. One study specifically examined the effect of dose and found that 20 grams of ispaghula husk was better than 10 grams and equivalent to 30 grams per day. An uncontrolled study noted increased symptoms with insoluble fibers. It is unclear if these symptoms are truly increased compared with a control group. If the symptoms are increased, it is unclear if these patients were diarrhea predominant (which can be exacerbated by insoluble fiber), or if the increase is temporary before benefit occurs.

Medication

Medications may consist of stool softeners and laxatives in constipation-predominant IBS, and antidiarrheals (e.g., opiate, opioid, or opioid analogs such as loperamide, codeine, diphenoxylate) in diarrhea-predominant IBS for mild symptoms.
Drugs affecting serotonin (5-HT) in the intestines can help reduce symptoms. Serotonin stimulates the gut motility and so agonists can help constipation-predominate irritable bowel, while antagonists can help diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel. (Magusba.blogspot.com)

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Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3)

Fast, frantic, and full of depth, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is a great addition to the franchise.
Good :

• Touch-screen controls are inviting for newcomers  
• Fantastic art and character design  
• Rich battles that reward skill, not button mashing  
• Lots of multiplayer options  
• Collecting figurines in StreetPass is addictive. 

Bad :  

• No online leaderboards or tournament mode  
• Using the shoulder buttons for combos can be tricky. 

Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is more than just a simple port of the venerable fighting franchise. Several aspects of the game have been carefully tweaked to fit within the smaller confines of the 3DS, resulting in a fighting experience that feels every bit as impressive as its console cousins. Combat is fast, fluid, and visually spectacular and is as deep as it has ever been, making this one of the most technically brilliant fighters to have ever graced a handheld. There are some glaring omissions, though, such as leaderboards and an online tournament mode. Some compromises have also been made to accommodate the 3DS's button layout, but these are largely offset by a customisable touch-screen interface that makes the game more accessible than ever to newcomers.  

The basic premise of the Street Fighter series has changed little since its debut in 1987. You play as one of 35 characters (all unlocked from the start), with the aim being to knock out your opponent with a range of kicks, punches, and special moves. All the characters from Super Street Fighter IV make a return, including series favourites such as Ryu, Chun-Li, and Blanka, along with newer additions such as C. Viper, Abel, and Rufus. Each is carefully balanced, so you are never at a disadvantage, no matter which character you fight with. With so many to choose from, there are a range of moves to suit everyone. For example, Abel is a slower, grapple-style character, specialising in short-range throws, while characters like Ryu and Sakura have faster, long-range attacks like Hadouken fireballs.
Learning moves and knowing which are the most effective against other fighters' attacks is key, making each match a strategic affair as you attempt to unravel your opponent's technique. If you're new to the series, a good place to start learning moves is Training mode, where you face off against a static dummy opponent. Though there's no tutorial, the controls are easy to pick up, and moves are listed via an onscreen command list. There are also various settings to adjust, such as your target's block mode, stun frequency, and regeneration levels. An input display shows you what buttons you're pushing, but it doesn't give you any guidance on the timing of your commands. If you're used to playing Street Fighter on a standard Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 pad, then the control scheme will be familiar, though arcade-stick players will need time to adjust. By default, you move your character around using the circle pad or D pad, pushing back to block. One isn't necessarily easier to use than the other; your preference will depend largely on your own technique, but you might find the circle pad to be a little less accurate in frantic fights. Meanwhile, the face buttons launch light and medium kicks and punches, while the shoulder buttons launch heavy kicks and punches.

Pow! Right in the kisser.

Combining directional moves with attack buttons launches special moves, such as Hadoukens, Shoryukens, and hurricane kicks. More-complex combinations using two or three attack buttons at once launch powerful EX attacks, as well as super and ultra attacks--devastating moves that can make all the difference in a fight. Using these moves relies on having enough charge in your EX and revenge meters, which are built up when you absorb hits or dish out damage. However, while your EX power rolls over to the next round, revenge does not. This adds yet more strategic depth to fights: you might decide to gather energy for your special, or deal out as much damage as possible using smaller EX moves. These moves aren't essential to winning a match, and a few well-placed kicks and punches can be just as effective.
Performing super and ultra combos has always been tricky, but on the 3DS the problem is exacerbated by its small shoulder buttons, which are difficult to press in conjunction with the face buttons in the heat of battle. A new control method has been implemented on the bottom screen that aims to make things easier, for both pros and newcomers. It displays four boxes, which are assigned to different moves. In Lite mode these automatically perform your character's super and ultra attacks, as well as two regular special moves. In Pro mode, the boxes are assigned to button combinations, such as all three kicks or punches, but can be customised to your liking. Newcomers will find Lite mode especially useful, because it lets you perform spectacular moves with little effort. While pros may scoff at the simplified controls, being able to unleash supers and ultras has never guaranteed a win; such is the depth and strategy of the game.

It's not necessary to stare into your opponent's soul as you prepare to destroy them, but it helps.

