text:
CEH v10.0 Syllabus or Outline
Syllabus is based on international standard of EC Council. As per as international standard total duration will be 40 hours, based on practical and real scenario. 40 hours will like, how much time we are giving in a day or how many days in a week. As per as standard, will cover network portion and web portion. If candidate want in more details then can plan for Network penetration testing module and web application penetration testing module.
Assignment A - (Day1) Introduction to Ethical Hacking
Assignment B – (Day2) Foot printing and Reconnaissance
Assignment 03 - (Day3) Scanning Networks
Assignment 04 - (Day4) Enumeration
Assignment 05 - (Day5) Vulnerability Analysis
Assignment 06 - (Day6) System Hacking
Assignment 07 – (Day7) Malware Threats
Assignment 08 - (Day8) Sniffing
Assignment 09 - (Day9) Social Engineering
Assignment 10 – (Day10) Denial-of-Service
Assignment 11 - (Day11) Session Hijacking
Assignment 12 – (Day12) Evading IDS, Firewalls, and Honeypots
Assignment 13 - (Day13) Hacking Web Servers
Assignment 14 – (Day14) Hacking Web Applications
Assignment 15 – (Day15) SQL Injection
Assignment 16 – (Day16) Hacking Wireless Networks
Assignment 17 – (Day17) Hacking Mobile Platforms
Assignment 18 - (Day18) IoT Hacking
Assignment 19 – (Day19) Cloud Computing
Assignment 20 – (Day 20) Cryptography
Day1 - Information Intelligence.
Day2 - Information Intelligence
Day3 - Organize Your Information
Day4 - Google/Bing Hacking.
Day5 - Hunting And Profiling People.
Day6 - Gathering Email Accounts Sub domains/host.
Day7 - Whois Lookup
Day8 - OS Info Hunting
Day9 - Uptime Info Hunting
Day10 - Webserver Info Hunting
Day11 - Traceroute Target IP Address
Day12 - TCP Port Scanning
Day13 - TCP SYN Port Scanning
Day14 - TCP ACK Firewall Scanning
Day15 - Finding Live Hosts
Day16 - UDP Sweeping And Probing
Day17 - Database Enumerating
Day18 - MySQL Server Enumerating
Day19 - DNS Enumerating
Day20 - SNMP Enumerating
Day21 - Password Attacks
Day22 - Advanced Web Server Fingerprinting
Day23 - Advanced Web Application Fingerprinting
Day24 - Advanced Web Application Firewall Fingerprinting
Day25 - Advanced OS Fingerprinting
Day26 - Attacking DHCP Servers
Day27 - Writing Virus Codes
Day28 - Writing Advance Backdoors for Windows
Day29 - Attacking Network Switches
Day30 - Attacking FTP Servers
Day31 - Advanced Social Engineering Attacks
Day32 - Advanced Cross Site Scripting attacks
Day33 - From Reflected XSS To Reverse Shell
Day34 - From Stored XSS To Reverse Shell
Day35 - Advanced File Handling Attacks
Day36 - From File Upload To Reverse Shell
Day37 - From Remote File Inclusion To Reverse Shell
Day38 - From Local File Inclusion To Reverse Shell.
Day39 - From SQL Injection To Reverse Shell
Day40 - Advanced CSRF Attacks
Day41 - Session Hijacking Attacks
Day42 - Advanced System Command Injection Attack
Day43 - Sniffing Network Passwords
Day44 - Sniffing HTTP Passwords
Day45 - Sniffing Ftp And Telnet Passwords
Day46 - Advanced Sniffing
Day47 - Sniffing Facebook Cookies
Day48 - Advanced SSL Sniffing
Day49 - Advanced Network Attacks
Day50 - From Man In The Middle Attack To Full Network
Day51 - Advanced Mobile Hacking Tactics
Day52 - Attacking WEP Protected 802.11 Networks
Day53 - Attacking WPA/WPA2 Protected 802.11 Networks
Day54 - Attacking Apache Web Server
Day55 - Attacking IIS Web Server
Day56 - Buffer Overflow Attacks
Day57 - Advanced Stateful Packet Inspection Firewall Evasion And Bypassing
Day58 - Advanced Antivirus Detection Evasion And Bypassing
Day59 - Advanced Windows User Access Control (UAC) Evasion And Bypassing
Day60 - Advanced Firewall Outbound/Inbound Rules Evasion And Bypassing
Day61 - Vulnerability Vs Penteration Testing
# Ethical Hacker
# Cyber Security Engineer
# Cyber Security Expert
# Cyber Security Administrator
# Cyber Security Advisor
# IT Security Engineer
# IT Security Expert
Accordingly we can plan for our carrier and courses. It depends on qualification of the candidate or may be candidate belong to technical field. If student belong to the technical field like BCA, MCA, BTech, MTech, BSC(IT), MSC(IT), Etc then easily continue his/her carrier in their relevant field.
If any candidate belong to the not technical field like BA, BCOM and BCS then need to start from the beginning. Before security must have the networking and hardware background. Will be good if candidate has some knowledge of the programming knowledge about C Programming, C++ programming, Python Programming, Core Java Programming, Android and etc.
Technical candidate has some plus point to understand the technology because candidate has expended some time for their technical degree. There are many certification in EC Council for beginner or expert level. Take example of some EC Council Certification
As a security expert, we must have the strong knowledge of certified ethical hacker, this is the combination of two different modules, first is network penetration testing and other is web application penetration testing.
CHFI is the higher level of the certification from the EC Council, actually it is based on computer hacking and computer investigator, this certification is designed for the person who belong to the legal department, belong to the account department, belong to the computer IT, Belong to any technical field of computer and etc.
ECSA-EC Council Certified Security Analyst is the higher level of the certification after the CEH. After the CEH certification can easily plan for ECSA course. If you want to become security checker, security auditor, security advisor then must have this certification. All the above courses belong to the EC Council organization, we must have the certificate once will complete the course, if we have a knowledge of networking before EC Council courses then will be good for the strong base. If will join any organization for above courses then must have the certificate from Global institute of cyber security & ethical hacking or if we have certificate from the international organization then will add more value for the resume or profile. Before above subjects candidates must have the knowledge of linux networking, programming, hardware, etc. Will be good for the base and will easy to understand the security module. If we are planning for any of the courses then can plan for the networking too, in networking cisco is very popular now so can plan for below course.
CCNA 3.0 cisco certified network associate 3.0 with exam code 200-125
Actually this subject has two different module, ICND1 and ICND2, ICND1 has two parts, first is volume1 and second is volume2. If will talk about ICND2 then again we have two modules volume1 and Volume2. CCNA divided in two parts, will be good if will plan for both the modules otherwise if we have sort duration then can go with only one module, that will be ICND1 only.
CEH 10.0 is belong to the network penetration testing and web application penetration testing, after this course, if we want to go in more details then also can plan for NPT level 1 and NPT Level2 and After the network penetration testing can go with WAPT1 and WAPT2, means web application penetration testing module1 and web application penetration testing module2.
Now a days we have some combination courses, as per as industry demand in IT Company. CCNA 3.0 and CEH 10.0 is the excellent combination as per as the real industry.
The role of python programming language 3.7 is very important if we are planning for cyber security track, ethical hacking track or machine learning field or some other field. Python programming has many flexibility as per as the industrial demand. Before python nothing will be required to understand this technology but if we have good knowledge of c programming then will add more value in our resume or if we have knowledge of core java then will be good for the understanding level of the program.


