Election 2016 thru the Star Wars Lens

In honor of the recently released Star Wars movie, here is the majority of the field fighting for presidential #election2016 .  From the #demdebate to the #gopdebate.  We purposely left out O'malley because I could not find a picture of Alderaan.  I also realize that Vader, Dark Helmet and Anakin are the same person, but all represent various personalities throughout his life and the dark side.

Republicans
Fiorina -Leia
Cruz - Solo
Carson - C3PO
Graham - Mouse Droid aka "Commander in Chief"
Santorum - Admiral Ackbar
Kasich - random guy
Trump - JarJar
Rubio - Anakin
Christie - Lando
Bush - Dark Helmet
Paul - Obi Wan

Democrats
Sanders - Duku
Clinton - Vader(no helmet)
O'malley - not shown


Would you change any characters? Let us know in the FB comments.


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Is Apple finally moving toward wireless charging?

Apple is rumored to be ditching the headphone jack.  And when I say rumored, I mean, they started a MFi program years ago and more recently morphed that program to focus on lightning port compatibility and the next phone more than likely won't have the 3.5mm jack.  Everyone wants to clamour about everything Apple.  But Apple, as of late, has been way behind the innovation curve. Needless to say, this is creating internet drama.

ubergizmo.com

The drama arises when you think of the only other location to plug in your headphones. The lightning port. The only issue with that is the lightning port is primarily used for charging. And by primarily I mean constantly. I products are notorious for battery usage issues. But here again this just shows people's lack of faith in the company.

Any logical person could look at the mobile market(uhh...Android) and see the most simplistic fix for this is… Have you guessed? You might have said wireless headphones and I do think they might have something in the works, but I was thinking more so wireless charging.

The latest iteration of their phone still doesn't have native wireless charging, BUT their watch does. The whole reason to ditch the jack was to make the phone slimmer. As we have seen with the Iwatch they can make slim wireless charging solutions. Now if this isn't the case then the Apple car may be the next wireless charging device.

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Fallout 4 saves Parisian lives

The big story is over 120 dead across six, seemingly, coordinated ISIS attacks in a country that is pretty open to Islamic immigrants. Three days ago French officials did potentially offend the Iranian president. Could this be connected? Iran is alleged to have influence over ISIS. Regardless, France was devastated when Paris was attacked last night.  This is not even to mention the train derailment that happened shortly after the attacks.  France is no stranger to terror and is even praised for its high quality anti-terror unit called GIGN.  France has experienced the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the more recent train attack that was stopped by a few Americans. Maybe France needs more AmeriCAN(not to be confused with Obama's leftist view of America) in it.

Rainbow 6: Siege GIGN character  "Rook"

Gamers know Paris for its Paris Games Week and many development studios in and around the city.  Gamers are keenly aware that France is ripe for a terrorist attack.  Paris has been part of plot lines in Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3.  Rainbow 6: Siege even has characters from their elite GIGN.  

Fallout 4 has broken records in game sales topping 12 million in just one day.  It quickly unseated Dota 2 as the most concurrent players in a game as soon as it was released having more than 600,000 players on at the same time.  Those numbers do not even account for the PS4 and X1 console titles.

It is a simple known fact.  Terror attacks be it foreign or domestic take place in large venues where the terrorist can affect the most casualties in a short time in order to avoid police.  Social media is on fire with people tweeting they were gaming and glad they didn't go out.  Many gamers are only realizing the attacks even took place.  It almost seems like the Fallout 4 idea of emerging from a bunker is synonymous with the feeling you get when you end a long gaming session.  While people have been calling this phenomenon negative things such as anti-social, I am sure those survivors close to the attack are glad they made that choice.  This is not the only impact of the game. There are even reports of porn traffic being altered by the release of the epic game.

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Who are the girls form Tech N9ne's "So Dope" music video?

The video:

The ladies: 

The blonde: 
Marie-Claude Bourbonnais - She does lots of cosplay at conventions.

Can you name the characters without looking? Comment on the FB post!

