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Has the 'Bitcoin experiment' failed?
A prominent voice in the Bitcoin community has announced that he is abandoning the cryptocurrency that he helped to popularize. Mike Hearn has revealed that deep divisions within the platform's "leadership" and a looming technical apocalypse threatens the system's entire existence. The creator of bitcoin has explained his position in a lengthy Medium post, saying that he has sold his coins and is washing his hands of Bitcoin. As far as he is concerned, the "Bitcoin experiment" has "failed."
The Art of Wushu: Tricks of the royal chains
Soul Chasing Claw is one of the most common and hated styles in Age of Wushu, and last week we went over many ways to counter it. However, on the flip side there are a lot of options for trickery. Like most ranged styles, Soul Chasing Claw is devastating as a switch to a melee style. Its main weaknesses are well-known, so cunning is needed against a skilled enemy. Fortunately, it has a lot of advantages. The chain pull is near-instantaneous, so you only need the right opening. It's technically possible to pull people out of the startup of moves like Submerge the Lotus, though it's kind of difficult in practice since the pull has a minimum range. It's a powerful tool, and we'll discuss a lot about getting the most out of it today.
Email widget takes on viral rumors, fact checks for you
If you're one of those people who actually believes that Facebook is going to start charging users tomorrow, you're probably going to want to skip this post. LazyTruth is working on a Gmail widget -- something that could've easily been borne out of Google Labs -- that will automatically vet your messages and determine if they're full of viral misinformation. When it detects specific unique phrases that are consistent with known fallacies, it immediately circles back to Snopes.com and Factcheck.org (a pair of myth busting portals, if you couldn't guess) to provide original source links and even rebuttals. It seems like it could be a great way to make us all even lazier more efficient when it comes to debunking some of the wilder rumors that tend to affect our most gullible friends. Of course, given that there's no set release date just yet, perhaps the source link could use a scrubbing itself. We kid... we think.
McDonald's to start accepting contactless Visa payments in all UK restaurants by this summer
The UK already has a big old investment in contactless technology with London's rather successful Oystercard travel scheme, but now the whole Kingdom can get a taste for airborne payments thanks to a new initiative from McDonald's and Visa. The two giants of commerce are uniting to bring NFC tech to all of the former's 1,200 fast food restaurants within the UK, allowing hungry Brits to pay for meals costing up to £15 by simply waving their credit card in front of the till Obi-wan-style. Of course, the real excitement of such large-scale NFC proliferation is in the potential to use those automated tills with your Nexus S (which has an NFC chip built right in) and other devices coming up this year that look set to feature the technology. So yeah, Visa had better be working hard on putting together some mobile apps. [Thanks, Steve]
EVE Evolved: Ratting, part 1: Strategies
There are plenty of ways to make ISK in EVE Online, from exploration and mission-running to trading or any number of alternative professions. One of the oldest and most popular ways to make a reliable income in EVE is hunting the pirate NPCs that spawn in asteroid belts, an activity known as "ratting". Ratting is probably the best way to repair the low security status you'll be left with if you engage in piracy or suicide ganks. For those who live in nullsec, it's often the primary way to farm ISK for replacement ships to support PvP activities. Some players who don't have access to nullsec through their corporation or alliance even sneak characters in for the sole purpose of ratting. If done properly, it can make more ISK than level 4 missions and there's always that chance of finding rare faction and officer NPCs with valuable loot. In the first of this two-part guide, I look at where to find the best NPCs, how to find a good system for ratting and the three most popular ratting strategies.