text:
Anne Lamott said something like if people didn't want to end up being made into bad characters in her books, they should have behaved better. I always thought that was kind of funny, not that I'd ever use pen as sword.
But recently I was talking with a writer friend and realized I'd totally done it subconsciously. I'd killed off this person (and not in a very nice way, I might add) that had definitely annoyed me. I felt bad. What struck me most was that I totally missed it.
That's just part of the fun of fiction, I guess. How often do you read a book and wonder if the author knows what she is revealing about herself by being quite possibly unaware of that. Writers are brave people that way. They know that they reveal their truest essence in ways they may not see, yet they do it anyway.
This is true even in non-fiction. I'm working on a couple non-fiction projects and am noticing that staying neutral is a challenge. I wouldn't have thought that. Fact is fact. Yet, we all have a filter of some sort and even interpreting fact moves through it. Movie critics are probably the best example of this. Their reviews feel very much apart of their core personality to me.
There's only one answer. Be nice to the writers.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
MySQL Backup: Table By Table Backup With Auto Rotation, For Easy Restoration Of Partial/Full Database
Here is a MySQL backup script which can take table by table backups (individual backup files of each table of each database) in a compressed format. It also provides an automatic rotation of old backup files. The backup script handles innodb and myisam tables separately.
You have to set the following variables prior to running the backup script.
The database user who has access to all databases and its tables. I used "root" for my deployment.
Password of the above user, prefixed with "-p". For example if the password is Secret, then you should write the password as "-pSecret".
File to which the backup log will be written. It should be writable by the user who is running the script.
The backup folder. It should be writable by the user who is running the script.
Backup rotation period. +30 is 30 days.
The Backup Script
#!/bin/bash # Database Backup script. # Created By: Mohammed Salih # Senior System Administrator # Date: 21/06/2007 # # Database credentials DB_USER=root #Please append password in the xxxxx section below, note that there is # no space between -p and xxxxx DB_PASS="-pxxxxxxx" # Get list of Databases except the pid file DBS_LIST=$(echo "show databases;"|mysql -u $DB_USER $DB_PASS -N) # Log file BAKUP_LOG=/backup/log/db-backup.log # Backup Base directory BASE_BAK_FLDR=/backup/db # Backup rotation period. RM_FLDR_DAYS="+30" # From here, only edit if you know what you are doing. index=0 # Check if we can connect to the mysql server; otherwise die if [ ! "$(id -u -n)" = "mysql" ]; then echo -e "Error:: $0 : Only user 'mysql' can run this script" exit 100 fi PING=$(mysqladmin ping -u $DB_USER $DB_PASS 2>/dev/null) if [ "$PING" != "mysqld is alive" ]; then echo "Error:: Unable to connected to MySQL Server, exiting !!" exit 101 fi # Backup process starts here. # Flush logs prior to the backup. mysql -u $DB_USER $DB_PASS -e "FLUSH LOGS" # Loop through the DB list and create table level backup, # applying appropriate option for MyISAM and InnoDB tables. for DB in $DBS_LIST; do DB_BKP_FLDR=$BASE_BAK_FLDR/$(date +%d-%m-%Y)/$DB [ ! -d $DB_BKP_FLDR ] && mkdir -p $DB_BKP_FLDR # Get the schema of database with the stored procedures. # This will be the first file in the database backup folder mysqldump -u $DB_USER $DB_PASS -R -d --single-transaction $DB | \ gzip -c > $DB_BKP_FLDR/000-DB_SCHEMA.sql.gz index=0 #Get the tables and its type. Store it in an array. table_types=($(mysql -u $DB_USER $DB_PASS -e "show table status from $DB" | \ awk '{ if ($2 == "MyISAM" || $2 == "InnoDB") print $1,$2}')) table_type_count=${#table_types[@]} # Loop through the tables and apply the mysqldump option according to the table type # The table specific SQL files will not contain any create info for the table schema. # It will be available in SCHEMA file while [ "$index" -lt "$table_type_count" ]; do START=$(date +%s) TYPE=${table_types[$index + 1]} table=${table_types[$index]} echo -en "$(date) : backup $DB : $table : $TYPE " if [ "$TYPE" = "MyISAM" ]; then DUMP_OPT="-u $DB_USER $DB_PASS $DB --no-create-info --tables " else DUMP_OPT="-u $DB_USER $DB_PASS $DB --no-create-info --single-transaction --tables" fi mysqldump $DUMP_OPT $table |gzip -c > $DB_BKP_FLDR/$table.sql.gz index=$(($index + 2)) echo -e " - Total time : $(($(date +%s) - $START))\n" done done # Rotating old backup. according to the 'RM_FLDR_DAYS' if [ ! -z "$RM_FLDR_DAYS" ]; then echo -en "$(date) : removing folder : " find $BASE_BAK_FLDR/ -maxdepth 1 -mtime $RM_FLDR_DAYS -type d -exec rm -rf {} \; echo fi
The Backup Location
For example, if you have taken the backup of "bigdb" on 1st Jan 2007, then the backup will be kept in
The Restore Script
Following command/script is an example for restoring a database called bigdb for which the backup was taken on 1st Jan 2007.
cd /backup/01-01-2007/bigdb;
for table in *; do gunzip -c $table | mysql -u root -pSecret bigdb_new; done.
The above command will iterate through the list of files in the directory and restore all the tables to bigdb_new database. It is assumed that you have created the bigdb_new database prior to running the script.


text:
The Inglorius Padre Steve's World
Friends of Padre Steve's World,
A couple of days ago I received a comment on my Political Commentary tab from an old baseball player who played with the Detroit Tigers in the 1960s. He made some comments that I took to heart as he noted some of the apparent contradictions in my actions, words, and beliefs over the years. He said that I was about as "liberal" as Ricard Nixon. Sadly what he commented on had not been updated since 2009 so I was still in the initial stages of my transformation from being a lifelong Republican to a progressive (liberal) realist in Wonderland.
I am definitely a liberal or progressive now, though I think that I am pretty moderate all things considered, and no I don't think that my views are particularly Nixonian, though when it comes to foreign policy dealing with the Soviet Union and china he was…
View original post 1,175 more words


text:
Prasad, BV Venkataram and Ravi, A and Balaram, Padmanabhan (1981) Molecular structure of a cyclic tetrapeptide disulfide. A novel 310 helical conformation with an S-S bridge. In: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 103 (4). pp. 1138-1144.
full.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to Registered users only
Download (334kB) | Request a copy
The crystal structure of the cyclic peptide disulfide Boc-Cys-Pro-Aib-Cys-NHMe has been determined by X-ray diffraction. The peptide crystallizes in the space group P212121, with A = 8.646(1), B = 18.462(2), C = 19.678(3)Å and Z = 4. The molecules adopt a highly folded compact conformation, stabilized by two intramolecular 4→ 1 hydrogen bonds between the Cys (1) and Pro (2) CO groups and the Cys (4) and methylamide NH groups, respectively. The backbone conformational angles for the peptide lie very close to those expected for a 310 helix. The S-S bridge adopts a right handed twist with a dihedral angle of 82°. The structure illustrates the role of stereochemically constrained residues, in generating novel peptide conformations. Aib, α-aminoisobutyric acid; Z, benzyloxycarbonyl; Boc, t-butyloxycarbonyl; OMe, methyl ester; OBz, benzyl ester; NHMe, N-methylamide; Tosyl, p-toluenesulfonyl.
|Item Type:
|Journal Article
|Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
|Elsevier Science
|Additional Information:
|Copyright of this article belongs to Elsevier Science.
|Division of Biological Sciences > Molecular Biophysics Unit
|Date Deposited:
|22 Dec 2009 12:16
|Last Modified:
|19 Sep 2010 05:43
Actions (login required)
|View Item


text:
Seven first-time head coaches
The NFL coaching carousel has stopped … for now. The seven vacancies have been filled with the last being David Culley hired by the troubled Houston Texans. So how did the process shake out?
7. Houston Texans: David Culley
The Baltimore Ravens had the worst passing attack in the league in 2020. So the Houston Texans go out and hire their passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach David Culley. What could go wrong here? Everything as the day after Culley is hired news breaks Deshaun Watson wants out of Houston. You wait 27 years to get a head coaching job, and disaster strikes the day after you are named to the position.
6. Detroit Lions: Dan Campbell
First impressions are everything, and Dan Campbell went way over the top at his introductory press conference. The former Saints assistant said: "Here's what I do know. This team is going to take on the identity of this city and this city has been down and it found a way to get up. It's found a way to overcome adversity, right? So this team is going to be built on, we're going to kick you in the teeth, right? And when you punch us back, we're going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we're going to get up and on the way up, we're going to bite a kneecap off. All right? And we're going to stand up and it's going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we're going to take your other kneecap and we're going to get up and it's going to take three shots to get us down. And when we do, we're going to take another hunk out of you."
The Lions need a facelift, not a kneecap replacement. Too much, far too soon.
5. Jacksonville Jaguars: Urban Meyer
If the Jaguars wanted points for a splashy hire, they score them. That said, Meyer is walking into a 1-15 team. Meyer's Florida and Ohio State teams lost 15 games total from 2008-2018, 10 seasons that he coached while missing 2011 due to health concerns. Meyer has lost 32 games in his college career. It is not inconceivable he will do that in less than three seasons with Jacksonville … if this marriage lasts that long.
4. Philadelphia Eagles: Nick Sirianni
The Eagles had Frank Reich on Doug Pederson's coaching staff when they won the Super Bowl. Now, they pluck Nick Sirianni from Reich's staff in Indy. All he walks into is a time-bomb of a situation with Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts. How is Sirianni going to fix Wentz and appease Hurts. Can't happen. Someone has to move on and don't be stunned if the former No. 2 overall pick finds himself with a different team.
3. Atlanta Falcons: Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith turned Ryan Tannehill into an NFL quarterback in Tennessee. He steps into an Atlanta job with an aging Matt Ryan at quarterback, a fragile Todd Gurley at running back, and a porous defense. Is there enough time for Smith to fix what ails the Falcons? One neat nugget: Smith's father is FedEx founder and CEO Frederick W. Smith. The Falcons are counting on Arthur Smith to deliver … a winner.
2. New York Jets: Robert Saleh
The Jets' defense will be better with Robert Saleh in charge. The big question is can the former 49ers DC fix the offense? He has the No. 2 overall pick. Will it be a quarterback, ending Sam Darnold's time as Gang Green's franchise QB? And before anyone gets overjoyed about the Jets picking behind Jacksonville, remember the last two No. 2 overall picks for New York? They were Texas WR Johnny "Lam" Jones and Penn State RB Blair Thomas. Jones lasted five years, Thomas four, and both were major disappointments.
1. Los Angeles Chargers: Brandob Staley
This feels like a tremendous fit for Brandon Staley and the Chargers. The former Rams' defensive coordinator leaves Aaron Donald but stays in the same stadium for home games with Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa. The offense is omnipotent with Justin Herbert and a stellar receiving corps. The biggest fix needed correcting special teams issues that cost the Chargers throughout 2020.


