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Hearthstone uses the flavor of the Warcraft universe for the theme, and it's not hard to envision other variants using other Blizzard properties.
My main gripe with Hearthstone is that it's very turn based; unlike other Blizzard games where you're constantly in the action, Hearthstone is turn-based, and doesn't have responses the way MtG does with Instants -- the only Instant like action is in the form of secrets, which only three of the eight classes have and auto-execute when conditions are met; while this speeds up Hearthstone considerably (no more waiting for the other player to see if the move is ok, like in MtG), it also makes it so that there's no real reason for the player to pay attention when it's not their turn.
Unlike MtG, where any player can use any card to construct their deck, in Hearthstone there are class-specific cards and neutral cards -- class specific cards can only be used for a hero of that class, and neutral cards can be used for any deck. This creates some interesting dynamics, as not everyone uses the same cards in their deck.
One of the more interesting aspects is that Hearthstone is a Free-to-play game; the portions that cost money are buying additional packs and buying entry into the Arena, but these can also be paid using in-game gold. The Arena is similar to Draft (which is my favorite style of MtG), except that it doesn't rely on other players being present for the card selection. This makes it so that you can make an arena deck and you aren't committed to a 3 hour long tournament as you are in MtG. Additionally, playing in the Arena grants gold, packs and materials to create cards.
The cards used in Arena don't belong to the player (so there is no need to pick for rarity), and any cards in your collection can be used for constructed play. The money required currently looks like this: Constructed Play is Free, and 3 Wins nets you 10 Gold. 100 Gold will buy you a pack, and 150 Gold will allow you entry into the Arena. The Daily Quest will grant anywhere from 40 to 60 gold (or more depending on what the objective is) This structure is what makes it possible for players to never spend a dime on Hearthstone.
The only game mode I actually care about is Arena, though, as without the rare cards to construct a solid deck, constructed feels a little too random, since one will likely be missing some very common utility cards. Since it takes forever to get enough dust to craft cards, the packs won through Arena play usually includes cards that will make your collection bigger overall, and more competitive over the long run.]]>
Setting up the iPad Air was extremely quick, and once I connected it up to iTunes, there was an option to restore the iPad from a previous backup (in this case, my 3rd Gen Retina iPad). Using the backup, reduced the amount of available capacity substantially, and within a few hours, I found myself out of drive space. My guess is that using the backup, it copied over all the application data, without checking if the application was still in the library. In my case, I had several apps from an old iPad that were no longer in the App store. Additionally, the new apps included with the iPad are pretty substantial in size, totalling about 3GB in total.
I cleared the data and reset the iPad Air to factory state, and reinstalled the Apps one by one -- while this worked for my iPad Air, users which have more data on their iPad may want to consider making sure they have their app data backed up before reseting after a restore. I'd also suggest that 16GB (12.8GB) may be too small for most power users, and that they would benefit from one of the larger capacity iPad Airs.
Battery life still seems to be very good with Apple advertising 10 hours, which is for WiFi/Surfing/Video and Music. Some reviewers have reported 12 hours or more.
Apple includes a 12W USB Lightning charger.
I did find that even though I had no trouble charging the iPhone 5 through a Lightning cable connected to USB hub, using that setup did not charge the iPad Air.
The new iPad Air is a good deal lighter than it's predecessor, and with all the improvements, there's only a few changes I'd like to see in the upcoming models -- the inclusion of the fingerprint sensor found in the iPhone 5S, and a bigger base capacity.
It's definitely a evolutionary change, and while I suspect it won't change the landscape of tablets or apps much, I think I will enjoy the new faster, lighter iPad quite a bit until the next revision. ]]>
Specifically, these discounted Kindles are the basic Kindle($59), Kindle Fire HD($118) and Kindle Fire HDX ($195). ]]>
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Since my Powerbook G4 was my first Mac, this is where my OS timeline starts. This portion of the timeline is largely irrelevant, as Apple transitions from PowerPC to Intel further down the line, and phases out all the PowerPC architecture computers from OX completely after Leopard.
OS X 10.4 (Tiger) (April 2005 - November 2007) (Final Security Patch Sept. 2009)
Tiger was the first version of OS X to support Intel Processors; this version of Tiger was packaged only with the first set of Intel Macs. Later Intel Macs came with later versions of OS X.
OS X 10.5 (Leopard) (Oct 2007 - August 2009) (Final Security Patch May 2012)
My 2002 800Mhz PowerBook G4 is functionally capable of running Leopard, but ran too slowly to meet Apple's satisfaction. While the 800Mhz PowerBook G4 was the top of the line upgrade when I bought it in 2002 (the lower configuration was 667Mhz), Apple tends to exclude computers from OS X on the basis of Mac line generation and CPU type.
OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) (Aug. 2009 - July 2011) (Last Security Patch Sept 2012)
Snow Leopard is the first version that is Intel only, which excludes all the PPC Macs.
OS X 10.7 (Lion) (July 2011 - Present)
The 2006 MBP is not functionally capable of running Lion because Apple decided Lion should require a 64-bit instruction set, and the Intel Core Duo on the early 2006 MBP uses a 32-bit instruction set (wheras the Late 2006 has a Core 2 Duo which is a 64-bit instruction set).
Lion requires: an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor. This excludes the first generation of Intel Macs (MBP Early 2006, Early and Mid iMac 2006)
OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) (July 2012 - Present)
Mountain Lion requires the following computers: iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) Xserve (Early 2009)
Some Macs Excluded from Mountain Lion, but not Lion: iMac Late 2006 (probably because the lowest configuration contains a 1.83 Ghz processor, 512 MB RAM, 160MB HDD, and a 667 Mhz System Bus. The Mid 2007 is a bit beefier with a 800Mhz system bus and 250MB HDD). For MacBooks, 2 years of MacBooks are excluded: (Late 2006-Late 2008)(Basically until the MacBooks have a 1066Mhz FSB and 2 GB of RAM). MacBook Pro (Late 2006) is removed (system bus is 667, and base RAM is 1GB), Macbook Air (Early 2008) (hard drive is below 120GB) , Mac mini (Early 2006 - Early 2009) (System bus is 667, no more than 1GB RAM) . MacPro 2006 (base RAM was only 1GB). There are no cases where Apple has continued to support a model based solely on the configured hardware. The oldest computers on the Mountain Lion approved list are the Mid 2007 iMacs and MacBook Pros (which typically have the newest hardware).
One of the things I notice is that further versions stop soon after the release of the subsequent version of OS X. This is likely that since this is the Mac operating system, Apple does not want to branch too far after the next version is made available. The security updates and such do not stop until much further down the line and seemingly at random (as few as 14 months, and as long as 33 months).
Since Apple excludes based on the Mac generation and a combination of the hardware, buying a higher end version of the Mac will not extend the lifetime of the Mac with regards to the operating system version. However, purchasing the current version (rather than the recently out of production version) may allow the Mac to survive one OS release further, with the caveat that Apple is sometimes fickle and excludes a massive amount of computers (such as with Mountain Lion). ]]>
It's a rather time intensive recipe, about half an hour of prepping the vegetables, half an hour to let the juices expel, half an hour to freeze the veggies, and then another 10 to fifteen minutes to blend it all together. The result of all that time and effort is a fantastic soup for warm days.
I halved the recipe and still wound up with enough for 5-6 servings.
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Apple Board of Directors' Statement
President Obama's Statement about Steve Jobs Passing
BoingBoing has laid out their website using a Macintosh OS theme
Wall Street Journal's Obituary for Steve Jobs
This Is My Next has a roundup of various statements from people in the tech industry.
Last year, I saw Steve Jobs at a local restaurant. It was the weekend, and he was enjoying brunch with his kids. I turned to my sister and said "I think that's Steve Jobs". She said "I don't think so." After we ordered our meal and drinks, the waiter came by and said that my drink was going to take a little longer, as it had accidentally been sent over to Steve Jobs. There are some old photographs at the front of the restaurant, and as Steve was leaving, he stopped for a minute to study the pictures before walking with his kids out to the car. Paired with his thinness, he seemed to quite tall, not something I had realized before.
My memory is of him being a family man and father, and of him being a guy at a restaurant on an Saturday morning who accidentally got my drink. Aside from moments like these, I mostly knew Steve Jobs through proxy.
With Steve Jobs being a generation older than me, I remember classrooms in elementary school being filled with Apple computers. I remember when he made his triumphant return when Apple was on the verge of going out of business, and partnering up with Microsoft. I remember hearing about his "reality distortion field" shortly afterward, that his enthusiasm for something could be so infectious that if you were near him, you'd start to believe in it as well. His passion for his ideas and his beliefs propelled Apple for the last decade. Apple was not his only company, he started NeXT, and bought and developed Pixar to become the major animation studio it is today.
When he stepped down as Apple's CEO, I knew this day was coming, though I wished with all my heart that he could beat his illness.
Farewell Steve Jobs, you will be missed. Thank you for giving us the future.
Steve Jobs gave a Commencement Speech at Stanford in 2005, in which he said:
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."]]>
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Unfortunately, Snow Leopard is Intel-only, so Leopard is as far as the old PowerPC G4 architecture can be upgraded to. ]]>
The 2002 DVD contained a remastered version of the film, and contained 5 hours of bonus materials on a second DVD. The materials are duplicated here onto Blu-ray in DVD resolution, which looks terrible. The Tron film on the other hand, makes full use of high def resolution, making each shot very crisp; this is in contrast to the DVD version, which feels very blurry by comparison. The effect is most apparent in the real world film segments and fullscreen computer effects; in the composites, the resolution differences between DVD and Blu-ray are less noticeable.