iPad Chain makes Flavor Flav obsolete
Look. You can either wear your iPad, or you can wear your iPad -- like this stylish trailblazer spotted at the Lennox Mall in Atlanta this week. Of course, we've been wearing ours like this since day one, but it's always nice to see a trend catch on. Let's just hope no one tries to steal this guy's iPad. We all know how that can end. [Thanks, Nique]
Onyxia attunement to be lifted
Valnoth announced today that with the return of King Wrynn in Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard will be removing the attunement necessary for Onyxia. In vanilla WoW, Ony was an achievement and many peoples first introduction to raiding in Warcraft. In Burning Crusade it was often ran as a quick way to make a buck or get a nice helmet for an alt.Ony was one of the last, great old school attunements required in the game. With it gone, only Black Wing Lair and Molten Core remain as attunement required raids. This is a sad day for those of us that enjoyed the quest chain. A friend of mine and I were going to run this through on his Shaman and my up-and-coming Mage. Apparently we'll have to actually kick ourselves into gear and do it soon.There is no indication if this change will come with WotLK or with patch 3.0.2. However the King returns in 3.0.2, so I would have to assume the attunement will be lifted then. It should be noted however, that Valnoth did say they would attempt to return the chain some day in the future. But we all know how that can go...Thanks to Jarred for the tip!
World of WarCrafts: Loop of Cursed Bones
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts. Check this out human! Griftah be takin' over dis post today.Ya know what ya be needin'? One of these necklaces right outta the ruins of Zul'Aman. But ya don't want to be riskin' yerself in a dungeon, do ya? Nah, I show ya how to make one of the most marvelous amulets right here! Here is what you will need: Chicken Legs and Thighs Natural Stone/Bone Chips Red/Black Feathers Hemp Jewelry Cord Knife Nail File Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-29186%
What happened: AT&T on iTunes activation problems
CIO.com interviewed AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel, who confirmed that Friday's activation server outage was due to massive worldwide demand. This may not come as a surprise, but it's the only official comment we've heard. "The iTunes software appeared to have been so overwhelmed by demand [Friday] that customers were not able to go through that final stage and sync their iPhones," Siegel said. Apple has not commented on their servers' performance on Friday. Nor have we learned any more about the other great mystery: the details behind the rocky MobileMe transition that lasted Wednesday through the weekend. The CIO article also discusses Apple's physical supply chain for the iPhone 3G, and how it performed for the rollout. Analyst consensus: top notch. "Good job to Apple for mastering the physical supply chain so well that you have this high-profile launch and your problems are not on the physical side -- you have product in stock," said Kevin O'Marah, chief strategy officer at AMR Research. [Via Reddit.]
Brutal Gladiator's Pursuit
The Brutal Gladiator's Pursuit is the armor set for Hunters. It is a chain, or mail armor set usable only by Hunters and is usually matched with Guardian's Chain armor pieces. The armor set can be purchased from Big Zokk Torquewrench in Netherstorm and Ontokk Shatterhorn in Shattrath City. The matching Guardian items may be purchased from Doris Volanthius in the Hall of Legends and Lieutenant Tristia in the Champion's Hall. Brutal Gladiator's Chain GauntletsThe Brutal Gladiator armor piece for the hands are the cheapest and easiest Season 4 Arena gear to obtain. With no personal rating requirements, most players will be able to purchase this piece and is the Arena gear likely to be most widespread as soon as the season begins. The gauntlets have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent): 694 Armor (+55)+37 Agility (+4)+56 Stamina (+4)+19 Intellect (+4)+23 Critical Strike (+4) +21 Resilience (+0)+48 Attack Power (+8)Increases the damage done by Multi-Shot by 5%.Classes: Hunter WoW Insider says: Low arena point cost, no personal rating requirement, and an even-numbered improvement over last season's gloves? All check. One of the best gear purchases for Hunters to make in Season 4.Brutal Gladiator's Chain LeggingsThe leg armor possesses a personal rating requirement of 1550, attainable even by underrepresented Hunters. While not as accessible as the