As well as EX, super, and ultra attacks, focus attacks make a return. Pressing and holding down the medium punch and kick buttons launches one of three levels of focus, with the strongest allowing you to absorb the first hit from your opponents and incapacitate them, giving you time to follow up with another attack before they hit the ground. You can also use focus to exit animations early to chain together some insanely impressive combos, though performing them requires serious thumb dexterity and some of your EX meter. You can learn many of these techniques in Challenge mode, where you're asked to perform a range of different combos against a dummy opponent. Each character has a set of combos to learn, which get more difficult as you progress. Some of the combos are especially challenging, but mastering them raises your abilities significantly, making fights easier to win and more impressive to watch.

Once you're comfortable with the controls, you can make your way through Arcade mode, which pits you against CPU-controlled characters in a number of fights. Though there's a story behind each character's motivations, they're weak at best, doing little to explain exactly why everyone is fighting each other. They're at least told in an attractive way, anime-style movies that play as you begin and when you complete Arcade mode. Interspersed throughout the fights are special stages, where you have to destroy a car or a set of rolling barrels within a set time limit--a nostalgic nod to Street Fighter II and a way to break up the action. There are a range of difficulty modes to choose from in Arcade mode, so no matter what your skill level, you can fight your way through. If you do battle it out on harder settings, be prepared for a challenge. Your CPU adversaries launch all manner of ultra attacks and combos, doing everything they can to defeat you--none more so than final boss Seth, whose seemingly endless supply of tricky moves feels as cheap as ever, making him incredibly frustrating to fight.
The real joy of Street Fighter lies in playing against human opponents, and there are a variety of options for doing so. Versus mode lets you play against other opponents via wireless, either nearby or on the same wireless network. Fights are smooth and free of any lag, so you've no excuses for losing battles, other than your own lack of skill. There is also a Download Play option, so you can fight against other 3DS owners with just one copy of the game, though the character selection is limited to Ryu. Battles can be played over the Internet too, with Quick, Custom, and Friend matches available. A Quick match pits you against a random player, while a Custom match lets you choose from a number of options before entering a match. You can change the number of rounds, the time limit, what region your opponents are from, their skill level, and whether they are using the Lite or Pro control method. A Friend match lets you play against anyone in your friends list, provided that they are playing at the same time too. You can set up a lobby and wait for them to join, but sadly there is no way to send a message to them from within the game; you have to exit and use the main 3DS message system to do so.

How long did it take to braid that thing?

If you can't find an opponent online straightaway, you can turn on the fight request feature, which lets players challenge you to a battle while you're playing offline in Arcade mode. The performance of online battles against other players depends largely on your respective Internet connections. Matches are largely lag-free, though there are times when a bad connection causes the game to stutter significantly, making it tricky to compete. Disappointingly, there are no online leaderboards or tournaments. Though you do earn player points when you win battles, these are used to judge your skill level when you're being matched up with opponents. There is, however, a local player data section, where you can see statistics such as your total play time, your progress through Arcade mode, and the number of wins and losses you've had in versus battles. You also earn medals, which are like achievements, by completing tasks such as doing a special move 100 times or winning three matches in a row online.
You don't actually have to be playing to battle others, though, thanks to the 3DS' StreetPass feature. When your 3DS is in sleep mode, it automatically sends a figurine team of your choosing to battle other 3DS owners who have the feature turned on. It works much like a turn-based RPG battle, with each figurine's attributes such as their level, strength, and health points determining the outcome. How much you get out of StreetPass depends on how much interaction you have with other players, though if you do battle with people regularly, it's exciting to see your team grow stronger, and it's a nice diversion from regular fights. You're not stuck with a single set of figurines when you battle, though. You can trade with others or get new ones using your play coins, which are earned via the 3DS's pedometer. The more you walk, the more play coins you get. They can be traded in for figure points, which you can use to play a small minigame. A set of figurines spins around on the top screen, while a giant button appears on the bottom screen. Pushing the button stops the figurines from spinning and awards you with a new one for your collection. There are a lot to collect, all based on characters from within the game in various costumes and poses, which certainly extends the game's appeal if you're a completionist.

She wore a Raspberry Beret.

Whichever mode you're playing in, the visuals are extremely impressive. The familiar pseudo-cel-shaded character art returns, with thick black borders and splattered inkblots making each detailed combatant stand out from the background. Their animation is very smooth too, so each fight is a fluid and graceful experience that's heaps of fun. The backgrounds are less impressive, being largely static, but a variety of 3D models scattered across them add variety. Turning on 3D mode halves the frame rate from 60 frames per second to 30, but it's still eminently playable, and you're rewarded with a great 3D experience. Backgrounds stretch off into the distance, while fighters sit in front, and status bars hover over them, giving a feeling of depth. Ultra attacks benefit from 3D effects too, with explosions and fists flying out of the screen. A new 3D versus mode showcases the 3D effect even more with an angled over-the-shoulder view of your character. It's fun to play the first time, but soon its shortcomings become apparent. The angle makes it difficult to gauge how far away you are from your opponent and makes it tricky to know what direction you should be pushing on the D pad or circle pad to move your character. Serious fighters will most certainly want to stick to the standard view.
What's most impressive about Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is how few compromises have been made to the core gameplay in its transition to the 3DS. From the fantastic visuals to the speed of combat, it's as great a fighting game as you'll find on a handheld, encompassing most of the features of the console versions. The lack of leaderboards and a tournament mode remains a mystery, but what matters most is that fighting remains fun and challenging. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned pro, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition satisfies your fighting urges on the go, doing so with a level of style and depth that few fighting games can match.(Source )

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Posted in: Movies And Games

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D (Nintendo)

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D plays a great game of football but feels bare when it comes to features and game modes.