text:
Working in film can be a dangerous job.
This year's Cannes Film Festival has taken on some fairly movie-esque plots of its own. This week saw a vast collection of jewels swiped from a hotel safe and madman with a gun at a press conference. Luckily, other than some missing bling and some freaked out citizens, everyone appears to be safe.
The two incidents appear to be in no way linked, but the trouble started in the wee hours of Friday morning.
Paris Hilton talks about The Bling Ring >>
The first crime scene was Cannes' four-star hotel Novotel. Just hours after the premiere of Sofia Coppola's film about a group of thieving teenagers (Bling Ring, starring Emma Watson) some wiley crooks planned and carried out their own heist, stealing an unreported amount of jewels from one room's safe.
The missing jewels belonged to Swiss jeweler and Cannes sponsor (and creator of the official Palme D'Or award) Chopard. A Chopard employee brought the jewels to Cannes and left them in a hotel safe. When the worker returned to her room at 2 a.m. on Friday, the entire safe was missing. No exact report of the jewels has been released, though many are wagering they were worth more than $1 million. However, a spokesperson for Chopard claimed they were not the jewels intended for the actresses.
Luckily no one has lifted Liz Taylor's bling >>
"The majority of the jewels belong to the company Chopard, but it seems some are owned by other private persons, we have no detailed inventory yet," a local prosecutor, Jean-Michel Caillau, specified.
More bad news followed the glitzy lift.
On Saturday, shots were fired during a television interview with two-time Oscar winner Christopher Waltz. The program broadcast as the actor and others ducked for cover amid the commotion. A few minutes later, security apprehended the suspect, and the broadcast continued.
According to reports, the shooter used a starting pistol and claimed he had a grenade. The grenade turned out to be plastic, and a starting pistol is, well, relatively harmless. Contrary to popular portrayal, starting pistols do not shoot out flags that say "Go!" Nor do they release bullets into the sky. The crack from a starting pistol is caused by a minor explosion made similarly to fireworks.
Want celebrity news delivered to you inbox? Join our newsletter! >>
No one was injured, and there are far worse things one could have stolen than some sparkly rocks. That said, we hope Cannes soon returns to a more tranquil environment. Our celebs need their beauty sleep!


text:
Then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama delivers an inspiring keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, in Boston, Massachusetts, that echoes the themes presented in his second book, 'The Audacity of Hope.' Now President Barack Obama, the speech still resonates as a powerfully optimistic view of democracy and a refreshing take on the hope that America can offer.
Drawing on his own experience, President Barack Obama relates the "unlikely" occurrence of him being on stage based on the hard work of his father that brought him from Kenya to America to study, where his parents would meet. He discusses his pride for his diverse heritage, which, as he says, "would not be possible in any other country."
President Barack Obama discusses his parents' choice to give him an African name because, "in a tolerant America, your name is no barrier to success." This moving address offers a much-needed revitalized view of opportunity and acceptance in America.
Need Inspiration?
Get inspired by 4,000+ keynote speaker videos & our founder, a top keynote speaker on innovation.
Barack Obama Delivers a Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention
Rebecca Byers — February 25, 2012 — Keynote Trends
References: barackobama & youtu.be


text:
A Taiwanese production company has won a $724,000 lawsuit against a U.S. talent agency failed to deliver a concert featuring rapper Nelly.
The Loop production filed a federal lawsuit against the United States based company, Capitol Connections Agency (CCA).
The original lawsuit, which was filed in April of 2010, accused CCA of taking over $40,000 to book Nelly for a New Year's eve gig in Taiwan.
The lawsuit accused the company of being a criminal enterprise which fraudulently represented a number of celebrities, including Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, Ja Ruleb and even the Obama's.
"After months of investigation and negotiation with CCA in the hope of receiving a complete refund, the LOOP eventually found out from Nelly's business manager, who denied to have ever heard of CCA," a rep for the LOOP Production said in a statement. "Even with the official denial from Nelly's real management, CCA still refused to refund the deposit.production company based in Taiwan is suing a United States booking agency accused of illegally booking rapper Nelly and keeping tens-of-thousands of dollars in performance fees."
A federal judge has ordered CCA and all other defendants including Escobar Entertainment, Inc., Durbert O'Neal Brandon Jr., Melvin Breeden, and Alisha E. Harris, to pay up to $724,000 dollars in total accumulative damages. – allhiphop


text:
Last year, Alibaba Group reported Singles' Day sales "totaled $17.8 billion of gross merchandise volume across Alibaba's China and international retail marketplaces, a 32% increase over [2015's] shopping event."[1] If you've never heard of Singles' Day, you will. Daphne Howland (@daphnehowland) reports, "Shoppers from 235 countries and regions completed cross-border Singles' Day transactions [last year], and 37% of total buyers purchased items from international brands or merchants. Japan, the U.S., South Korea, Australia and Germany led all countries selling to Chinese shoppers on Singles' Day. The top U.S. brands were Apple, Nike, New Balance Playboy, and Skechers, while the top European brands were Siemens, Philips, Adidas, Jack Jones and Only."[2] Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder, co-opted a little known Chinese pseudo-holiday to become the world's largest shopping holiday. The so-called "holiday" is neither official nor does it have deep, historical roots. Eva Dou (@evadou) reports, "Singles' Day was a tongue-in-cheek holiday begun by some Chinese young people in the 1990s to commemorate the lonely hearts among them, with the evocative date 11-11."[3] According to Wikipedia, "Singles' Day is an entertaining festival widespread among young Chinese people, to celebrate the fact that they are proud of being single. The date, November 11th (11/11), is chosen because the number '1' resembles an individual that is alone." Michael Zakkour (@michaelzakkour), Vice President, China/Asia Pacific Practice, at Tompkins International, reports, "What used to be known as 'Singles Day' in China has been redefined and rebranded as 'The 11/11 Global Shopping Festival' by the holiday's e-commerce patron saint, Alibaba."[4]
Singles Day and the Digital Path to Purchase
Zakkour reports Singles Day began a decade ago when "Alibaba used Singles Day to offer massive discounts to draw consumers to their platforms Tao Bao and then Tmall." The marketing ploy worked and by 2015 it had become "the largest single-day retail event in human history." In the United States, retailers look to Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to boost their bottom lines; but, retailers would do well to try and grab a piece of the Singles Day pie as well. According to Zakkour, Jack Ma's dream is to use the holiday to reinvent and digitize retail — "first in China, and then around the world, and to take the first step in 'serving two billion global customers'." Retailers may well ask themselves whether Singles' Day will replace Black Friday as the kick-off of the holiday shopping season. Moving the start of the shopping season up by several weeks provides retailers with more opportunities to sell their wares both at home and abroad. Additionally, moving the holiday shopping season forward takes advantage of trend already being demonstrated by mobile shoppers on the digital path to purchase. Corinne Ruff (@corinnesusan) reports, "Nearly 60% of mobile-first shoppers start their holiday shopping between October and mid-November, compared to just 36% of in-store-first shoppers that start early, according to a Facebook IQ study."[5]
Retailers, however, have been reluctant to embrace Ma's vision of serving two billion global customers on Singles' Day, even though it has six times the sales volume of Black Friday. Hayley Peterson (@hcpeterson) explains, "US retailers … have been reluctant to add another 'Black Friday' or 'Cyber Monday' to their fall calendars. 'All retailers are laser-focused on ramping up for the period from Black Friday to Christmas,' says Danny Silverman, head of product strategy at ecommerce analytics firm Clavis Insight. 'To participate in Singles' Day would sap sales from that critical period.'"[65] It seems to me, a sale is a sale, whether it's made on 11/11 or on Black Friday. With mobile-first purchasers already shopping early, joining the Singles Day craze seems like a no-brainer. Unfortunately for U.S. retailers, there is a hitch making them reluctant to jump on the Singles' Day bandwagon — 11/11 is Veterans' Day in the United States. Overlooking or downplaying Veterans' Day to promote Singles' Day could result in significant domestic backlash. Peterson notes U.S. retailers that do participate in the global sales effort have opted to adopt a two-pronged marketing strategy — one strategy for the U.S. and another strategy abroad. She reports, "Several US-based companies do in fact participate in Singles' Day — including Walmart, Macy's, Gap, Target, and Costco — but very few of them offer deals to domestic shoppers."
Targeting Global Markets
For retailers desiring to take part in the Singles' Day celebration, Lindsey Grossman (@ltgrossman) recommends concentrating on Chinese consumers.[7] She offers seven suggestions to help retailers get started:
- Seek guidance. "Online giants like Alibaba and Tencent have access to a wealth of knowledge about Chinese consumers and share some of those customer insights publicly. Another option is to seek out groups like the Global Innovation Forum, which connects entrepreneurs with local innovators, policymakers and influencers (including logistics and financial services companies helping small businesses sell to China)."
- Get to know your customer. "The rising middle class in China has spurred demand for high quality goods and exclusive international experiences. Statistics show that Chinese consumers buying outside of China are most interested in luxury goods and retail (clothes and jewelry), health and wellness (vitamins and baby formula) and travel."
- Get discovered. "Getting your product discovered in China is challenging for an overseas business. Leveraging powerful Chinese e-commerce ecosystems like Tmall, can be a relatively low-cost way to increase visibility and learn about the Chinese market. … Given the competition from large international brands who also leverage Tmall to sell their goods, smaller brands should consider working with a third-party operator to support their end-to-end operations and enhance their discoverability on the platform."
- Make the checkout experience a breeze. "Offering payment methods that Chinese consumers use daily is imperative if you want Chinese customers to complete the checkout process. Alipay and WeChat Pay represent two of China's most widely used payment methods with over a billion users between them."
- Use Short Message Service (SMS) alerts, especially for subscriptions. "While SaaS and subscription companies are becoming increasingly popular in China, consumers are not yet accustomed to agreeing in advance to make recurring payments for products. A best practice, especially when working with Chinese consumers, is to send an SMS reminder (or even better, a message on WeChat) before taking a recurring monthly or annual subscription payment. Chinese consumers tend to check their SMS and WeChat app more frequently than email."
- Understand the culture of buying. "Customers in China also like to scrutinize products from many different angles before making the decision to buy. Take a look at Alibaba's numerous e-commerce platforms — especially Taobao — and consider increasing the number of product photos as part of the shopping experience. In China, there's an accepted norm of haggling down prices. Unlike eBay, where prices go up in an auction, prices on Chinese websites like Taobao might start high and get negotiated down. Don't be surprised if some consumers write in to customer service and inquire about discounts."
- Increase support. "Given the widespread popularity of WeChat and other real-time tools in Alibaba's e-commerce ecosystem, Chinese consumers have come to expect near-immediate responses from the businesses they buy from. They also often expect to build a relationship with the seller before making a purchase. Consider incorporating a chat feature on your website for real-time engagement and use customer support tools to automate responses."
Singles' Day is too big for retailers to ignore. As a digital path to purchase event, it dwarfs Cyber Monday or Amazon's Prime Day. Because it corresponds to America's Veterans' Day, it probably won't catch on in the United States; but, in the years ahead, it may nevertheless mark the beginning of the holiday shopping season.
[1] Daphne Howland, "Alibaba's Singles Day shatters expectations with $18B in sales," Retail Dive, 14 November 2016.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Eva Dou, "Swinging Singles' Day: Alibaba Holiday Drives Shoppers in China," The Wall Street Journal, 11 November 2016.
[4] Michael Zakkour, "How Alibaba Plans To Reinvent Retail With 11/11, Its Global Shopping Festival," Forbes, 2 November 2016.
[5] Corinne Ruff, "What retailers should know about mobile shoppers for the holidays," Retail Dive, 5 October 2017.
[6] Hayley Peterson, "Why Americans don't participate in the biggest shopping day in the world," Business Insider, 6 November 2016.
[7] Lindsey Grossman, "7 ways to get ready for Singles Day and the Chinese marketplace," Retail Dive, 6 October 2017.