gloves, the leg armor is highly visible on a character and is also likely to be a popular purchase, even at 1875 Arena points. The leggings have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):971 Armor (+77)+38 Agility+70 Stamina (+7)+23 Intellect (+5)+17 Hit (+5)+29 Critical Strike (+5)+33 Resilience (+0)+68 Attack Power84 Armor Penetration (+0)Classes: HunterWoW Insider says: Although the lack of sockets mean that the only customization that can be done will be through Tailoring or Leatherworking enchants, it has everything a Hunter needs from +Hit to Armor Penetration and is a perfectly good purchase for Season 4.Brutal Gladiator's Chain ArmorWith three sockets, the chestpiece is the most customizable Arena armor piece. In PvE, the chest armor is traditionally a drop from the final boss in a series (Magtheridon drops Tier 4 chest token, Kael'thas drops Tier 5 chest token, Illidan drops Tier 6 chest token, etc.). Arenas are different in this regard, but the item level of the chest is identical to PvE chest pieces. Sunwell Plateau breaks from tradition in that the final boss, Kil'jaeden, does not drop chest tokens or armor. However, the Brutal Gladiator chest armor is equivalent to the drops from Entropius and is the best combination of cost and restriction among all the armor pieces. The armor has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):1110 Armor (+88)+32 Agility (+5)+70 Stamina (+7)+25 Intellect (+4)+16 Hit (+4)+29 Critical Strike (+4)+21 Resilience (+0)+46 Attack Power (+8)84 Armor Penetration (+0)Socket Bonus: +4 Critical StrikeClasses: HunterWoW Insider says: Although a little harder to obtain because of the 1600 personal rating, the Chain Armor is one of the best gear purchases a Hunter can make because of the stats and sockets. Because of its PvE equivalent, obtaining the Brutal Gladiator chest armor is almost like killing Entropius in Sunwell Plateau. Well, ok not really, but if you don't raid, that's about as close to a raid drop as you're going to get.Brutal Gladiator's Chain HelmThe helm is very likely the last Brutal Gladiator armor piece that many players will obtain. With the shoulders at an extremely prohibitive 2200, most players will only manage 4/5 of Season 4. Hunters should find the 1700 personal rating requirement to be a reachable target. With a personal rating attached to it, the Brutal Gladiator helm might be one helm graphic that players would like to leave on. It is also identical in model to the pieces that drop off Kil'jaeden in Sunwell Plateau. The helm has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):902 Armor (+72)+37 Agility (+4)+67 Stamina (+6)+27 Intellect (+5)+17 Hit (+5)+30 Critical Strike (+4)+22 Resilience (+0)+66 Attack Power (+8)84 Armor Penetration (+0)Socket Bonus: +4 Resilience RatingClasses: HunterWoW Insider says: Despite the complexity of Hunter itemization, the Brutal Gladiator's Chain Helm is a purchase worthy of the 1700 personal rating restriction, loaded with all the necessary Hunter goodness for PvP mayhem.Brutal Gladiator's Chain SpauldersThe 2200 personal ratings requirement for the shoulders are almost Gladiator-level for most Battlegroups, and will likely be a very rare sight in most realms, and even more rare on the underrepresented Hunters. Although it is the cheapest item after the gloves, it is also the most difficult to get. Blizzard's reasoning for this is that the shoulders are the most "visually impacting" armor piece, confirming Blizzard's opinion that PvP achievements should be on display. The spaulders have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):832 Armor (+66)+39 Agility (+4)+53 Stamina (+4)+16 Intellect (+4)+20 Critical Strike (+4)+21 Resilience (+0)+38 Attack Power (+8)Socket Bonus: +3 Resilience RatingClasses: HunterWoW Insider says: Brutal Gladiator shoulders are purely for show. Very few Hunters will obtain this armor piece, if current Arena trends extend into Season 4. With moderate improvements overall from the previous season, the item itself is mostly a cosmetic upgrade. Guardian's Chain GirdleBecause it is a visual match for the Brutal Gladiator's Pursuit, and because it comes with no personal ratings requirement, the belt is most likely to be the most widely distributed Season 4 gear. It is purchasable with Honor points, so even players who do not participate in Arena PvP can obtain it. The girdle has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):624 Armor (+49)+37 Agility (+4)+52 Stamina (+4)+27 Intellect (+4)+22 Critical Strike (+4)+21 Resilience (+0)+46 Attack Power (+8)Classes: Hunter, ShamanWoW Insider