The identity disc version comes in a plastic "identity disc" case, which includes the same discs as the standard 5-disc blu-ray package , so the difference is mainly in how the discs will sit on your shelf; if you want to just have a neat display box, the identity disc version is what you'll want -- but if you want to easily pull a disc from your shelf, you'll want the version in the standard blu-ray case. The identity disc version has problems -- it's difficult to get a disc out, and the case isn't big enough to hold all 5 discs, which makes it seem as if one of the discs was added after the case was designed.
With Tron:Legacy in several different varieties, which one is right for you? It depends on what you have for an entertainment system, and which films are contained.
The five disc versions include as a bonus the Blu-ray version of the original Tron.
The Tron: Legacy (Four-Disc Combo) and Five disc combos contain Tron-Legacy in 3D Blu-ray as well as a digital copy of the film, a DVD of the film, and the film in standard Blu-ray.
The Tron: Legacy (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) contains the film in standard Blu-ray and DVD versions.
The single disc Tron: Legacy DVD just contains the film on DVD.
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On this occasion, I opted for the Chef's tasting menu ($115), a 10 course meal showcasing the skills of Dominique Crenn and her kitchen staff. A three-course ($62) and four-course ($72) is also available and contains little overlap with the Chef's Tasting Menu.
While I definitely enjoyed the food, the beverage pairings ($65) left a little to be desired; while I certainly appreciated the inclusion of beer within the beverage pairing, the food pairing with the beer was not particularly good; the same went for the final wine of a evening, an aged Chianti to go with dessert, which was a bit overpowering in flavor and far too sweet. The wine service was not particularly knowledgeable either -- it was simply a reading of the region it was from, the name of the producer, and the bottling year; you may be better off selecting your own wines by the glass.
The food here is fantastic, and a lot of care is given to the presentation of the dishes, as each dish is a culinary masterpiece.
The Amuse Bouche were a pair of tablespoons, each holding a different combination; one spoon was a frozen pea soup, while the other contained spheres of foie gras served atop a rose petal. These tablespoons were served with an "earth crostini" with salt, pepper, and peashoots perched atop a rock.
The Kir Breton is this little globe of champagne in a little apple shape. Simply amazing.
I loved the Oyster and Prawn appetizer; the oyster is served with with a bit of smoked sturgeon, and the prawn was served almost sashimi style with a saffron sauce, atop a warm rock.
The Le Jardin du Printemps with the yogurt snow and the wild rice crisps is both wonderful to look at, and tasty as well.
The foie gras was served frozen thinly at 30 Celsius. I thought this was a really creative way to present foie gras -- the creamyness of the foie gras was so wonderful, almost as if eating ice cream. This dish was served as part of the Morels course and included pickled morels and French gingerbread crumbs.
I really enjoyed the slow cooked egg with the various vegetables and sauces; the rye breadcrumbs are very good, and add some gritty texture to an otherwise smooth dish.
My one criticism was actually the one dish that I had been looking forward to the most : the Artic Char with carrot, liquorice and uni; the uni had been emulsified, turning the lovely creamy texture of uni into a mostly insubstantial foam, with all the flavor of uni, but still lacking in the richness of the real deal.
The dessert chef is very talented, and brought forth two very impressive creations: an olive oil meringue popsicle and green olive ice cream.
The olive oil meringue popsicle on the pine was very creamy and the olive oil flavor was very subtle, but only really a two-bite dessert. I definitely wanted more of it than two bites.
The green olive ice cream was a much bigger portion, and very good, mixed with some lemon verbana and ginger breadcrumbs.
Towards the end of the meal, I was feeling somewhat full, so I skipped the Cheese Cart and did not order any additional desserts. It is very nice that such an option is there, considering how lovely the desserts are.
A basket was brought out with a selection of breads from acme; sourdough, and honey wheat, along with some housemade parmesan crisps. Butter, sprinkled with sea salt in the center for spreading, as well as small dish of sea salt for flavoring accompanied the bread.
To date, Alexander's Steakhouse has actually sold more Hamachi Shooters than steaks; an ala carte order of Hamachi Shooters comes with six shot glasses; for the omakase, the first course consisted of two Hamachi shooters, which were shot glasses with Truffled Ponzu sauce, jalapeno pepper, and avocado mixed with cubed pieces of hamachi sashimi.