text:
News Release
Tourism, Heritage and Culture
Kings Landing cancels annual maple event09 February 2021
PRINCE WILLIAM (GNB) – Due to the unpredictable nature of COVID-19 and recognizing that all health zones may stay in the Orange Alert level for the next several weeks, Kings Landing has cancelled Maple: The First Taste of Spring (previously Sugar Bush).
For over 35 years, Kings Landing has welcomed guests in March to mark the coming of spring and celebrate New Brunswick's maple history.
"This event is a tradition many New Brunswickers hold dear," said Mary Baruth, CEO of the corporation. "The decision to cancel it this year was not an easy one."
The open-air museum can only open to the public if the Fredericton/River Valley Health Zone (3) is in the Yellow level. In past years, Sugar Bush has provided the site with its busiest days in terms of attendance. However, the corporation wants to avoid the risk of contributing to any community spread and aims to keep its staff safe.
"We know this will come as a disappointment to many who look forward to visiting Kings Landing during our off-season," says Baruth. "Our team is equally saddened, but we also realize this is the safest and smartest decision."
Staff are exploring ways for the public to experience some aspects of Maple: The First Taste of Spring virtually. Those interested are encouraged to keep an eye on the corporation's website, Facebook and Instagram @KingsLandingNB. The corporation is also considering ways to open to the public later this spring if it is safe to do so and will share details when this information becomes available.
Kings Landing opens for its 2021 season on June 9. Visit their website for their calendar of events.


text:
WiFonic's Smart WiFi Campus Solution
WiFonic's Smart WiFi Campus solution provide the educational institutions with the end-to-end solution from Design to Deployment, Secure User Authentication through SMS, Effective Bandwidth distribution, traffic management, Per User Log details & Billing, 24/7 back end support. We provide turnkey, customized, industry standard and education-centric WiFi solutions exclusively for the field of Education.
Our Smart WiFi Campus Networks are ideal for:
Student Experience with Smart WiFi Campus Solutions
A new survey of college admissions directors from Inside Higher Ed and Gallup found that just 35% of institutions are meeting new student enrolment goals. What can IT do to help attract and retain students? How are you helping students to engage more deeply with campus life? What have you put in place to help your institution stand out—among faculty, researchers and organizations awarding grants—as a leader and innovator?
Smart WiFi Campus is a new approach leading colleges and universities around the world are investigating.
What, exactly, makes a campus "smart"? At the highest level, a Smart Campus uses IoT to link devices, applications, and people to enhance and enable new services while improving operational efficiency.
A Smart Campus starts with ubiquitous, reliable wired and wireless connectivity everywhere—indoors and out. However, while that kind of connectivity may once have been a goal in itself for many colleges, it's just the beginning of a Smart Campus. By sharing a common technology infrastructure, campus infrastructure and once disparate systems can interact with each other to transform student living, learning and campus security.
Give Visitors Easy, Self-service Guest Wi-Fi
No matter what the environment—schools, colleges, hotels, public venues, or anywhere, really—the first thing visitors ask is "How do I get on the Wi-Fi?" WiFonic Solution delivers secure Guest access for visitors without involving the IT helpdesk. Guest users simply self-register for internet access via an intuitive portal and receive login information via SMS, email, or printed voucher. You can customize the login portal, guest workflows, terms and conditions, and more for a trouble-free and secure user experience.
WHY WiFonic's Smart WiFi Campus WI-FI FOR EDUCATION ??
Benefits with Smart WiFi Campus