says: The Guardian's Chain Girdle is the best belt available to Hunters for its level of accessibility. No Arena games required, and only 17,850 Honor. Pretty much the best gear purchase in Season 4 for Hunters, even for those who don't plan to do Arenas.Guardian's Chain BracersThe only other Guardian piece with a socket is the amulet, which doesn't have a personal rating requirement. Coupled with the fact that bracers are visually insignificant, being hidden under gloves, the urgency to obtain them is very low. They also have a modest 1575 personal rating requirement, which means players must do comparatively well in Arenas. The bracers have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):471 (+39)+26 Agility (+3)+36 Stamina (+3)+15 Intellect (+2)+14 Critical Strike (+3)+13 Resilience (+0)+30 Attack Power (+6)Socket Bonus: +2 Resilience RatingClasses: Hunter, ShamanWoW Insider says: A good purchase for Hunters, who use so many stats. It is the cheapest Honor-bought item for Season 4 and is a marked upgrade over its Season 3 counterpart. Guardian's Chain SabatonsThe most visually important match of all Guardian items, the boots are a big jump from a 1575 personal ratings requirement and is as demanding to get as the head piece at 1700 personal ratings. It is also as expensive to purchase as the belt, which has no ratings requirement. The sabatons have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):763 Armor (+61)+37 Agility (+4)+52 Stamina (+4)+27 Intellect (+4)+22 Critical Strike (+4)+21 Resilience (+0)+46 Attack Power (+8)Classes: Hunter, ShamanWoW Insider says: 1700 personal rating is a modest goal for a pair of new shoes. Many Hunters should have no trouble getting to that point, and the purchase is worth it. It is also the most visually identifiable of all the Guardian items. %Gallery-25440% Looking for more Season 4 info? We've rounded up everything you need to know about the Brutal Gladiator season right here.
Five tips to minimize raiding downtime
I'm a rather avid raider, putting in a solid 20 hours a week on my Warrior. One of the major things about the time spent raiding is that it can be very precious. There is only so much time that 24 other people, plus appropriate class substitutions, can be available each week. It's critical that the time spent raiding is used well.Unfortunately, using raiding time well is about as much of a challenge as is downing Illidan. In preparation for this article, I've spent the past three weeks keeping track of the down time in raids. We raid Sunday through Thursday nights, from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. We experience a downtime of about 51 minutes for each raid, which is about 20% of the time. Down time is defined as the time that my character is standing still, not attacking, not moving, and not being MDed to.Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I'm not really sure. Tip #1: Chain pullingPersonally, I do my best at the main tank to chain pull and push the trash through as fast as possible. This works out 99% of the time, however the 1% of the time it doesn't work out can grind the raid to a halt. Case and point: The trash to Supremus isn't too bad, and is a lot of packs where the MT, OT, and Pally tank each have some mobs to tank. There are also some ranged dragons that the Warlocks tank. These pulls can go very fast, and are very predictable. Pulling slowly we can do this in about 40 minutes, while chain pulling each group, we can push through in 15.Tip #2: Fully self buffed, all the timeIt doesn't take much to buff yourself. Every class has some buff they can apply to themselves, be it food buffs, spell buffs, or shouts. The key here is that you can find a minute or two to always buff at least yourself, if not others. Although, it might not always be possible to buff others as you're going along - and that's okay with most raid leaders for trash pulls.
GameStop's world takeover continues with 5,000th store
The GameStop juggernaut just keeps on rolling along. No sooner do they report record quarterly profits than they triumphantly declare the opening of their milestone 5,000th store in Jackson, CA. For reference, the 16-country international chain is now nearing Wal-Mart levels of ubiquity (and yes, we know GameStops are a lot smaller than Wal-marts, but still). Don't worry, though, the store still comes up short against Starbucks' 12,000+ locations or McDonalds' 31,000 restaurants.With remaining competitors like GameCrazy facing major financial problems, will it be long before GameStop is the only game-focused retail chain around?