Next, Asparagus soup, served chilled with a 5:10 egg, which is essentially a panko-encrusted softboiled egg on a bed of mixed greens; the asparagus chilled soup is poured at the table, ensuring that the crispy 5:10 egg doesn't get soggy. When the yolk of the egg mixes in with the soup, the dish develops a second layer of richness and complexity.
Tuna tartare is served with nametake mushrooms, paddlefish roe and trout roe; the roe is used to salt the dish, and aioli sauce and bonito flakes are sprinkled on the side to add a bit of creaminess and texture to the dish; the paddlefish roe and trout roe were new twist to a familiar classic, both types of roe were very flavorful with a nice pop.
The Chef's Black Cod dish is based off of a dish his mother used to prepare for him; a fancy dish, the black cod is first grilled, then finished in the oven. The black cod is then layered over a bed of spinach in a light dashi broth; red miso accompanies the dish, and can be mixed with the broth to create a spicy miso broth. Maitake mushrooms, green apple and unagi help complete the presentation of this dish.
Tempura braised Angus beef short ribs were an interesting combination, but sadly the least impressive of the dishes. There are multiple textures to this dish; the tenderness of the beef short ribs, deboned and braised with the crunchy exterior of tempura breading did not seem like a great pairing of tastes and flavors; the different sauces included pumpkin, and a red miso sauce; this dish was garnished with crispy yam chips, maitake mushrooms, and some daikon radish.
Blood orange sorbet, with powdered sugar and tapioca served as the intermezzo to cleanse the palate.
The Tajima Black Wagyu was prepared very simply; grilled to medium rare, accompanied with some roasted finger potatoes and garnished with matsutake mushrooms.
For dessert, azuki panna cotta, served untraditionally as a log with blood orange sorbet, in a rhubarb consomme with starfruit and dragonfruit. The meal is finished off with strawberry cotton candy.
Dining at Alexander's Steakhouse was an awesome experience; while the cost is on the high side, the combination of service, quality and creativity in the dishes makes it one of the most deserving of the Michelin restaurants I've eaten at.
This trip out to Saratoga was somewhat spontaneous; Hachi Ju Hachi has been on my list of restaurants to try for quite some time, so rather than attempt walking into the Plumed Horse without a reservation, I decided to try Hachi Ju Hachi. As I arrived, the only other patrons of Hachi Ju Hachi were leaving, so I was given a rare opportunity to be the only customer of Hachi Ju Hachi. Chef Suzuki and his staff treated me well, starting me off with a complimentary eggplant appetizer, while I perused the menu.
The menu is separated into sections: Appetizers, Grilled, Stewed, Steamed, Vegetarian, Claypot and Rice Dishes (which include Donburis and Rolls). There is a separate sake menu, and I recommend ordering either of the samplers, which yields 3 shots of sake beautifully presented for just $10. The variety sampler includes a daiginjo, a ginjo and a junmai which were distinctively good.
On this particular day, Hachi Ju Hachi also had some daily specials: homemade gyoza, yellowtail, salmon, and pig knuckles. While they all sounded good, I'm a sucker for good gyoza (or mandoo, or potstickers, or ravioli or whatever anyone calls dumplings), which is what I ended up ordering. Additionally, I also ordered a steamed duck dish and chawan mushi.
The steamed duck dish arrived first, followed shortly by the gyoza, and the chawan mushi; midway while I was deciding which pieces of duck and vegetable to eat, the gyoza arrived, along with the chawan mushi. My favoritism for the gyoza obligated me to try a piece of the gyoza first even before the duck, which I had been preparing on my plate.
I was not disappointed; the gyoza was crispy, and pre-sauced with vinegar and soy sauce.
The duck was very flavorful; the sake sauce which it had been steamed with brought out its flavors; the mushrooms and vegetables which went with seemed to complement the duck well; the mushrooms with the savory notes, and the green with the bitter notes.
Chawan Mushi (essentially egg custard with vegetables and seafood) is one of those dishes that is very hard to find in California; while it's a personal childhood staple for me, few restaurants offer it as an entree or an appetizer. While I wouldn't say that any restaurant that offers this automatically gets my seal of approval; three of restaurants which I have been ecstatic about recently have had this dish: Manresa, Gokaku, and Hachi Ju Hachi.
Chef Suzuki finished my meal with a complimentary red bean jelly dessert; as I was finishing up, the manager for Hakone Gardens appeared with several landscape architects from Japan and his staff from Hakone Gardens; he wanted to treat them to drinks at Hachi Ju Hachi.
I don't think I've ever seen a restaurant owner be so cool and collected; the servers began serving them soju, sake, tea and juice, while Chef Suzuki went to work on making the appetizers for the dozen or so people who just appeared in his restaurant.
Chef Suzuki's cuisine is definitely worth a detour, and it is my hope that his cuisine and his staffers' attentiveness to service will soon be worthy of a Michelin star.