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Blizzard Pushes Out Battle.net Desktop App Beta

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BlizzardDesktopApp
(Screenshot Source: GWE)

We recently got a hold of Blizzard Entertainment’s Battle.net Desktop App Beta. The app is set to replace the “launcher” which came separately with each Blizzard title. The desktop app will keep each Blizzard title up-to-date, allow you to add game-time, and will also offer a place to catch up on the latest Blizzard news. The app has a nice clean look and will be much better then having separate software for each game.

In order to be eligible for beta software from Blizzard, you must opt-in through your battle.net account.

Apple Developer Center Slowly Back Online

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Apple Dev Progress

It’s been over a week now since Apple’s Developer Center has gone offline. This is all thanks to an intruder that hacked his way into the developer center last Thursday. Apple has since promised to completely rebuild everything and to slowly bring things back online. They have created an status page that shows the progress of their developer system and as of today, about half of it has come back online.

Here’s the actual statement that was sent out to developers via email.

Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers’ names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed. In the spirit of transparency, we want to inform you of the issue. We took the site down immediately on Thursday and have been working around the clock since then.

In order to prevent a security threat like this from happening again, we’re completely overhauling our developer systems, updating our server software, and rebuilding our entire database. We apologize for the significant inconvenience that our downtime has caused you and we expect to have the developer website up again soon.

 

 

Dihydrogen Monoxide In Your Home!

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man in chemical suit

Upon doing some research, I have found that large amounts of the chemical compound Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is inside my own home and I thought I would mention that it’s likely in your home as well. I feel that it’s important to point out some of the hazards associated with the chemical compound.

  • Solid Dihydrogen Monoxide can be dangerous especially when exposed to your skin for long periods of time.
  • When Dihydrogen Monoxide is in a gaseous state it can cause severe burns.
  • It corrodes and oxidizes many metals which can lead to damage of infrastructure like bridges or many of the common items in your home.
  • DHMO is a major component of acid rain.

What makes all of this even more scary is that Dihydrogen Monoxide is almost guaranteed to be in your home and it’s likely in all forms, solid, liquid and gas. I have found a helpful website that goes into greater detail about the uses and dangers of DHMO.

** For those who become especially concerned about DHMO please head here.

For images of the chemical compound head here.

Earth and Moon As Seen From Saturn

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EarthFromSaturn
Earth as seen From Saturn, PhotoTaken by Cassini on July 19th 2013. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

It’s not too often that we see our world from afar but when we do it’s truly an amazing and humbling experience. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft was able to get into position next to the great planet of Saturn and take a look back at Earth from 900 million miles away. The image is in color and in high resolution, Earth is nothing but a blue dot with a small white dot next to it, that white dot is the Moon of course. Saturn’s rings reflect sunlight towards the camera and against the black backdrop of outer space, it looks truly beautiful.

Cassini’s picture reminds us how tiny our home planet is in the vastness of space, and also testifies to the ingenuity of the citizens of this tiny planet to send a robotic spacecraft so far away from home to study Saturn and take a look-back photo of Earth.” Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

As NASA points out, pictures like these are very rare because Earth appears very close to the sun at that distance and trying to take a picture could ruin the camera’s sensitive electronics with that much sunlight hitting it. This is just one section of an image that will become a mosaic of Saturn’s rings. You can read the original article and see a full-resolution version of this image from NASA.

 

Avengers 2 is Officially Titled Age of Ultron

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Avengers Age of Ultron

This years Comic-Con has revealed even more cool stuff as we now have an official title for The Avengers 2, which is The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Writer/director Joss Whedon took the stage during Marvel’s Panel and gave the audience a teaser of the new movie. Marvel offered an additional sneak-peek at Thor: The Dark World , Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy as well. Unfortunately,  we haven’t found any footage of the trailer yet as Marvel has decided not to release any of it online. Hopefully something comes along, and when it does we promise to share. The Avengers: Age of Ultron is expected to be in theaters by May 2015.