The brunette:
Armie JX or Armie Field

The one by herself:

Samantha J

More beautiful women in media:
Tech N9ne "So Dope" video girls revealed
G-Eazy "I mean it" video girl revealed 
ATT commercial girl revealed
Girl with Drake

Blackbear "Do re mi" girl
Who is the girl from Kingdom Collapse - "Suffer"
Who is the girl from The Kid LAROI - "WRONG" 

Who are the girls from "Werewolf" by Motionless in White

See more amazing real life women from the Rainbow Six: Siege video game. 

-Dust Line

-Skull Rain

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Elder Scrolls Online merchant glitch

Google User Content

Elder Scrolls Online is fun, but it has some glaring issues. From frequent crashes to a revenue hungry ecosystem, ESO still needs work.   Luckily Zenimax has allowed simple addons to be added to enhance game play.
While playing I keep running into the issue where my gold isn't updated in real-time in the merchant UI.  Luckily, I have Wykkyd Framework which tracks my gold in real-time.  Here is a short video of the glitch in question.

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Obama's war on carbon dioxide continues

President Obama continues his war on carbon dioxide.  But what he fails to realize is the impact of carbon reduction on plants.  Fossil fuels were once plants that absorbed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Nature functions on cycles.  Carbon dioxide trapped in oil cannot take part in that cycle.
It is also ignorant to call carbon dioxide emissions "pollution" and to lump them in with toxic chemicals.  Carbon reduction is a veiled attempt to create global socialism.  Retarding economic growth of advanced nations while allowing underdeveloped countries to catch up.
At what point will the EPA start regulating your "carbon dioxide pollution"?

Now a word from Walter White on carbon...

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3 reasons Trump could win the nomination

Huff Post

Trump has taken a huge early lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.  Many commentators have said that his support will shrivel up and die off.  It will be interesting to see how the race turns out, but here are three reasons why Trump could win the nomination.  

Reality TV

Look at some of the most popular TV shows and followed topics.  People are fascinated by the Kardashians, Honey Boo Boo, the UK princess and other mind numbing dribble.  Reality TV holds a large stake in that game.  Trump brings a bit of reality TV to the Republican nomination race.  People are more worried about being entertained than having a good leader.  Look at the last two terms.  Leadership and judgement are definitely not Obama’s strong points. I highly doubt they even register.  

gop.com

Republican Party

The Republican party has rolled over far too many times for Obama. Boehner has shown how spineless he is.  The nomination race last term was commonly referred to as a circus and this year has all the ingredients to make a similar outcome.  Then you have the back and forth on issues from these candidates.  Most have no convictions and will say anything to get a vote.  So asking them to fight for something is out of the question.  People are taking note and leaving the party.

sonofthesouth.net

Independent Issues

One of the fastest growing political movements is the independent.  Many of Trump’s more outspoken issues have been aimed at the issues that drive people to become independents.  Border security(recent illegal shooting), fiscal responsibility, and a general distaste for career politicians in general.  Trump continuously reminds people that he isn't a politician and has his own money and can't be bought by special interests groups.  Regardless of how true it is; it is being heard by Republicans and Independents alike.  

Have any thoughts on Trump? Leave a comment on the Facebook page.

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How ancient Romans predicted the gender confusion and gave us solutions

Everyone has long known the traditional symbols for male and female assigned to Mars and Venus.  Here recently there has been a question of sexuality and its impact on gender and the two issues have merged together.  The ancient Romans seem to have predicted this with the assigning of interesting symbols to the other celestial bodies.  

I'm sure you could guess the potential assignment of gender/sexuality roles to the various symbols based on their appearance. Here are some ideas:

Gay :

Uranus

Lesbian:

Mercury

Male to Female: 

Sun

There are more symbols and more genders.  Let us know what you think would be a good match in the comments or on the Facebook page.


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2015 Honda Civic Hybrid Review

The 2015 Civic Hybrid takes over from the Insight as being Honda's main hybrid model offering the best gas mileage in their 4 door line up.  The whole car has taken a huge futuristic styling leap forward starting in their redesign around 2010.  The Civic Hybrid is easily noticed by its unique wheels visible in the picture above.  Lets go over the finer points of the car, and see what it has to offer.