Get trinkets out of inventory-- and on a chain
I can conquer dragons, I can crush Centaur, and I can even take candle (I've been waiting for days to get a chance to post that hilarious thread), but if one monster in the World of Warcraft has cost me more than anything, it's a full inventory. On my hunter, I've got a bag full of food, and on my shaman, I have to carry around four totems all the time. Crafting items take up another bag or two (my disenchanting rogue has a bag full of enchanting mats and a bag full of poisons). Quest items, potions, food, reputation tokens, noncombat pets and mounts, and that hearthstone-- there's just not enough room for everything!So here's one idea, shared with me by Braila of Thunderhorn (our guild's tree-mendous healing druid) during last weekend's Karazhan run: How about a trinket chain?It makes a lot of sense. Blizzard implemented a keychain to get keys out of our inventories, and considering that we're all hauling around tons of trinkets lately (I had seven on me, and one of our warriors had eight with him), this seems like the first place Blizzard should go to thin out the inventory. It's not like trinkets are huge items-- why should they take up 1/16 of Netherweave Bags when you can fit 200 arrows in the same place? Spare trinkets should have their own tab to sit in, something that grows the more you get, just like the keychain.Of course the obvious solution would be to just not carry so many trinkets around. But there's so many of them for every situation-- healing, solo grinding, raid healing, DPS, PvP-- that it's no wonder everyone at 70 has such a collection. Blizz should give us a chain to put them on.
Phat Loot Phriday: Blinkstrike
Last week we did a little joke with Phat Loot Phriday (and, if I can brag for a moment, did everyone read my completely-made-up WoWWiki article that the beautiful people over there didn't delete?), but there's nothing funny about the loot this week-- it's one of the most droolworthy world drops you'll find in the game.Name: BlinkstrikeType: Epic One-hand Sword (which means, yes, it can be dual-wielded)Damage/Speed: 143 - 267 / 2.60 (78.8 DPS)Abilities: chance on hit: adds an extra attack to your swing. What, no other stats? Nope, it doesn't need any other stats-- that proc might be the best one in the game. Players who've had one say it procs about 5-6% of the time, which is nice, but here's the big deal: unlike most "extra attack" procs, this one supposedly chains. As in, you hit once, get an extra attack, and then get another extra attack from the extra attack. One player reported seeing 8 hits chained in a row-- that's around 1300 damage without any crits with one swing. Ummm... yeah. Unstoppable much? Because of that, this thing is perfect for combat rogues, but fury warriors will love it too (Tanks will find better defensive swords, but they have to PvP sometimes, too, right?). Bewarned: the chaining thing is very likely a bug, but even if Blizzard nerfs that, extra attacks are teh win. How to Get It: With a weapon as crazy as this one, you know they're not going to just give it out. In fact, that's exactly what they're doing, but very, very rarely-- it's a very rare World Drop, which means it could drop from anywhere at any time. Some servers haven't even seen them yet, though, so if you really want one from a drop, you'll be killing things for a long time.The better option would probably be to just farm the gold-- they're selling on the AHs for anywhere from 1500 to 3000g. At least it's not as much as an epic mount, right? If you do go the raising money route, make sure you can find a seller first-- make friends with your guildies, in case they get one, and keep an eye on your AH and your realm forums to see if anyone's found a Blinkstrike to sell.A Blinkstrike is more of a weapon you just come across if you're lucky, rather than grinding or questing for. But everyone can dream, right?Getting Rid of It: If you're crazy, a vendor will give you 10g, 19s, 34c for it, and it'll DE into... well, it'll DE, but no one has DE'd it yet-- probably a Large Prismatic Shard or a Nexus Void Crystal, if I had to guess. Of course, if you have one that you can't get rid of and can't use, feel free to drop it in the mail to Punishment on Thunderhorn-- I'd love one!
It's goin' nowhere
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/THIS_Wiimote_is_goin_nowhere'; We knew the straps were a little weak. This user decided to protect his loved ones and shiny TV set in the most authoritative way he knew how: chaining that wand to his wrist, nuclear-bomb-code-briefcase style. We ourselves have used thick shoelaces at parties to ensure ... ah ... inebriated members of the populace wouldn't deface and destroy; how about you guys? Come up with any creative solutions in the realm of protective measures?[via VG Cats]
