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Recommended Reading: Netflix has another winner with 'GLOW'
Feeling the 'GLOW' Mairead Small Staid, The Ringer Despite recent news of Netflix cancelling a few of its high-profile originals, the streaming service hasn't missed a beat. One of its most recent, GLOW, debuted last week and critics seem to agree that it's worth your time. Heck, we even recommended it in our monthly roundup. The Ringer offers a look at the series and the actual women's wresting promotion from which the show gets its name.
Satellite maps provide a new way to track deforestation
There's no question that deforestation is a problem, as it affects everything from climate through to biodiversity. But gauging the severity of deforestation isn't easy -- simply measuring lost forest cover doesn't tell you the effect it can have on a given area. That's where technology might save the day. Researchers have developed a new technique that uses satellite maps to track forest attrition distance, or the widening gaps between forests that can affect the environment. The overhead data can show whether tree losses are relatively mild, occurring in patches among other trees, or whether they're serious enough to create larger distances between forests.
The environmentally friendly rainbow laser forest
Lasers might not be the first things that come to mind when thinking of the conserving the environment. Nonetheless, they're being used to manage commercial forests more efficiently. The false-color image above was captured with a "laser radar" LIDAR (light detection and ranging) system from Irish company Treemetrics. The colors are a 2D representation of 3D data that reveals how dense and straight the trees are. This allows plantation managers to understand how many logs can be harvested from any given tree, and what their quality will be.
CyanogenMod code fixed to prevent unlock gestures from being logged locally on handsets
If you're one of the root-and-ROM brigade, it's also likely that you have a keen eye on what goes on under the hood of your mobile OS. It might, then, come as a surprise to users of CyanogenMod, that a line of code could have been logging your phone-unlock gestures and patterns. Gabriel Castro, a developer involved in the project, was surprised to spot the rogue logging, that seems to have been part of an update regarding grid sizes for screen locks in August. While there is no serious compromise to users (gaining access to the log file would involve a lot of work, and direct access to the phone) it will certainly be considered an unwelcome addition by many, and a reminder that open-source relies heavily on trust. The issue has been resolved in an update, so if you're at all unsettled at the thought, perhaps now is the time to get the latest build.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Can I turn off Messages logging?
Dear Aunt TUAW, Ever since I started using Messages, it appears to be logging everything it does. Can this be disabled, or can the log file be moved to somewhere out of the ~/Documents folder? Your darling nephew Tommy Dear Tommy, Auntie's tending to the spring turnover of the vegetable garden, so she asked Uncle Mike to chime in on this question. The beta of Messages, like its predecessor iChat, has a feature that automatically saves chat transcripts (including transferred files or images, which can get out of control pretty quickly if you're not minding it). Unlike iChat's setting, however, in Messages there's no way to turn the logging off. Be sure to let Apple know that you'd like to see this changed before Mountain Lion ships! With regard to the second half of your question, the answer is absolutely yes; you can go into Messages' preferences, click the Messages icon in the top bar, and then adjust the "Save chat transcripts to:" folder however you like. Since you can't disable the logs, the next best thing would be a way to clear them out periodically -- once an hour, once a day, once a week, whatever. There are scores of approaches to scheduling repeating tasks on your Mac, ranging from the UNIX-savvy one-liners (cron, launchd etc.) to capable and flexible commercial applications (Auntie's terribly fond of Noodlesoft's Hazel). For something like this, though, if you want to clear out the logs once a week, you might give OS X's built-in Automator utility a try. Automator lets you set up a workflow to run when triggered by an iCal event, so it's straightforward to set up a repeating "silent reminder" that simply goes into the logs folder, grabs what's there and tosses it into the Trash. Here's what the workflow would look like: Each step in the workflow passes its results along to the next step, letting us zero in on what we actually want to throw out. This workflow starts by identifying a specific folder (in this case, the iChats log folder), then getting the contents of that folder, and finally moving those items to the Trash. When you save an iCal alarm workflow, it gets dropped right into your calendar. You can then adjust the repeating schedule to make it run at whatever frequency you like. The log files will end up neatly in the Trash; no muss, no fuss... which is more than Uncle Mike can say for Auntie's rows of sugar snap peas. This same technique can be used for any folder that tends to accumulate things you don't actually need to keep. Toodles, UM
RIFT looks at Scarwood Reach
Whether or not you're looking forward to RIFT, it's hard to deny that the game makes great use of setting. The latest region revealed, Scarwood Reach, is haunting and evocative in both backstory and current events. Once an enchanted forest covered in the majestic granitewood trees, the woods have been logged to their demise, with only scattered pockets of trees remaining as a testament to what once was. But the servants of Greenscale seek to undo the damage in the only way possible -- by opening a portal to the Plane of Life that might swallow Telara whole. Aside from the abandoned shrines and local creatures harmed by the mad rush for wood and the abandonment of old traditions, the explosion of unfiltered Life at the heart of what was once forest is equally toxic. Even apart from the rifts that occasionally blossom, the forest is beset by creatures unseen in this land, coupled with crawling roots that bring searing and unwelcome new life to the barren landscape. Take a look at the gallery for a quartet of preview images, a fine preparation for the maddening environment that RIFT's damaged forest remnants are poised to deliver. %Gallery-101448%
Insider Trader: Woodworking in the expansion?
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Ideas for a woodworking profession have been bounced around for years, but have previously been dodged by Blizzard. Although they assured us that they have plenty of ideas, they've always been working on too many others.Woodworking was not to be for Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King, but what about the upcoming expansion? Considering that Goblins and Worgen could become playable, it might be a real possibility. In late summer 2007, Nethaera posted a list of some of the things that need to be considered before they can even begin to implement a new profession. While it became clear that it wasn't going to work for Wrath, it seems a little more plausible now. Today's column will be dedicated to presenting the crafting community's Woodworking ideas, discussing their implementation using the (incomplete) criteria set forth by Nethaera, and speculating about its possible presence in the next expansion.