Honda has been working on this futuristic cockpit for about 5 years now and it is slowly evolving.  The screen on the media center has much better resolution, and as you can see from the picture above, they have recessed the almost heads up display too make it easily visible in the bright sun.  They have also started packing all sorts of digital options in their base models.  One feature I was surprised to see was the blindspot camera.  **Check out the video below to see how it works.  The ride is as you would expect from a Honda.  The lower price and fuel efficient(weight reduction) car has little room for sound dampeners for road noise.  The engine is small and has an "Econ" mode which limits gas pedal responsiveness to increase gas mileage.  Even with Econ mode off, the engine will not impress you, but being a hybrid that is not its intention.  

They have added functionality to the media center by including an HDMI port so that you can display just about anything that interfaces with it.  If you look around on YouTube you can find some Android mirroring and apps that allow you to control your phone with the cars touch screen.  If you do that you can avoid buying the navigation feature and run everything through your phone.  

All in all the exterior styling and futuristic look of the interior of the car make it a great value.  Not to mention Honda's reputation in making long lasting engines.  If you need a daily driver that looks nice and sips gas this may be the car for you.  

**Update: Grab one while you can! Honda recently announced the discontinuation of the Hybrid Civic and plug in Accord for a hydrogen car, some other hybrid and an all electric car.  The US currently has no hydrogen fueling infrastructure. 

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Train wreck

photos by www.theXSphoto.com

“Train wreck” is a term used to describe a large scale accident that happens slowly and is often times foreseeable. The major reason is because there is typically one driving car and a lot of mass being pulled behind it. Also, the train lacks the ability to function off its rails. One small problem can cause a massive derailment. The most recent wrecks in national media have been gaining publicity from their massive scale and human error.

Are they safe?
Across the US, using recent data, trains are involved in accidents at a rate of about one train wreck every three days. The train is not always at fault, but due to the cargo and potential for disaster when wrecks do happen they usually have a large impact and often times involve hazardous materials.
Google began a hard push to make driverless cars. With over 1.7 million miles and only 11 minor accidents(<1 per 100,000 miles!) attributed to human drivers, Google has had great success showing the viability of a system that is able to react to constantly changing variables. (S)

photos by www.theXSphoto.com

Why dont we have automated trains?
Trains have fewer variables and most speeds are dictated by location and not conditions. It seems that an automated train system would be easier to implement than a driverless car system. Automated trains have existed since 1961 on varying levels of automation but most are metro or subway systems. The automation ranges from “Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4) system like the Copenhagen Metro trains are capable of operating automatically at all times, including door closing, obstacle detection and emergency situations.” to “Grade of Automation 2 (GoA2) system with ATO like London Underground Victoria line, trains run automatically from station to station but a driver is in the cab, with responsibility for door closing, obstacle detection on the track in front of the train and handling of emergency situations.” (S)

photos by www.theXSphoto.com

The light at the end of the tunnel
The government has become involved with Positive Train Control (PTC). PTC is a part of RISA Act of 2008 and was signed into law by Pres. Bush. RISA has a deadline of December 2015 and even offers grants of $50M a year for upgrades to the specified requirements. PTC was not active on the portion of the track where the gay activist conductor(Brandon Bostian) was running the train at twice the posted speed that killed 8 and injured over 200. Many experts say PTC could have prevented the derailment. (S)
The conductor said he doesn't remember the incident prior to hitting the brake seconds before the crash. You usually don't remember what goes on around you while you are asleep. But the interwebs remember what you say 4 years earlier, “Everyone wants an extension to hours of service to avoid inconvenience, but what will you say when the crew that’s been on duty for longer than 12 hours accidentally falls asleep and passes a stop signal and rear-ends a loaded hazmat train, killing dozens or hundreds of people? A crew is probably not any less safe after 12 hours and one minute than they were a few moments ago, but you have to draw that line somewhere.” -Bostain (S)

The future is coming. Home automation, driverless cars, virtual reality and cyber wars are the heralds of a changing world. The nano revolution will usher in the massive change that will completely alter the world as we know it. For now, we wait.



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Everything you need to know about virtual reality.

Virtual Reality is BACK! It only took a few decades.  The main driver for the technology is small high resolution screens.  We can thank cell phones for that.  The VR space is unfortunately fragmented with everyone working toward their own view of VR, which is divided into two major spheres: interactive VR and "spectative VR"(I am starting this as a word for VR).  