Good :

• Great controls and gameplay  
• Deep Master League mode  
• Well-presented Champions League mode. 

Bad : 

• No online features  
• Little variety in single-player game modes  
• Lack of official teams and up-to-date squads  
• Mundane commentary  
• No option to save replays.

While the Pro Evolution Soccer series retired from Nintendo's DS console a few years ago, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D brings it back to a new Nintendo handheld along with brand-new 3D features. It's a decent first attempt--accurately capturing the gameplay that's made the series such a success--but there are some notable issues. The default over-the-shoulder view looks impressive in 3D but hinders your view of the action, but of greater concern is that there are some serious omissions when it comes to features and game modes. As a result, PES 2011 3D is a fair first step for the series on the 3DS, but one that could also improve in a lot of key ways.

Prepare to have balls flying at your face.

If you've played Pro Evo before, then you'll be right at home with this version of the game. You move your player using the circle pad or the D pad, you kick the ball using the four face buttons, and you perform tricks and sprints using the shoulder buttons. Where the 3DS version differs is in its use of the touch screen--you can customise your defensive and offensive options and then activate your saved tactics mid-game by tapping on the bottom screen. The radar is also displayed here, allowing the upper screen to show as much of the action as possible. It's a sensible and well-thought-out system that benefits from the dual-screen layout.
The other big change in this 3D version is the way you view the action by default--in the over-the-shoulder perspective that has previously been seen only in the series' Become a Legend mode. From a technical standpoint, this perspective looks impressive and adds a tangible sense of distance between you and the other players. However, the view also obscures a great deal of the action, particularly when you're defending, which makes it difficult to keep track of the ball. Move to the standard side-on view, and the impact of the 3D viewing is less impressive, but it's much easier to view all of the action.
Whichever perspective you choose, you can enjoy a good game of football. The gameplay holds up very well to the other versions of the game, which means it's exciting, thoughtful, and highly rewarding. The AI is challenging, the controls are precise, and the player animations are realistic, even down to Wayne Rooney's distinctive looks and Lionel Messi's dribbling prowess. The passing mechanic, where you combine power and direction to place the ball exactly where you want it to go, is particularly good, meaning you really feel in control of the flow of the game. Pro Evo also looks the part, with detailed players, impressive stadiums, and a solid frame rate in both 2D and 3D modes.
Unfortunately, PES 2011 3D isn't as comprehensive as other versions of the game when it comes to game modes. Champions League and Master League game modes are deep and rewarding, and should be enough to keep you going for some time. Single-player and two-player exhibition modes are also available for a quicker football fix. However, Become a Legend--a popular mode in other versions of the game, where you control an individual player through his career--is a particularly strange omission given that the 3DS version presents the action from this viewpoint by default. The lack of a training mode is also a bizarre oversight that makes getting into the game more difficult than it needs to be for beginners. Less problematic but still disappointing is the lack of Copa Libertadores, UEFA Super Cup, and UEFA Europa League.

The default over-the-shoulder view shows off the 3D effects but hinders your view of the action.

The multiplayer options are similarly disappointing. You can go head-to-head over a local wireless connection, but you can't share the game over download play, so you both need to have a cartridge to play. The lack of any online functionality is even more disappointing--it would be unrealistic to expect an Online Master League, but there's not even the most basic online head-to-head option. StreetPass functionality lets your Master League team automatically play against passers-by--if you win, your ranking increases and you unlock new players. It's a nice feature to have and offers another incentive to play through the Master League, but it's not enough to fill the gap left by online play.
The Pro Evolution Soccer series has always suffered in terms of presentation, and sadly, this version is no different. The menus are functional but barren, although the music selection is decent, from well-known bands such as The xx and Passion Pit. Audio commentary is provided by Jon Champion and Jim Beglin, but their banter isn't particularly witty or insightful. Some teams are officially licensed, such as the English Premier League teams Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, but the vast majority are not, so their team names have been altered for legal reasons. The game also fails to reflect the most recent squad updates, omitting the changes that occurred in the January transfer window. While there is the option to edit these details, there's no option to share your updated data with other people. An even larger omission is the option to save replays, even though you can view them after goals and at the end of the match.
Pro Evolution Soccer 3D plays a good game of football and offers enough content to keep you happy if you're going to be playing alone or with a friend locally. However, the lack of game modes means that there's not much variety, while the omission of any online mode severely limits its attraction if you like to play with friends remotely. And while the 3D effects are impressive, they're most effective in a viewing mode that hinders your view of the action. Fans of the series will enjoy playing this 3DS debut, but there's certainly a lot that could be improved.(Source )

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Posted in: Movies And Games

Call of Duty: Black Ops (PC)

Call of Duty: Black Ops bears the series' standard superbly, delivering an engrossing campaign and exciting competitive multiplayer.

