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Hitting the Books: The correct way to make coffee, according to science
The best part of waking up is, of course, hot bean juice in your cup.
Drake will stream exclusively on Twitch rival Caffeine
Live-streaming platform Caffeine entered an already-crowded marketplace last year, but with a focus on celebrity-orientated channels (Offset was the first major star to join) it aimed to offer something a little different to the likes of Twitch and Mixer. Now it's scored a massive win, signing an exclusive multi-year livestreaming partnership with Drake.
My DNA test confirmed it: I’m not a morning person
There's a coded judgment that people who do well in the mornings hold against those of us who do not. "You're just not a morning person," they say, the words dripping with the implication that our sluggishness in the AM is a result of slovenliness. It's the same subtext you see held against fat people, as overweight bodies are viewed as the result of some moral failing. Thankfully, I have in my hand a piece of paper -- well, on my computer, a PDF -- to refute those biases. I'm not a morning person because I'm lazy, but because it's coded into my genes.
Razer’s 'mental performance' drink probably won't quench its thirst
Razer wants to tackle another part of the gaming experience -- namely, the drinks you need to keep your momentum going. It's introducing Respawn (no connection to that Respawn), a "mental performance" drink mix that's meant to keep your focus sharp for long periods. No, it's not a direct knock-off of its most conspicuous rival, G Fuel. You'll find a few familiar ingredients like choline and Vitamin B, and it's equally sugar-free, but there's none of the taurine and less caffeine (95mg versus 150mg). The Razer-owned brand doesn't want to risk the crash you get with energy drinks -- this is meant for those hours-long sessions where you don't want to slip.
Fox Sports lands US broadcast rights to 'FIFA 19' eSports events
Fox Sports will play host to a number of FIFA 19 eSports events this year. Following the EA Sports FUT Champions Cup last weekend, it will broadcast FIFA 19 Global Series events in the US, including this weekend's FIFA eNations Cup in London and the season finale FIFA eWorld Cup.
The Game Awards will stream on more than 40 platforms next month
The end of the year is fast approaching, which means awards season is getting into full swing. The Game Awards takes place December 6th at 9PM ET at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, and this year, it will stream live on more than 40 video platforms.
These disposable vapes let you huff your caffeine instead of drink it
Dammit, Logan. I'm glad it's your first day working at this coffee shop; congrats on getting hired and all. But dude, seriously, I don't have time to waste waiting for you to fish that beard hair out of my coffee. I'm "latte" enough for work as it is. That's why, for a full week, I tried switching from my normal intake of three to four caffeinated beverages a day to Eagle Energy caffeine vaporizers. Oof, my heart is still racing.
Wander the dark corridors of Caffeine in Unreal Engine 4 trailer
Our last look at sci-fi survival horror epic Caffeine was rendered in the third incarnation of the Unreal Engine, but now developer Dylan Browne has kicked off an Indiegogo fundraising effort for the game and unveiled a new Unreal Engine 4 trailer to whet players' appetites. [Image: Dylan Browne]
Sci-fi horror aboard an abandoned caffeine-mining spaceship
This is a sci-fi horror game with a premise close to our hearts: Caffeine. In Caffeine, a young boy wakes up on a caffeine-mining space vessel, alone, and he must explore dark, silent hallways to discover what went wrong – because something clearly did. Caffeine comes from a sole developer, Dylan Browne of Incandescent Imaging, and it's inspired by Condemned, FEAR and Doom 3. The full game is heading to Unreal Engine 4. The Caffeine demo (built in Unreal Engine 3) is due out for PC tomorrow, March 25, and Browne is setting up an Indiegogo campaign to begin on March 31. It's all on Steam Greenlight Concepts now, plus a page on IndieDB. See a second teaser trailer below. In space, no one can hear your coffee-maker gurgle. [Images: Incandescent Imaging]
Mac 101: Battery not charging? Recalibration may be the answer