Oculus Rift

Via Oculus.com

Oculus Rift is the one that started all the hype on KickStarter.  Oculus Rift was bought by Facebook and recently acquired backing from Unreal.  Native game integration makes game setup smooth.  Also, Unreal recently made an interesting pivot to virtual space rendering offering $5 million in grants toward video game and virtual presence within the Unreal 4 engine.  Unreal is also offering its Unreal 4 engine free for development of future games. Even with Unreal support OR is primarily spectative VR in nature.

Gear VR is an Oculus backed mobile platform with support from Samsung.  Gear VR came about after Facebook got involved with Oculus Rift. Facebook previously gave little support to Android Facebook apps.  Facebooks focus has changed due to the sheer numbers of Android devices, and presumably this peripheral.  Gear VR offers “3D Spatial Sound” all through a Galaxy S4.

*Prediction* Expect to see this go somewhere in the social media space.  

Project Morpheus

Via playstation.com

Sony has created a VR system called Project Morpheus that is directly connected to the PS4 system.  There isn't much talk about standalone functionality and that could limit its potential.  Morpheus is in the early development stages with functioning prototypes.  We will see about future game support and backwards compatibility.  Morpheus will have integration with the Move controller system that will allow a more interactive VR experience within the PS4 ecosystem.  

OSVR

Razer has been making advanced peripherals for the PC for a while now.  Razer's offering into the VR space, OSVR, is open source which will rely largely on the community to development. This is great but without software support this is for a niche group of tinkerers who dont mind figuring out why things dont work. Razer does have other hardware to offer an interactive VR experience.

SteamVR

Via Steam

They finally released SteamOS and Steam Boxes are official now.  Read more about why Steam is the way to go.  

In a surprise move Steam launched a joint venture with HTC to create its own VR system.  You might think this is redundant to the Oculus Rift , but the vision of SteamVR is movement within a room.  Imagine an empty room and actually being able to walk around and play a game similar to "Portal".  SteamVR has trackable left and right controllers.  This will add an additional layer of interactive VR and game development support that none of the others have to offer.

Oculus will probably be the most mainstream offering out there for specatative VR, and Steam has the potential to be the pinnacle of interactive VR assuming its Steam Boxes do well. Right now this is how the VR landscape looks. It is still an evolving genre.

Did we miss anything?

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Nintendo's lost power

Nintendo has been trying to reestablish itself as something aside from a niche gaming market.  It has survived largely on nostalgia.  But from this generation on Nintendo's legacy is fading.  We have already reported and predicted this state and made the only logical solution. A step away from hardware and a focus on game development.

Nintendo is way behind the curve on hardware, and it has yet to announce or attempt to update its system that was behind at the start.  But now it is selling out its most popular franchise to have a live action series on Netflix.(S)  

Segas(SGAMY) last 5 years have been trending in a more positive direction than Nintendos(NTDOY).  Sega has been kept afloat by its merger with a casino game machine business.  And Sega has recently made an announcement that they will not develop for consoles anymore.(S)  

Considering entire companies survive on mobile alone, this could be a positive move.  The problem is they are holding on to franchises that are killing them.  Comment if you would like to read more about Sega. But this is a Nintendo article.

Nintendo is quickly losing its market share to tablet and cellphone games that are most of the time free, rely on small in app purchases and are very convenient for parents to acquire for Nintendo's target market.  But Nintendo is dead set on remaining a first-party developer.  

Nintendo is keeping its stock bloated by constantly selling more and more DS variants and combining these into a family and inflating their numbers.  But there are drawbacks to having a console.  Sales, according to the President of Nintendo, have been directly impacted by US port strikes.(S)

Also, much press was put into the glasses free 3D portion of the 3DS, but it also messed with children's vision.  The possible implications gave way to a 2DS which was cheaper and sold well adding to overall sales.  The latest sales figure we could find showed all DS sales totaling about 45 million units with ~2% increase from the previous year, most likely from the 2DS.  On the other hand, Android alone shows a history of doubling tablet sales that were at 37 million in 2012, and phones are activated on an average of 1.5 Million a day.  And Nintendo doesn't have to worry about shipping cartridges or consoles.  Meanwhile, you can't buy a legitimate copy of a Nintendo game on the billion or so Android devices out there.   

Do you think Nintendo survives? 

**Note article written prior to Nintendo's 3rd party announcement. 

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