text:
PayPal is a secure payment gateway with a free PayPal account. By using PayPal, we can create and send an online invoice for free. PayPal is secure for customers to pay you.
PayPal supports online money transfers services. It is an electronic money transfer system. It is a security software for handheld devices & systems. PayPal mobile app is available on the Android play store and iOS app store.
It is a payment gateway system which is used to settle financial transactions through electronic money transfers system. PayPal is used in 200+ countries around the world. Set up a secure payment gateway with a free PayPal account.
PayPal invoice helps your business look more professional. It is an easy and secure way to pay to your customers. PayPal account It can easily track and follow up on outstanding payments and its services.
In this article, we will show you how to send a PayPal invoicing to your customers via PayPal.
Table of Contents
1. How to Send a PayPal Invoice
Before sending a PayPal invoice, you should need a PayPal account and your customer's email address (PayPal email address). Follow the below steps to create a PayPal invoice.
1. Log in to PayPal account
2. In PayPal dashboard menu >> Choose the "tools" and select the "Invoicing" option in the "tools" dropdown.
3. Here we can create invoices and manage PayPal invoices (Draft, Scheduled, Unpaid, Paid), please check the screenshot below.
4. Add your "business logo" here and "edit" and enter your business information
5. Here we can "create invoice" and fill the customer's details Likewise,
- Bill to: customer email address or name (customers details)
- Service item name and details in the description section
- Mention the quantity and Price
- Discount and Shipping details
- Note to the recipient and terms & conditions
6. After fill, the customer details check the three options Likewise,
- Preview
- Send
- Save as draft
Press the "Preview" button; we can see the invoice preview.
Press the "Send" button; we can send the invoice.
Press the "Save as Draft" button; we can save the invoice as a draft.
7. Please check all the filled invoice details press the "send" button the PayPal invoice will be sent. PayPal will notify your customer info through email.
2. PayPal invoice template example
PayPal is a good choice for Digital and online marketing merchants and vendors. Here we can generate a free professional PayPal invoice template. Without PayPal business account, we can download the invoice in pdf and print formats.
The invoice template is used as free to create and send invoices. You can only pay when you get paid online. Customers view PayPal details and securely pays with a credit card, debit card, PayPal, or PayPal Credit.
Please check it out the invoice template example in the below screenshot.
3. PayPal Invoicing Fee
PayPal charges 2.9% + $0.30 fee per domestic transactions. If you want to know more about PayPal's fee details Low, flat-rate merchant fees, Online Invoicing Fees, Micropayment Fees, Standard Transaction Fees, etc.
4. PayPal Invoice Fee Calculator and PayPal Currency Converter
Bonsai is a PayPal Invoice Fee Calculator online web application. Here we can calculate the PayPal fees. The amounts are calculated based on the USA PayPal fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per invoice.
5. Features of PayPal invoicing
As per PayPal, 78% of invoices are paid within one day of sending the PayPal invoice. PayPal Business mobile app is used to create and send invoices, track unpaid balances, send reminders, to your mobile phone.
- Save invoice templates
- Reminders for unpaid invoices
- Get PayPal invoice notifications
- Create scheduled Invoices
- Create custom billing apps with the PayPal Invoicing APIs
Tech India Today
Related posts
How to Rank Your Website
Recent Posts
- When DevSecOps Shines: Reinventing Software Development May 17, 2023
- Implementing Infrastructure As Code (IaC) With DevOps April 21, 2023
- What Can You Gain By Choosing a Reputable HVAC Software Solution? March 19, 2023
- Choosing a Solar Panel Installation Company: What to Look for February 23, 2023
- What is a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) and how its work? February 22, 2023
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) (18)
- Augmented Reality (AR) (5)
- Automotive (7)
- Blockchain (2)
- Business (44)
- Career (4)
- Cloud Computing (6)
- Computers (4)
- Content Management System (1)
- Cryptocurrency (1)
- Cybersecurity (7)
- Data Science (1)
- Digital Marketing (32)
- E-commerce (1)
- Education (6)
- Electronics & Hardware (10)
- Entertainment (5)
- Finance (9)
- Gadgets (23)
- Games (3)
- Industry (2)
- Infographics (3)
- Internet (137)
- Internet of Things (IoT) (21)
- Job (3)
- Lifestyle (2)
- Machine Learning (7)
- Marketing (44)
- Marketplace (1)
- Mobile Apps (20)
- Natural Language Processing (2)
- Network (15)
- News & Trends (14)
- Operating System (OS) (6)
- Programming (10)
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (13)
- Security (19)
- Social Media (29)
- Software (35)
- Tech India Today (1)
- Technology (164)
- Virtual Reality (VR) (2)
- Web Apps (12)
- WordPress (1)
- Workflow (2)
- Workforce (2)
- Workplace (1)
- Workspace (1)


text:
|Search by Category
All Stationery Holder wholesalers & Stationery Holder manufacturers come from members. We doesn't provide Stationery Holder products or service, please contact them directly and verify their companies info carefully.
|Total 0 products from Stationery Holder Manufactures & Suppliers
Home| Products| Suppliers| Quality Suppliers| Site Map |About Us |Contact Us |Help |关于我们 |联系我们