Review: When a franchise consistently delivers massively popular, high-quality games, each new entry in the series comes laden with expectation. Call of Duty: Black Ops has some big shoes to fill, but it does so admirably. The engrossing campaign is chock-full of exciting, varied gameplay and drips with intrigue and intensity. The excellent multiplayer boasts some invigorating new features, and the new combat training mode finally gives novices a way to enjoy the competitive action without suffering the slings and arrows of outrageously skilled veterans. Cooperative zombie killing and video editing tools help make Black Ops the most robustly featured game ... Expand full review

When a franchise consistently delivers massively popular, high-quality games, each new entry in the series comes laden with expectation. Call of Duty: Black Ops has some big shoes to fill, but it does so admirably. The engrossing campaign is chock-full of exciting, varied gameplay and drips with intrigue and intensity. The excellent multiplayer boasts some invigorating new features, and the new combat training mode finally gives novices a way to enjoy the competitive action without suffering the slings and arrows of outrageously skilled veterans. Cooperative zombie killing and video editing tools help make Black Ops the most robustly featured game in the franchise, and though you may have expected it to be the case, this is undoubtedly one of the best shooters of the year.
6283792NoneNothing like a little light assassination to set the Cold War mood.
The single-player campaign is set largely during the 1960s and takes you to Cold War hot spots like Cuba, Russia, and Vietnam. You are an elite covert operative, and your globe-trotting adventures form pieces of a puzzle--a puzzle that your mysterious captors are trying to put together by interrogating you. Each excursion into the field is a memory, and these missions slowly come together to build momentum as each interrogation cutscene puts another piece of the puzzle in place. It's not a very original mechanic, but it gives a coherent context to the action, and a few strong characters and dramatic moments give the story some genuine intrigue. The blurry edges of your consciousness conceal information that must come to light, and the erratic visual effects and eerie audio echoes that accompany your interrogations sometimes bleed into your mission memories, which creates a great tone of uncertainty that plays out in surprising and satisfying ways.
Your interrogation-fueled flashbacks are not beholden to the linear flow of time, allowing your missions cover a wide variety of geography and gameplay. A dramatic breakout from a brutal Soviet prison is one early highlight, and later missions feature frontline conflicts, urban firefights, and mountainous incursions. The environments are richly detailed, and though the campaign is not without a few technical hiccups (like occasionally problematic checkpoint markers and the odd teleporting ally), these moments aren't likely to hinder your enjoyment. In addition to the on-foot action, you use a number of vehicles to achieve your objectives. Some put you in the gunner's seat while others put you behind the wheel, and though the vehicle handling is unremarkable, the thrill of blowing stuff up and speeding through hostile terrain is undeniable. The core running-and-gunning mechanics remain as exciting as ever, and the gameplay variety throughout the campaign keeps the action moving at a great clip.

You're gonna need a bigger knife.

Though the campaign is a rip-roaring good time, it clocks in at a mere six hours long. The mode that will likely keep you coming back to Black Ops for months to come is, unsurprisingly, the competitive multiplayer. At its core, this is the familiar top-notch Call of Duty action that players have been enjoying for years. You earn experience for doing well in battle, and as you level up, you gain access to new and powerful ways to customize your loadouts. New weapons and maps freshen things up, and one of the new killstreak rewards--an explosive-laden remote-control car--is a delightfully deadly device that embodies the frantic, slightly goofy side of virtual online combat. The key new element, however, is currency. In addition to earning experience for your battlefield performance, you earn Call of Duty points, which you can then spend in a variety of ways. Most perks, weapon attachments, killstreaks, and equipment items are available early on, providing you shell out the points to equip them. Guns are still unlocked as you level up, but again, you have to pony up the points to put one in your loadout. Customization options like face paint, player card backgrounds, and the new create-your-own-icon tool are all accessed by spending points. Having to pay your way gives you more loadout options at lower required levels than in previous Call of Duty games, and the fact that points are so crucial to improving your arsenal makes them as just as sublimely satisfying to earn as experience points. (Source )

• Reviewed by. Chris Watters
• Originally published on GameSpot

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Posted in: Movies And Games

Radioactivity soars in Japan reactor

 