If your MacBook (any model) is not charging to 100%, it may need to be recalibrated. Apple explains how to do this, but basically it comes down to three steps: Fully charge your MacBook (and leave it charged for about 2 hours) Fully drain your MacBook (by using it on battery until it turns off) Fully recharge your MacBook again. That should help the battery indicator recalibrate so that it shows the correct information. If it doesn't, you might need to reset the System Management Controller (SMC), but in most case I've found that a simple recalibration will work. When I recalibrate, I prefer to make sure that my MacBook will not be interrupted at all either during the drain or the recharge period, so I will leave it on overnight while running Caffeine set to "Indefinitely" and let it really, fully discharge. Then, the next day, I will plug it in and let it charge through the workday, again running Caffeine to keep it awake. (Note: Caffeine will also keep your screensaver from running. You might prefer to go to System Preferences » Energy Saver and set "Computer Sleep" to "Never". I use an external monitor at my office with the MacBook closed, and simply turn off the power to the external monitor if I'm not going to be using it for awhile.) Determining the health of your MacBook's battery If recalibrating doesn't seem to help, you might need to check your battery's overall health. The easiest way to do that is to run the "System Information.app" found in /Applications/Utilities/. Note: "System Information.app" is the name of the app in Lion and Mountain Lion. Previous versions of Mac OS X called it "System Profiler.app." You can also launch "System Information" (or "System Profiler") by going to the Apple Menu, look for "About This Mac" and then hold down the Option/Alt key and it will change (see image below). Or, for maximum geek points, paste this into Terminal.app, which will run the "system_profiler" tool at the command line, but limit it to just the information relevant to the battery status. Whichever method you use, look for the Cycle Count and the Condition as shown in the image at the top of this article. Further Reading Like religion, politics, and text editors, battery calibration is a topic which lends itself to vigorous debate and arguments across the Internet. Some of it is based on outdated information, some of it is just incorrect, and some of it may simply not be applicable to your situation. I would encourage you to read Apple's official information and guidance on the subject as your starting point to understand how to best care for and maintain your laptop's battery. Lithium-ion polymer batteries Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance Determining Battery Cycle Count Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) Finally, a reminder that if you don't like Apple's "menu extra" for monitoring your battery status, you might want to try SlimBatteryMonitor, a free alternative which I recently reviewed.
Google search promises to get fresh with you
After weathering some less than enthusiastic receptions to Gmail and Google Reader revamps, not to mention the long awaited launch of a Gmail app for the iPhone, the Google upgrade train just keeps on rolling along. This time out, Mountain View is targeting its real bread and butter: search. Google is harnessing its Caffeine indexing system to offer up fresher results -- a change that will apparently affect around 35 percent of the site's searches. The new results include more up to the minute results, prioritization for recent happenings and more frequent updates.
Starbucks rolls out mobile payment app for Android users, java junkies
After having already introduced its own iOS app, Starbucks has now decided to bring mobile mocha payments to Android users, as well. With the free Starbucks for Android app, all you have to do is add credit to your mobile Starbucks Card, scan the app's barcode at the cash register, and that triple shot skinny latte will be yours to pound. Available on devices running Android 2.1 or above, the service will also locate all outlets within your immediate vicinity, while offering even more coffee-based incentives, via Starbucks' rewards program. Thus far, there are about 6,800 stores that support mobile payments, though the company is planning to add an additional 1,000 locations, this July. Coffeeholics can find more information in the PR after the break, and can download the app from the source link, below.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Caffeine
Caffeine, like a shot of coffee at night, keeps your Mac awake and your screen bright. We first covered it a few years ago. A tiny menu bar utility, Caffeine prevents your Mac from activating the screen saver or sleeping when idle. Presenting as a cup of coffee, the icon indicates whether Caffeine is active, denoted by a full cup of coffee, or inactive, when the coffee cup is empty. Caffeine is activated by clicking on the menu bar icon. You can define a set period of activity from five minutes to five hours, or set it to be active indefinitely via a right-click or in the settings. While you can replicate the features of Caffeine using System Preferences, having a quick and easy sleep preventer in your menu bar is a real boon. It's cute, effective, and best of all, Caffeine is absolutely free. Grab it now from the Mac App Store.