text:
Cortana is a fictional artificially intelligent character in the Halo video game series. Voiced by Jen Taylor, she appears in Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite. She also briefly appears in the prequel Halo: Reach, as well as in several of the franchise's novels, comics, and merchandise. During gameplay, Cortana provides backstory and tactical information to the player, who often assumes the role of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. In the story, she is instrumental in preventing the activation of the Halo installations, which would have destroyed all sentient life in the galaxy.
|Halo character
|First appearance
|Halo: The Fall of Reach (2001)
|First game
|Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
|Created by
|Voiced by
|Jen Taylor (video games and live-action series)[1]
Shelley Calene-Black (Halo Legends)
Cortana's original design was based on the Egyptian queen Nefertiti; the character's holographic representation always takes the form of a woman. Game developer Bungie first introduced Cortana—and Halo—through the Cortana Letters, emails sent during Combat Evolved's production in 1999.
The relationship between Cortana and Master Chief has been highlighted by reviewers as one of the most important parts of the Halo games' story. Cortana has been recognized for her believability and character depth, as well as her sex appeal. The character was the inspiration for Microsoft's intelligent personal assistant of the same name.
Cortana is an artificial intelligence found in the Halo franchise. In the video games, Cortana often serves as an advisor and assistant to the player character, hacking alien computer systems and decoding transmissions.[2] She speaks most of the first game's dialogue,[3] and serves as a talkative foil for the quieter Master Chief, as well as a way of relaying information and objectives to the player.[4]
According to her backstory, Cortana was derived from the cloned brain of Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, the creator of the SPARTAN-II supersoldier project; Halsey's synapses became the basis for Cortana's processors.[5]: 218 Cortana and other AIs are subject to a seven-year lifespan, after which they begin to dissemble and think themselves to death in a process known as rampancy.[6][7]
As an artificial construct, Cortana has no physical form or being. Cortana speaks with a smooth female voice, and projects a holographic image of herself as a woman. Cortana is said to resemble Halsey, with a similar attitude "unchecked by military and social protocol". In Halo: The Fall of Reach, Cortana is described as slender, with close-cropped hair and a skin hue that varies from navy blue to lavender, depending on her mood.[5]: 216 Numbers and symbols flash across her form when she is thinking.[8] Halsey sees Cortana as a teenage version of herself: smarter than her parents, always "talking, learning, and eager to share her knowledge".[5]: 218 Cortana is described as having a sardonic sense of humor[9] and often cracks jokes or wryly comments, even during combat.[5]: 217
In video gamesEdit
Cortana's first game appearance is in 2001's Halo: Combat Evolved. Humanity is locked in a losing war with the alien Covenant.[2] Cortana plots a course for the human ship Pillar of Autumn to escape the Covenant. This heading leads to the discovery of a massive ringworld, Halo, built by a mysterious race known as the Forerunners. Cortana defends the ship from the Covenant until she is given to the supersoldier Master Chief to prevent her from falling into enemy hands. Cortana helps direct human survivors scattered across the ring and assists the Master Chief in his missions. Inserted into Halo's Control Room, Cortana realizes that the ring serves as a prison for the parasitic Flood; activating Halo would mean destroying all sentient life in the galaxy to prevent the Flood's spread. Cortana assists Master Chief in destroying the ring and escaping.[10]
In Halo 2, Cortana assists in the defense of Earth in the wake of a Covenant attack. Cortana, Chief and human forces travel to another Halo ring, Delta Halo, where Master Chief and Cortana encounter the Flood intelligence Gravemind. The Gravemind sends Chief and Cortana to the Covenant city-ship of High Charity to stop the Covenant from activating Halo; Cortana ultimately stays behind on High Charity to destroy the city and Halo should Master Chief fail in his mission. High Charity and Cortana are captured by the Flood.[11]
In Halo 3, Cortana appears to the player in broken transmissions. On the Forerunner installation known as the Ark, the Master Chief travels through the ruins of High Charity to rescue Cortana. Chief and Cortana are successful at stopping the Flood, but become stranded in deep space aboard the human ship Forward Unto Dawn. Cortana activates a distress beacon, while Master Chief goes into cryonic sleep to await rescue.[10]
At the beginning of Halo 4 Cortana wakes the Chief as Forward Unto Dawn drifts towards a Forerunner installation called Requiem. Cortana begins displaying aberrant glitches and behavior, and reveals that she is suffering from rampancy as she approaches the end of her seven-year lifespan. She assists in the battle against the Didact, a rogue Forerunner who hates humans. At the end, Cortana sacrifices herself to save the Chief and stop the Didact's plan.[10] Cortana's survival is revealed in Halo 5, when she calls Master Chief to the Forerunner world Genesis. Cortana explains she survived the destruction of the Didact's ship and her own rampancy by entering the Domain, an ancient repository of knowledge. Granted an infinite life span by the Domain, Cortana believes that she and other AI (the "Created") should enforce peace through the galaxy. Cortana begins using ancient Forerunner constructs known as Guardians to enforce the Created's will throughout the galaxy.[12][13]
In Halo Infinite, Master Chief travels to the Zeta Halo and recovers the Weapon, a copy of Cortana designed to trap her for deletion. Traveling across a damaged Halo's surface and fighting the Banished, the pair recover data fragments left behind by Cortana that fill in what occurred six months earlier; Cortana threatened the Banished leader Atriox, and destroyed his homeworld when he did not submit. In retaliation, a vengeful Atriox used the Weapon to capture Cortana, informing her that the Banished had already defeated the UNSC and Chief, and orders Cortana to surrender the ring to the Banished. Being locked down by her copy and witnessing Chief's death, Cortana finally realizes her mistakes. She then destroys herself by destroying the ring, preventing the Banished from activating it, unlocking its secrets and deactivating all Guardians. In a final message, Cortana apologizes to Chief for her actions and encourages him to work with the Weapon against the Banished.[14][15]
Other appearancesEdit
Cortana's first appearance in the Halo franchise is in the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach, a prequel to the first Halo game. Dr. Halsey allows Cortana to choose which SPARTAN-II soldier to accompany on an upcoming mission; Cortana picks the Master Chief, whom she believes is her best match. Cortana helps the Master Chief to survive the near-lethal exercises designed to test the Chief's armor. Afterward, she plants incriminating evidence in the files of Colonel Ackerson, the operative who nearly killed both of them, as revenge.[16] Cortana makes a small appearance in 2010's Halo: Reach, set shortly before the events of Combat Evolved. A fragment of Cortana carrying information gleaned from a Forerunner artifact combines with Cortana's main self on Pillar of Autumn before the ship escapes the planet, leading to the events of Combat Evolved.[17]
Cortana also appears in the novelization of Combat Evolved, Halo: The Flood, and the following novels Halo: First Strike and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, as well as the animated series Halo Legends and live-action television series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.[17] She is also a main character in "Human Weakness", a short story written by Karen Traviss for the Halo Evolutions anthology that details Cortana's time in the clutches of the Gravemind.[18][19]
She also appears in the Halo television series, created by Dr. Halsey as a means of keeping Master Chief and other Spartans in line. By cloning herself and then copying her clone's brain patterns (which also kills her), Halsey is able to bring Cortana to life and then implant her directly into Master Chief's neural pathways.[20]
Character designEdit
Cortana was developed to provide Combat Evolved with a way of guiding players while keeping missions open-ended, and avoiding players from feeling they were being herded through the game.[21] Said story writer Joseph Staten, "we needed a character who could consistently guide the player through the game, and an onboard AI was something that could always credibly accompany [them]." Cortana's role grew from pure gameplay considerations to serving as a way of characterizing and humanizing the Master Chief, and in subsequent games the Chief-Cortana relationship became a focus of characterization.[22]
The character was designed and modeled by Bungie artist Chris Hughes, with the model's face based on a sculpture of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.[23] Cortana's name is a variant of Curtana, the sword used by the legendary Ogier the Dane, just as the titular AI character of Bungie's previous game Marathon 2: Durandal is named after the legendary sword Durendal. Curtana's inscription reveals that the sword has the same "temper as Joyeuse and Durendal".[24] After assuming development duties from Bungie, 343 Industries decided to explain Cortana's established appearance as a reflection of her personality. "So one of the reasons she [appears as she does] is to attract and demand attention," Franchise development coordinator Frank O'Connor explained. "And she does it to put people off so that they're on their guard when talking to her and she has the upper hand in those conversations."[25]
Cortana and the Master Chief's relationship was a core part of Halo 4, part of a desire to feature a more human story. Creative director Josh Holmes noted that Cortana was in ways more human than Master Chief, and the idea that Chief would grapple with his humanity at the same time he was losing Cortana spoke to him.[26] Holmes' mother was diagnosed with dementia during development, and his real-life struggles informed the characterization of Cortana's descent into rampancy and the Chief-Cortana relationship.[27][28] Holmes and the team drew inspiration from the relationship in the game Ico, where the main characters share a strong bond, as well as the many layers to the two characters' relationship; "In some ways they're friends, in some ways she's almost like a mother, in others they're skirting that line of lovers, and so all these different elements come into the relationship, making it complex and interesting to explore."[29] Cortana's new appearance for Halo 4 was one of the game's most dramatic changes.[30] Early in production, concept artists created a variety of "crazy ideas" and explorations for how Cortana might look. Promising 2D designs were turned into simple 3D maquettes to prototype them in the game engine. Character artist Matt Aldridge recalled that Cortana was one of the hardest characters to envision in the game because of how beloved the character is by players; one of Aldridge's goals was to create a character where scrolling lines of code would flow uninterrupted from her feet to her head.[31] Art director Kenneth Scott was responsible for Cortana's final design.[30] The character's motion capture was performed by Mackenzie Mason.[32]
For Halo 5, Cortana's appearance changes significantly. Describing her previous appearance as soft and "deceptively vulnerable", 343 Industries took the story opportunity provided to change her look to reflect her new role as self-declared ruler of the galaxy. "In the first draft of the ending she was going to wear a flowing gown, have long hair, etc. She'd be very regal, very "powerful high queen." Very obviously different than she was," writer Brian Reed recalled. Her final design incorporated elements of the Spartans and Forerunners on top of her previous look, including a Forerunner glyph. "Having her wear [the Mantle] was a nice way of having her own it too, from a symbolic standpoint," Reed said. The character was modeled and animated using motion capture and talent at 343 Industries and Axis Animation.[33] 343 Industries intended the character's normal role in gameplay to be filled by Blue Team.[34]
Cortana's design, particularly her human-like appearance, was met with controversy after the TV series' trailer was released.[35] Kiki Wolfkill explained that the decision was influenced by technology, as the team prefers to use the most up-to-date tools to make thoughtful design decisions, as they have done throughout the series' decades-long history.[36] She further said "A lot of the design changes as we progress[ed] through the game generations was because we had access to better graphics, technology, more pixels, and more effects. And so it's always been about adapting Cortana to the environment."[37]
Voice actingEdit
Voice actress Jen Taylor voices Cortana in the majority of the character's appearances. Despite her role in voicing other video game characters, including Princess Peach, she is not a gamer.[38] Taylor was a college acquaintance of Joseph Staten, and he recommended her as a possible voice for Cortana to audio director Martin O'Donnell.[26] When choosing a voice actor for the character, Bungie originally wanted Cortana to have a British accent.[39] O'Donnell recalled that Taylor's British accent was good, but felt it was too similar to her work for No One Lives Forever. The accent was dropped, but British colloquialisms remained in the character's dialogue.[26] Taylor recalled that a key directive from Bungie about the character was that she not come off as nagging, despite her role as the player's guide and aid. "They wanted her to be like the girl next door, your best friend that you want to hang out with," she said.[38] She felt that portraying Cortana was occasionally challenging because the character lacks a physical form.[40]
For years after the first game was released Taylor remained distanced from the character. She attended only one fan convention in six years after the release of Halo: Combat Evolved,[41] and never saw many of the finished cutscenes with the character until a Halo 3 launch party.[38] Starting with Halo 3, Taylor felt the role involved more drama and less jargon,[42] and over time, her relationship with the character changed. "At first I was just excited to have a job and then I became more and more familiar, comfortable with and interested in her as she was developed," she recalled. "And I've sort of fallen for Cortana as far as characters go. She's remarkable." For Halo 4, Taylor performed her lines in the same room as Steve Downes, the voice of Master Chief, for the first time in the series. She credited the change for making the dialogue feel more authentic and real.[38] She reprises her role as Cortana for the Halo television series. [20]
Bungie introduced the Halo series publicly in 1999 by sending the Cortana Letters, a series of cryptic email messages, to the maintainer of marathon.bungie.org, a fan site for one of Bungie's other game series. The strategic use of cryptic messages in a publicity campaign was repeated in I Love Bees, a promotion for Halo 2.[43] Although Bungie does not consider most of the letters to be canon, Cortana speaks many of the same lines in Halo 3.[44][45] According to C. J. Cowan, Bungie's director of cinematics, the studio used the character here to give story clues without actually revealing the story.[46]
Cortana is featured in a variety of Halo merchandise. The character's first action figure was a seven-inch (178 mm) miniature released as part of the Halo: Combat Evolved series of action figures.[47] McLees noted that the first action figure was supposed to convey an older appearance than was depicted in the games. This was accomplished by making the figure more buxom; despite McLees' request to revert the change, the sculptor was unwilling and time constraints left the design intact.[48] The character is also featured in the first series of Halo 3 action figures, distributed by McFarlane Toys,[49][50] Funko vinyl figurines,[51][52] and in a limited-edition silver-plated statue by Weta Workshop.[53] IGN noted that Cortana toys are lacking among Halo's merchandising.[53]
Windows digital assistantEdit
Microsoft developed its virtual assistant for the Windows Phone operating system under the codename "Cortana" in reference to the Halo character. Though other final gender-neutral names for the final product were considered, positive developer and fan response to the leaked codename led to it becoming permanent.[54] Deborah Harrison, one of Cortana's 'personality designers', met with 343 Industries and added more confidence to the personality. "As a result of the meetings we ended up coming back and baking this into the DNA of the digital assistant speech pattern, her approach to jokes and her approach to chit chat, and we decided to dial up her sense of self possession," Harrison recalled.[54] Jen Taylor provides the voice for the virtual assistant.[55] Microsoft released a beta for Cortana in April 2014 with the developer release of Windows Phone 8.1. Microsoft also released Cortana virtual assistant on the Xbox One, Windows 10,[55][56][57] iOS, and Android platforms.[58]
Cortana is one of Halo's most beloved characters,[19] and has appeared in numerous lists of video game's best sidekicks.[59][60][61] Tom's Hardware named the character one of the 50 greatest female characters for the character's determination and fearlessness, which meshed perfectly with the game's protagonist,[62] while Glixel staff ranked Cortana as the 15th most iconic video game character of the 21st century.[63] Den of Geek's Megan Crouse called Cortana one of the Halo series' most important characters, and her relationship with her mother figure Halsey a relationship that was under-appreciated in much of the franchise.[18] Professor Monica Evans on a book Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved called Cortana the most human character in the original game and one of the most developed.[64]