Workers evacuated from a plant building after high doses of radiation were detected. Radiation at a hobbled nuclear plant in Japan was 10 million times more than normal, officials said. Workers were evacuated on Sunday from the reactor building in Fukushima to prevent exposure, the plant's operator said. The high radiation levels were detected at reactor number 2 in water that had accumulated in the turbine housing unit, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the plant's operator, said. Officials said the high levels of radiation was probably caused by leakage from reactor vessels. Japanese engineers have struggled to pump radioactive water from the plant 240 km north Tokyo two weeks after it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami. Engineers trying to stabilise the plant had to pump out radioactive water after it was found in buildings housing three of the six reactors. Meanwhile, tests by the Japanese nuclear safety agency revealed levels of radioactivity up to 1,850 times the usual level in seawater offshore the crippled plant compared to 1,250 measured on Saturday. "Ocean currents will disperse radiation particles and so it will be very diluted by the time it gets consumed by fish and seaweed," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a senior agency official. Speaking to Al Jazeera, George Dracoulis, head of Nuclear Physics department at Australian National University,  said that, "They have to map the areas, see where the radiation is and sample the sea life and that would determine what they do in the future." The nuclear crisis has overshadowed a big relief and recovery effort from the magnitude 9.0 quake and the huge tsunami it triggered on March 11. Official death toll from earthquake and tsunami now stands at 10,489, with the number of missing put at 16,621. Nearly a quarter of a million people are living in shelters. 'Failure of communication' On Thursday, three workers were taken to hospital from reactor number 3 after stepping into water with radiation levels 10,000 times higher than normal. That raised fears about the core's container being damaged. TEPCO said "the radiation exposure on Thursday occured because there was bad sharing of information". "We have to apologise. We want to make efforts to share information within the company." Experts still had to determine where to put some of the contaminated water while engineers were still trying to fully restore the plant's power, the company said. It said it was now using fresh water instead of seawater to cool down at least some of the reactors after concern arose that salt deposits might hamper the cooling process. George Dracoulis said that "The issue with using sea water is that it is corrosive, salt in water can become activated and it can cause further contamination." Two of the plant's reactors are now seen as safe but the other four are volatile, occasionally emitting steam and smoke. However, the nuclear safety agency said on Saturday that temperature and pressure in all reactors had stabilised. The government has said the situation was nowhere near to being resolved, although it was not deteriorating. "We are preventing the situation from worsening - we've restored power and pumped in fresh water - and making basic steps towards improvement but there is still no room for complacency," Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary told a news conference. 'Serious emergency' Radiation levels 40 per cent higher than the yearly limit for the general public have been detected just over 30k from the Fukushima plant. The government has not told residents outside the 30km radius of the plant to evacuate, or even to stay indoors. The science ministry says a reading of 1.4 millisieverts was taken on Wednesday morning in Namie Town northwest of the plant. Someone staying outdoors for 24-hours at that location would exceed the annual limit of one millisievert. The limit is based on a recommendation by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The science ministry obtained the reading after monitoring 10 locations outside the 30km zone following reports that relatively high levels of radiation were found outside that area. Exerts say the amount of radiation detected does not pose a health risk. But they advise residents in the area to stay alert for any possible rise in radiation levels, because the power plant is not likely to stop releasing radiation any time soon. Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the New York Times that the emergency "is a very serious accident by all standards" and could go on for weeks. The IAEA has sent new teams to Japan to monitor radiation and assess contamination of food. Prolonged efforts to prevent a catastrophic meltdown at the 40-year-old plant have also intensified concern around the world about nuclear power. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, said it was time to reassess the international atomic safety regime. (Source )

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Posted in: Update News

NSFW: Colo(u)r Me Done – I’m Going To Vegas, For Starters

Paul Carr  - 31,000 feet on Delta flight 133 from New York to San Francisco, sandwiched between a rotund bald man and a skinny French kid in a checked shirt. I feel like the cheesy filling in an unsettlingly turbulent quiche. Still, sub-prime conditions or no, I have a column to write: I pop open my laptop and fire up a clean browser window.

“Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up onheinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard to Las Vegas…” – Hunter S. Thompson

As a technology columnist, my craft can be distilled as follows: identify the week’s hot-button topic, Google what other commentators are saying about it, pick a side, argue the opposite, get paid, don’t read the comments. Piece of cake, right?
And this week, the first two of those steps has been made particularly easy. For the past few days, my fellow tech writers have been working themselves into a bubbling froth about the Valley’s latest app du jour: Color.
Some have been shocked — shocked! – at the level of investment that Bill Nguyen’s team has received for – what? a social-mobile-photo-sharing trifle – $41m!; Others have rushed to the company’s defense, accusing critics of playa hating and other such ungentlemanly conduct.
So on which side do my sympathies lie?

Uh…
Um..
Oh God.
Ok, let’s not panic. Indecision happens to the best of us. Maybe if I break the story down into its essential elements it might kick-start my brain into forming an opinion. 

A new mobile app has launched, having been invented by some smart people with a track record of building successful things. Some rich people have funded it with money they can easily afford to lose. The sum total of their investment is significantly less than Hollywood risks every day on movies like ‘Road Trip IV’ and ‘The Devil Still Wears Prada’. Near-field social networking is a neat and timely idea, and it might possibly break out beyond the twenty seven TechCrunch and Hacker News-reading West Coast hipsters currently embracing it with the same vim and vigour with which they hailed the advent of Instafuckinggram. Still, even best case scenario for Color, cancer remains uncured and new mice remain untrapped.

This isn’t good, this isn’t good at all.