Breakfast Topic: BlizzCon Day 2 -- just wait, there's more
First off, the Cataclysm: Cinematics panel is today. The cinematic for the expansion is awesome and I'm not sure we really need to talk about anything else. Wait, yes we do. There are other panels ... what were they again? Oh, the class Q&A and some other stuff. Let's take a closer look and see what all is going on. For WoW panels we're just going to be sitting at the main stage for the first half of the day. We have the Cataclysm: Cinematics panel at 10:30 a.m., WoW Class Q&A at 12 p.m., and the WoW Open Q&A at 1:30 p.m. After that, we swap to the development stage for the WoW art panel at 3 p.m. If you keep watching the development stage you'll see -- or rather, hear -- a panel called Blizzard Sound that should touch on the making of the cool sound effects we're going to be hearing in Cataclysm as well as other Blizzard games. The night will be finished off with a performance by Tenacious D at 6:30 p.m. As Mike Morhaime warned us during the opening ceremonies yesterday, this band isn't not suitable for some audiences ... and possibly all audiences, but they should be a fun act to watch. Remember that all times and chai are Pacific. No, I wasn't mainlining caffeine when I wrote this last night. Well, maybe just a little. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Google's Amit Singhal tells us about the dreams search engines are made of
Do Googlers dream of electric algorithms? For a little insight into what makes the search engine that became a verb tick, we recently attended a talk by Amit Singhal, one of its chief engineers. Amit is part of the team in charge of tweaking and improving Google's ranking algorithms and has 20 years of experience when it comes to sorting through data, with that time split into even decades spent within the academic sphere and over in Mountain View. What he had to tell us mostly revolved around his aspirations from when he started out back in 1990, but it's the way that Google has acted to meet each of those goals that's the fun and interesting stuff (or as we like to call it around here, the meat). So do put on your reading monocle and join us past the break.%Gallery-97608%
Google announces Caffeine search index, promises '50 percent fresher results'
Google may have a lot of its plate these days, but you can rest assured it's not forgetting what got it where it is today in the first place -- it's just announced its new Caffeine search index, which is not only the largest index of web content Google has offered, but promises to be "50 percent fresher" as well. To do that, Google basically rebuilt its index from the ground up, switching from the old index with different layers that would refresh at different rates, to a crazy new index that analyzes the web in small portions on a continuous basis (as helpfully illustrated above) -- all of which should translate to you being able to find newer content, faster. Of course, this is Google, so they've also provided some analogies, noting that if Caffeine were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second, that it takes up 100 million gigabytes of storage and grows at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day, that you would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information, and that if those were stacked end-to-end they would stretch more than 40 miles. Now you know.
D+caf caffeine test strips makes sure your decaf is decaf
Ever wondered if that 93 octane you're paying two arms and a leg for is really 93 octane? Pondered the legitimacy of that "homogenized and pasteurized" claim on your most recent milk purchase? If so, congratulations. You're the target market for the D+caf caffeine test strip. Reportedly, these strips keep the paranoid abreast of the truth whenever they venture out for a decaf drink; java sippers simply insert a tester into their beverage, wait for it to grow intolerably cold (or 30 seconds, whichever comes first) and then view the findings. The creator proclaims that they're 98% accurate for detecting greater than 20-milligrams of caffeine per 6-ounce serving, but we're not willing to pay $9.95 for a 20-pack in order to find out.[Via medGadget]
Caffeine control
We're once again talking about Caffeine from lighthead Software (makers of Papaya), the freeware menubar app that keeps your screen awake. It's now at version 1.0.2 with one new feature that makes it even more useful: time-limited activation. A command-click on the coffee cup icon in your menubar presents a menu that allows you to set a variable duration for Caffeine to be activated. Got a 10 minute video to show a friend, but your screen is set to dim or go into Screensaver before the end? Set Caffeine for 15 minutes and forget about it. We covered Jolt a while back, and this feature was available... for a small, $5 fee (of course, it's worth mentioning that half of those five dollars are donated to charity). But Caffeine has caught up and it remains free. Update your copy or take it for a spin at lighthead's website.
Top 5 real life lessons we've learned from MMOs
Game designer Steve Danuser, AKA Moorgard, recently posted a musing on his blog where he speculated on the greatest lessons he's learned in all his time playing World of Warcraft. After all, after investing dozens, if not hundreds, of real days into the game, surely he had to have learned something from the experience that was applicable to real life? For Steve, the lesson was, if they look different than you, and speak differently than you, kill them before they get the chance to kill you. While we know hope Steve is kidding, it did get the old gears turning.We've taken up Steve's line of discussion and mulled it over a little bit. What follows is our (mostly) sincere look at the top 5 real life lessons that we've learned from MMOs.
Well Fed Buff: Fizzy Faire Drinks
Every Thursday, Well Fed Buff will be serving up the tastiest dishes to boost your HP and stats, just in time for your weekend gaming. In honor of the impending Spring season, and the traveling Darkmoon Faire, this week's Well Fed Buff will feature an improved version of [Fizzy Faire Drink "Classic"]. Don't worry, we won't be going anywhere near 'New Fizzy Faire Drinks'. The Improved Fizzy Faire Drinks can be prepared in a variety of styles and flavors, with fun colors and yummy garnishes. As such, several different combinations will be featured, and their mysterious buffs revealed. In fact, I wanted to create a purple and green float as a symbol of the Darkmoon Faire, but all my local grocery store offered would have made a grape-mint combination. If any brave souls try this, or can snag lime instead of mint, send us a screenshot! If you're curious, and itching to start off the ice cream season a little early, hop on through the break.