Cortana has also been recognized for her sex appeal; the character has featured on numerous lists of attractive video game characters and "babes" from publications such as Team Xbox,[65] GameDaily,[66][67] Games.net,[68] Thanh Niên,[69] and Complex.[70] Feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian argues that Cortana had gotten "more and more sexualized in every new installment";[71] 1UP.com noted that as Cortana's sanity waned in the video games, her clothing appeared to decrease as well.[72] Time's Matt Peckham described Cortana's character as a controversial figure, with a tension between being well-rounded character and being trapped as "[an] adolescent male's fantasy notion of a Campbellian hero figure," and that this tension had increased commensurately with the game series' graphical fidelity.[73] Media critic Maddy Myers suggested that O'Connor's explanation for Cortana's look implies that the Halo universe's futuristic setting still grapples with systemic sexism.[74]
Mike Rougeau of Complex noted that Halo 3 balanced a large conflict with a more personal one—that while the galaxy was imperiled by aliens, "more important to fans was the rescue of Cortana."[75] While Cortana's role was greatly expanded in the game, Stuff.co.nz noted that the character "has inexplicably had a sexy makeover".[76] According to CinemaBlend, the "love story" between Master Chief and Cortana in the game provides "a focus to the game that an epic war between species can not accomplish. As Chief, the player needs something to anchor them into the story, and that happens to be Cortana."[77][better source needed]
Despite mixed opinions of Halo 4's campaign as a whole, Cortana and her story was often considered a strong point of the game. IGN called Halo 4 "really Cortana's story", as saving the galaxy is of lesser importance to the Master Chief than saving Cortana, and Cortana's humanity is ultimately the game's focus.[78] The Daily Telegraph's Tom Hoggins agreed, calling Cortana "the flickering blue heart of the game's plot", and Hoggins and reviewers for The Globe and Mail and Eurogamer singled out the character's writing and performance as high points of the game's campaign.[79][80][81] Justin Clouse wrote that the interactions between Chief and Cortana as the latter loses her hold on sanity were "perhaps the best it's ever been".[82] Complex's review praised the use of motion capture for Cortana, as they were given "new life" and new depth from the technology and performance.[75]
David Their wrote that the choice for Cortana to return in Halo 5 and turn her into an antagonist provided the game "with a well earned sense of drive"[83] and that her appearance in Halo 5 gave players another side of the character to see. "There's something unknowable about Cortana in her new role as AI God, but we've spent enough time with her throughout the series that we stick with her through the reinvention."[84] Similarly, Patrick Dane of Bleeding Cool defended the game's divisive campaign and Cortana's turn to antagonist as an "inspired choice", driving a wedge between the most important character relationship in the games.[85] Conversely, Matt Peckham felt that the plot twist of Cortana's actions "feels strangely underwhelming",[86] while Ars Technica and Kotaku considered Cortana's return, and her plans to use alien technology to remake the galaxy, unbelievable and unearned.[87][88] Responding to criticism that 343 had turned Cortana "evil", franchise director Frank O'Connor said, "my question back to them is, 'What makes you say they're evil?' Certainly a lot of our younger players are going to struggle with that subtlety, that nuance, because they're expecting Darth Vader."[34]
- ^ "Halo TV Series Recasts Cortana With Original Voice Actress - IGN". November 11, 2020 – via www.ign.com.
- ^ a b Bungie, ed. (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved Instruction Manual (PDF). Microsoft Game Studios. pp. 6–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 15, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
- ^ Van Lente, Fred (2011). "UNSC Briefing". In Cuddy, Luke (ed.). Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved. Open Court. p. ix. ISBN 978-0812697186.
- ^ Martin, Tim (October 13, 2012). "Brave new worlds: 'Halo' heralded a revolution in gaming and a 2 billion franchise. Can 'Halo 4' do the same?". The Daily Telegraph. p. 10.
- ^ a b c d Nylund, Eric (2001). Halo: The Fall of Reach. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-45132-3.
- ^ Mitchell, Richard (April 2, 2013). "Halo 4 as a love story: The personal origins of Cortana's breakdown". Engadget. Oath, Inc. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ Martens, Todd (November 1, 2012). "'Halo 4' review: Master Chief is human after all". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-345-45921-3.
- ^ Staff (September 14, 2004). "Halo 2: Bios Blowout". Team Xbox. Archived from the original on December 22, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
- ^ a b c Staff (October 25, 2015). "A Halo 5 Primer: The Story So Far". Xbox Wire. Microsoft. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
- ^ Cordon, Jez (October 18, 2015). "Prepare yourself for Halo 5 with these quick story recaps". Windows Central. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
- ^ Lowry, Brendan (October 19, 2019). "Halo timeline: Cortana's return and the rise of the Created". Windows Central.
- ^ "All Halo Games in Order According to Lore". February 5, 2021.
- ^ Pritchard, Tom (December 13, 2021). "Halo Infinite ending explained — what just happened?". Tom's Guide. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
- ^ Lowry, Brendan (December 9, 2021). "Halo Infinite ending and post-credits scene explained". Windows Central. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
- ^ Nylund, Eric (2001). Halo: The Fall of Reach. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-345-45132-3.
- ^ a b Staff. "Universe: Characters: Cortana". Halo Waypoint. 343 Industries. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
- ^ a b Crouse, Megan (January 26, 2016). "Halo: The Importance of Cortana & Halsey's History". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
- ^ a b Crouse, Megan (October 28, 2015). "Cortana's Five Greatest Moments". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
- ^ a b Skrebels, Joe (November 11, 2020). "Halo TV Series Recasts Cortana With Original Voice Actress". IGN. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
- ^ Pham, Alex (November 15, 2001). "Game Design; Xbox Gets Its Wings With 'Halo'". Los Angeles Times. p. T6.
- ^ Cullen, Johnny (February 2, 2011). "Bungie: 'Immersion was the main goal' in creating Master Chief". VG247. Videogaming247 Ltd. Archived from the original on February 5, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ^ Lorraine Mclees (May 20, 2003). "Cortana's face was modeled after an Egyptian queen". Halo.Bungie.org. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
- ^ MacKay, Jill (2006). "The Modern Mythos". In Yeffeth, Glenn (ed.). Halo Effect: An Unauthorized Look at the Most Successful Video Game of All Time. Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books. pp. 92–93.
- ^ Prell, Sam (October 28, 2015). "Why is Cortana naked? Halo franchise director Frank O'Connor has an answer". GamesRadar. Future Publishing. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
- ^ a b c Haske, Steven (May 30, 2017). "The Complete, Untold History of Halo". Vice. Vice Media. Archived from the original on March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (March 29, 2013). "343 was 'skeptical' about Chief-Cortana story in Halo 4". GameSpot. CNET. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- ^ Mitchell, Richard (April 2, 2013). "Halo 4 as a love story: The personal origins of Cortana's breakdown". Engadget. Oath, Inc. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ Peckham, Matt (November 6, 2012). "Ico Influenced Chief-Cortana Bond in Halo 4, Says Director". Time. Time USA, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
- ^ a b Carmichael, Stephanie (November 30, 2012). "Interview: Halo 4's other story is found in its visuals". GameZone. GameZone Next. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
- ^ Davies, Paul (2013). "Cortana". Awakening: The Art of Halo 4 (Enhanced ed.). Gallery Books. ISBN 978-1781163245.
- ^ Gaudiosi, John (October 20, 2012). "Meet the actress behind everyone's favorite AI, Halo's Cortana". Digital Trends. Designtechnica. Archived from the original on August 3, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ Easterling, Jeff (February 5, 2016). "Canon Fodder #61: Judges & Jurys". 343 Industries. Microsoft. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ a b Peckham, Matt (October 29, 2015). "Halo's Frank O'Connor Reacts to Criticism of Halo 5". Time. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
- ^ Russell, Bradley (January 31, 2022). "The Halo TV series has its first big controversy: Cortana's new design". Games Radar.
- ^ Ankers, Adele (March 15, 2022). "Halo TV Series Creators Respond to Controversy About Cortana's Redesign". IGN Southeast Asia.
- ^ Russell, Bradley (March 14, 2022). "Why Cortana has been redesigned for the Halo TV series, according to the show's creative team". Games Radar.
- ^ a b c d Benedetti, Winda (October 29, 2012). "The heart of Halo: Actress talks a decade spent playing Cortana". NBC News. NBCUniversal News Group. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
- ^ Jones, Jason; O'Donnell, Marty; and Staten, Joseph (September 25, 2007). Halo: Combat Evolved Developer's Commentary (Halo 3 Legendary Edition). Bungie. Event occurs at 37:00.—Staten: "Because originally you wanted Cortana to have a British accent." / Jones: "What?" / O'Donnell: "That's actually true because when we cast Cortana we asked every woman to do an English accent for us."
- ^ Taylor, Jen; Staff (May 3, 2006). "SiN Episodes Voice Cast Interview". ritualistic.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
- ^ Taylor, Jen (narr.) (2007). The Cortana Chronicles (Halo 3 Legendary Edition). Bungie.
- ^ K., Paul (February 16, 2007). "Bungie Weekly Update". bungie.net. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved October 16, 2007.
- ^ MacKay, Jill (2006). "The Modern Mythos". In Yeffeth, Glenn (ed.). Halo Effect: An Unauthorized Look at the Most Successful Video Game of All Time. Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books. p. 95.
- ^ "Joe Staten Interview". Halo.Bungie.org. August 2006. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007. Retrieved December 10, 2007.
- ^ Staff (November 6, 2006). "Halo 3: Beyond the Trailer". GameTrailers. Archived from the original on May 5, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2007.
- ^ Ocampo, Jason (May 9, 2006). "E3 06: Halo 3 announced, plot details revealed". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
- ^ "Halo Action Figures, Series 1: Cortana". cmdstore.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
- ^ Szabo, Brooke (October 9, 2003). "Bungie Art Grrl McLees". Xbox.com. Microsoft. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2010.
- ^ "Halo 3: Series 1". McFarlane. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
- ^ "McFarlane Halo Figures," GameInformer 180 (April 2008): 34.
- ^ Konrad, Jeremy (January 22, 2018). "Funko London Toy Fair Reveals include Miraculous, Garbage Pail Kids, Sailor Moon, MOTU, and more!". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ "Catalog: Halo 4 Cortana". Funko. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ a b Pearce, Alanah (April 14, 2016). "11 of the Coolest Halo Toys Ever Made". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ a b Young, Liam (January 2019). "'I'm a Cloud of Infinitesimal Data Computation' When Machines Talk Back: An interview with Deborah Harrison, one of the personality designers of Microsoft's Cortana AI". Machine Landscapes: Architectures of the Post-Anthropocene. 89 (1): 112–117. doi:10.1002/ad.2398.
- ^ a b Pitcher, Jenna (April 3, 2014). "Microsoft unveils Halo's Cortana as Siri-style Windows Phone digital assistant". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ^ Pierce, David (March 3, 2014). "This is Cortana, Microsoft's answer to Siri". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 3, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (January 21, 2015). "Microsoft unveils Cortana for Windows 10". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
- ^ Ash, Marcus (December 9, 2015). "Cortana: Now available where and when you need her, no matter what smartphone you choose". Windows Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
- ^ Evan Saathoff (November 23, 2011). "Best Video Game Companions". UGO. Archived from the original on March 7, 2014.
- ^ Staff (November 22, 2011). "Thanks Buddy!: 25 of Gaming's Greatest Sidekicks". Maximum PC. Future US. Archived from the original on March 10, 2013.
- ^ Lozada, David (January 21, 2019). "The best video game sidekicks ever". Game Revolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on January 28, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
- ^ Wright, Rob (February 20, 2007). "The 50 Greatest Female Characters in Video Game History". tomsgames.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
- ^ "50 Most Iconic Video Game Characters of the 21st Century". Glixel. November 23, 2016. Archived from the original on November 23, 2016.
- ^ Evans, Monica (2011). "UNSC Briefing". In Cuddy, Luke (ed.). Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved. Open Court. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-0812697186.
- ^ Staff (June 30, 2004). "Top Ten Xbox Babes". Team Xbox. Archived from the original on October 13, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
- ^ Staff (September 22, 2007). "Babe of the Week: Cortana". GameDaily. Archived from the original on April 21, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
- ^ Staff (March 26, 2008). "Top 50 Hottest Game Babes on Trial: #36. Cortana (Halo series)". GameDaily. AOL. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008.
- ^ Karl, Ben; Rudden, Dave (October 5, 2007). "Top Ten Disturbingly Sexual Game Characters". games.net. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2007.
- ^ "25 nhân vật nữ khiến các game thủ nam "mất tập trung" nhất". Thanh Niên Game (in Vietnamese). 2015. Archived from the original on August 28, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
- ^ Knight, Rich (November 9, 2011). "Battle of the Beauties: Gaming's Hottest Female Characters Face Off". Complex. Complex Networks. Archived from the original on July 2, 2014.
- ^ Staff (March 3, 2016). "Sarkeesian aims to make feminist theory more accessible". The Exponent. Montana State University. Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ^ Sharkey, Scott (May 19, 2009). "Top 5 Insane Videogame computers". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
- ^ Peckham, Matt (April 3, 2014). "Microsoft's Cortana Raises Important Questions About Sexism and Gender Stereotyping". Time. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
- ^ Myers, Maddy (October 30, 2015). "The (New) Canonical Reason Why Halo's Cortana Is Naked". The Mary Sue. Abrams Media. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
- ^ a b Rougeau, Mike (November 1, 2012). ""Halo 4" Reviewed: Joy to the World, the Chief is Come". Complex. Complex Networks. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
- ^ Cardy, Tom (October 1, 2007). "Review: Halo 3 (Xbox 360)". Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax New Zealand.
- ^ West, Steve (September 27, 2007). "Halo 3 Campaign Review". cinemablend.com. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
- ^ Ryan McCaffrey (November 1, 2012). "Halo 4 Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on February 20, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ Hoggins, Tom (November 5, 2012). "Halo 4 Review". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on November 7, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ Nowak, Peter (November 1, 2012). "Halo 4: A great game series extends win streak". The Globe and Mail. The Woodbridge Company. Archived from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- ^ Parkin, Simon (November 1, 2012). "Halo 4 review; Truth or reconciliation?". Eurogamer. Gamer Network Ltd. Archived from the original on April 7, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- ^ Clouse, Justin (November 1, 2012). "Halo 4 Review". The Escapist. Defy Media. Archived from the original on June 18, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ Thier, David (November 2, 2015). "Why Halo 5: Guardians Ending Was So Controversial". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
- ^ Thier, David (October 27, 2015). "'Halo 5's' Biggest Twist Is Pretty Brilliant". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
- ^ Dane, Patrick (November 2, 2015). "Yes, Halo 5's Story Matters And It's One Of The Best In The Series". Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
- ^ Peckham, Matt (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5 Guardians Review; A Mediocre Story with Terrific Multiplayer". Time. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- ^ Machovech, Sam (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians review: Everyone's a hero, no one's a hero". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
- ^ Gach, Ethan (August 16, 2018). "Halo 5: The Kotaku Re-Review". Kotaku. Univision. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
External linksEdit
- The Cortana Letters
- Cortana's profile Archived June 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine at Halowaypoint.com
- Cortana's profile at halopedia.org