Ok, I’m over-thinking. Just because every fiber of my psychological being is telling me that the launch of Color is less remarkable than my being caught in surprise rainstorm or finding a shiny penny on the street doesn’t mean I can’t fake it. Hell, many’s the time I’ve written 10,000 passable words on the unalloyed thrill of finding a shiny penny on the street. I’ll just tack on a list of easy jokes and call the job a good ‘un.
Being a Brit, I can express an amusing opinion about Color’s name: to act as faux-outraged as I do about ‘Aluminum’, ‘Cilantro’ and ‘Eggplant’. “I mean, it was bad enough when I had to Americanise – sorry, Americanize – my spelling in order to write HTML, now I have to do it to share pictures of my penis with total strangers in a coffee shop.”
Ugh.
(It’s not just me who’s struggling to find humo(u)r in Color. You saw the fake Color.xxx deck that did the rounds — mocking the fact that we’ve seen all of this stuff – mobile! social! sharing! photos! – before. But what should have been a nicely observed piece of satire actually fell flat after the first couple of slides. Why? Because we’ve seen those jokes before too. Even joking about Silicon Valley cliches has become a cliche.)

And yet, and yet…

The truth is, I’m all too aware that my response to Color – or rather my inability to craft one – is really just another symptom of something else. And it’s a problem not with the app, but with me.
This time a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my growing fatigue with the Valley and my proportionally increased enthusiasm at what’s going on elsewhere in the world. I also noted, with no small amount of envy, that Mike has moved to Seattle and Sarah continues to spend much of her time travelling in emerging markets. Yet still, after spending a fun couple of days in New York, here I am: back on a plane to San Francisco, ready to dig even further in to my rut.

Enough.

It’s time for me to hit the road again; to get out of San Francisco – for a while at least – to have some ridiculous adventures and rediscover a world without 941xx zip codes. I leave at the end of next week. My first stop will be Las Vegas where I’ll spend the entire month of April (and a few days of May) staying a single night in each of the 33 hotels on the Vegas strip. In addition to my twice-weekly TechCrunch posts, I’ll be writing a daily diary of the trip, and my inevitable descent into madness, for the mothership Huffington Post.
After Vegas, I’m heading back to London for a couple of weeks to promote my new book. Then I’ll hop back to New York for TechCrunch Disrupt before exploring some of what the rest of the East Coast has to offer.
And after that… I don’t know. Maybe I’ll head back to San Francisco, re-invigorated and ready to jump back into the Silicon Valley biosphere. Or maybe I’ll move to Morocco and live in a wifi-enabled Caidal tent. It’s really too early to tell.
What I do know is that the next few weeks should give me the head-space I need to separate the Valley’s wheat from its chaff and to force myself out of this rut that’s causing me to unfairly lump every new Palo Alto product launch into one homogeneous ball of “meh”.
Who knows, maybe by the time I next land in San Francisco, I’ll be reinvigorated enough to have formed an opinion about Color.
Nah, not really.
I mean, seriously, who gives a shit?
See you in Vegas!
(Source )

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Posted in: Update News

Five Things Facebook Should Fix Immediately

Orli Yakuel - Let me start with two questions. Why is it that such a successful company as Facebook feels like it needs to change and reinvent its interface constantly? And why are we so complacent with these changes that, quite literally, disrupt our online social lives?
We have seen how social media is changing the world around us, yet we don’t have a say in its progress. Undeniably, Facebook is already part of all of our lives, even for non-users.
We shouldn’t take the site for granted. After all, it has over half a billion users. Alternatively, we should not allow it to take us—their users—for granted either. I remember back when I was heavily using Digg, they made so many changes, that it was all too hard to follow. At around version 4, I couldn’t use it anymore and therefore left the site.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of new design and up-to-date features. But when one has such a large community of users, you need to make changes carefully and not force your members to suffer through your own growing pains. It’s true, we can all leave the site if we are upset with the changes. No one is forcing us to be members. But most of us don’t want to leave. We want to be part of this community. Facebook should acknowledge some of the problems that need to be resolved and show appreciation for the mass following they have built before it slips away.
I’d like to highlight 5 critical problems that Facebook needs to fix immediately:
Groups
One day I saw this update on my Facebook feed: “If one more person adds me to a group, I’m sending you to the unfriended land.” I easily related to this, can’t you? I don’t know what Facebook was thinking by letting anyone add you to a group, and start sending messages as a default setting. That’s like saying: Hello spam, come visit me more often. And yes, your Facebook friends are the biggest spammers in the world, they just might not know it.
By the time I wake up in the morning, my mailbox has at least two new group invites (I’m not sure we can even call them invites), and email discussions around this group, mostly from people that have no clue why this group owner added them. Couldn’t you handle this one better Facebook? Shouldn’t I get an email suggesting that I join this group in the first place? And thank god, my chatbox is closed most of the time because if I had to get all of those Group discussions inside chat, I’d go nuts. I’m a member of my high school’s group (something that is always nice to remember) but I know some people that left the group since the chat was too annoying for them and they didn’t want to deal with (nor understand) the odd settings. So rant number one: Make groups less spammy.

Photo Viewer
I wanted to leave this section open and let you all say whatever that comes to your mind.. but I feel like I must say it out loud: What the hell?!
How did this design replace the previous one? The user experience is so completely wrong here. The light box annoys the eye and basically it is just a bad visual that doesn’t fit the overall design of the site. A photo viewer is for viewing pictures, but the pictures are now displayed in a smaller format so you get a poorer experience than before. Why did you fix something that wasn’t broken, Facebook?
And before you tell me to click F5 and forget about it, I don’t want to and I shouldn’t have to either. I think it looks bad, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, and since photos are a huge part of the site, I also don’t think it’s a good idea to change it from good to worse. Usually, it goes the other way around.
Places
To have a world of possibilities is sometimes great and sometimes confusing. I love both Foursquare and Gowalla, and only lately have I started to use Facebook Places. But when it comes to choosing one service, Facebook is my last choice. Why? You can’t connect it to Twitter. Perhaps Facebook thinks all my friends are on Facebook, but even so, if I want them to know where I am, I’d like to extend this ability to make sure they’ll be able to see my statuses from other platforms as well. I still don’t get why Facebook is so closed. If people want privacy they can set their own personal choices. What if other people want to share more? I think Facebook should allow it. After all, it’s a “social” network, right?
Messaging
I can honestly say that I haven’t switched from the old messaging platform to the new one. But I’ve noticed people sending me up to 10 emails when they meant to send only one. Most people don’t know how to fix this so they always just apologize for sending too many messages, which results in even more messages. Overall, it looks like Facebook is trying to make everything behave like chat (i.e., new commenting system) when chat is not something everyone feels comfortable using all the time.
Tabs
Now, I don’t want to say Facebook is evil, but I don’t really understand how they could dismiss the customized tabs so easily after people worked so hard on them, and many companies were built specifically around this creation space. Yes, I know you can still see tabs, but not as prominently as before. Again, this was to me at least the part of Facebook that was fun and now has been marginalized. With the latest changes from FBML to Iframe, many users who could create customized tabs on their own have been left with obsolete skills. Seriously, if a company asked me if it’s worth it to create something from the Facebook API, I’d say it’s a risky situation since Facebook so easily changes things solely for their own benefit. Tabs are one great example of that. I would never expect them to change such a great feature. One that really gave users and brands the feeling of ownership but, alas they did…
Remember when it used to be so much fun to use Facebook? When you had games right in your face (not just news), when you could see your connections from Flickr, Youtube, and other sites, when it was just a more friendly place? I miss that.
Does Facebook not care anymore? Or does it just demonstrate our own apathy and powerlessness as users?
Social media is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Don’t forget you have a voice. Use it. You can start in comments below. (Source )

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Posted in: Update News

Top 10 Clever Uses for Spare Thumb Drives

 

 
Adam Dachis — Chances are you've accumulated a few spare thumb drives over the years, choosing new ones thanks to better form factors and increased capacities. But what do you do with the old ones that are just lying around? Here are our top 10 clever, fun, and practical uses for your spare thumb drives.

10. Keep Linux (or Windows) in Your Pocket

If Linux is a sometimes operating system (you know, like cookies are a sometimes food for Cookie Monster), there are plenty of tiny Linux distributions that will fit on practically any thumb drive. You can even multiple boot options and boot to each of them in in a virtualized environment. If you work the other way around and prefer Linux but sometimes need to run Windows, you can always install a light version of Windows onto a thumb drive and boot from it as well. Even a portable Hackintosh is an option.

9. Make a Contemporary Mix "Tape"

The art of the mix tape has been a little bit lost in the digital age. While it's definitely fun to share playlists with tools like Mixtape.me so you can send your friends music, when you want to make a personalized gift it isn't quite the same with just a URL. While you're not going to do much good by creating an old-fashioned mix tape with your dual-cassette boom box, you can use a spare thumb drive to bring a physical element to your mix. You could even disguise it as an analog tape. (We're not the first ones to think of that.)

8. Make an Encrypted, Disposable "Spy" Drive 

If you're really a spy, chances are you've got something a little bit cooler than an encrypted flash drive, but since most of us aren't really in the spying business we can still have a little fun with what we've got. If you've got a small thumb drive you're not really using anymore and need to pass along some secret data to a friend (or stranger you have no choice but to trust), throw it on that drive and use TrueCrypt to keep the data encrypted on the fly. We can't help you make it self-destruct when the data's been retrieved—and that's probably for the best—but it is a piece of technology, after all, so you shouldn't find it too hard to break.

7. Create a Digital Time Capsule

Perhaps thumb drives won't exist in the future and we'll transfer all our data using microscopic dots embedded in our actual thumbs. Creepy. But if you want to create a replica of the past and inform the children of the future how things used to be—and you should, because children of the new millenium don't even know what white out is—you can make a time capsule out of a spare thumb drive. If it's going to stand the test of time, you might want to make it indestructable (or just get one of these). Whatever thumb drive you use, fill it with information about the world today and bury it somewhere. It'll be a lot less work to bury a thumb drive than a huge metal container, right?

6. Make a Virtual RAM Drive

 Windows Vista and Windows 7 users can turn their thumb drives into virtual RAM disks, which can be pretty useful if you need a little extra and are low on disk space (especially if your thumb drive is fast). While it won't be a replacement for a real RAM upgrade, it can be a pretty useful alternative until you're able to get the real thing.

 5. Create a Digital Travel Kit

Some of us like to take our laptops on our vacations and some of us don't, but either way you can benefit from creating a USB thumb drive travel kit. If you're

not taking your computer but want a few important files and applications for the occasional stop at the internet cafe, a thumb drive can help you out. Even if you do take your laptop, a spare thumb drive is a good place to keep copies of receipts, car rental agreements, and other files you should have copies of when traveling but don't necessarily want (or need) to print out. If you need to take any sensitive data, you can always use TrueCrypt to keep the data encrypted on the fly">encrypt it. You may never need to use it, but it's nice to know you have what you need in one convenient location.

4. Create an Easy App Install Drive with Ninite

Ninite is a really great tool for Windows and Linux that helps you install a bunch of free apps by creating a single installer for all of them. What's a great place for that installer? On a spare thumb drive! If you need to set up a new computer quickly and don't have internet access, that spare drive can be indispensable. A more likely scenario, however, is when a less tech-savvy friend or family member needs to set up a new machine and you want to get them used to using something other than the crap the machine came with. Make them a thumb drive with a Ninite installer and you can be sure they'll get the important stuff installed.

3. Use It as a Portable Pocket Arcade

With tons of free game emulators for classic consoles, as well as game ROMs that take up very little disk space, you can put together a classic arcade you can keep in your pocket, backpack, or pretty much anywhere. Retro games are a lot of fun, but when all your save files are confined to a single computer you're stuck playing in one location. Keeping everything on a thumb drive will let you plug in and play wherever you can find a machine so you can always partake in a little console game nostalgia whenever you like.

2. Make a Personal Portable App Drive

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is great and a lot of it is portable. So are a number of regular applications. We've made a bunch of suggestions for small, portable apps you can store on a spare thumb drive but those were mainly for Windows. There are also plenty of options for Mac OS X. You can even create a portable version of Dropbox to sync your files. If you want to have access to your stuff no matter what computer you're on, keeping a portable thumb drive handy is a great way to do it.

1. Create an Emergency Recovery Kit

Computers are hardly perfect and bad things happen. System files get corrupted, hard drives die, and so on. Whatever the cause of the problem may be, you may be able to fix it with some handy tools that you can run from a bootable thumb drive. We've looked at the many ways you can save your Windows system with a thumb drive, XBoot can help you make a bootable rescue drive for Linux, and Mac OS X users can simply clone their system restore DVD and run the utilities it provides. It sucks when computers have problems, but if you know something can go wrong and you have a plan in place to take care of it then you can mitigate the potential damage quickly and easily. (Source )

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Posted in: Tips And Trick

How To Blocked YouTube Videos, Messy Cars, and Firefox’s Add-On Bar

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From the Tips Box : Blocked YouTube Videos, Messy Cars, and Firefox’s Add-On Bar

Whitson Gordon — Readers offer their best tips for playing blocked YouTube videos overseas, keeping trash from building up in your car, and keeping the Firefox Add-On bar visible.

Don't like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.
About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, email it to tips at lifehacker.com, or share it on our tips and expert pages.

Play Blocked YouTube Videos with Facebook

Avinashpathak60 shares a tip for international YouTubers:

I don't know if anyone else has made this observation, but the videos that are marked as "not available for your country" in YouTube can easily be seen from Facebook. All that is needed to be done is to add the link of that video in facebook and share it, it can then be played from within Facebook even if it is blocked in YouTube. Other method might be to use HotSpot shield, though it installs a lot of crap if you are not careful.

I haven't tested this one since I'm in America, but seems like a great workaround.

Use Empty Tissue Boxes as In-Car Trash Cans

Photo by Christ Costes.
Programmer780 tells us one way to keep trash from accumulating in your car:

I always keep boxes of tissues with me, especially in my car. After I get through with one, I use it as a handy garbage can/other container.

Keep From Accidentally Closing Firefox's Add-On Bar

The_Doc shares another fix for Firefox's new UI:

I like the new firefox's add-on bar, but I DON'T like the X on the left... I keep accidentally clicking on it!
To fix this, I added the following to userChrome.css:
#addonbar-closebutton {
display: none !important;
}
I can still hide the Add-On Bar, if I ever need to, by right-clicking on any toolbar and unchecking "Add-on Bar"

Double-Tap Q to Quit Google Chrome

The Donut Pirate lets us know another way to Quit Chrome with the "Hold Q to Quit" prompt:

I don't know if everyone else has already figured this out, but enabling the "Hold Q to quit" prompt in Chrome also allows you to quit by holding down command and double tapping Q. (Source )

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Posted in: Tips And Trick