text:
Every couple of years or so things slow down for a week or two and I have time to update this blog.
I offer a free 20 minute initial consultation but lots of people like to research what they can before calling.
WARNING: before reading the below and agreeing to ANYTHING give me or another family law lawyer a call. Any agreement in writing and signed by you can be enforced by Saskatchewan Maintenance Enforcement Office.
If you are recently separated and wondering how much child support or spousal support you might have to pay there is a free website that can provide a rough guideline. It is:
or you can go directly to the child support guidelines at:
But you should call a lawyer before agreeing or signing anything. The issue of Custody, Child Residence, and Access is also important and the old days where the Mother usually got the kids are over. Where the kids stay and for how long affects how much child support is paid, and to who.


text:
Just a week after winning the Tamworth 5 mile, Ben Evans flew out to Germany for the 44th Berlin Marathon. The Tamworth AC distance runner has been in good form throughout the year and set high expectations with his performance at the London Marathon back in April
The wet conditions may have dampened the eagerly anticipated world record attempt, but Ben set out with a strong measured pace over the early miles, passing the halfway mark in 1:18:16. In the second half of the race Ben pushed on, digging deep in the final miles to register an impressive negative split and cross the line in 2:35:20; knocking a further 3 minutes off his marathon PB in London and finishing 45th in the M35 age group.
Afterwards Ben said "I'm delighted with the progress I've made over the summer since London and I gave it everything I had today. Of course, it would have been great to sneak under 2:35, but those extra 20 seconds will give me something to work on over the winter months. Berlin is a fantastic city and the marathon is fast and well organised. Definitely one I'd like to race again some time".
Click here to Reply or Forward


text:
Apple has just been granted a patent on a MacBook with a solid-state keyboard (SSK) – essentially, a flat glass surface that can be reconfigured on the fly depending on the individual needs of the user.
That means if you're doing data entry into a spreadsheet, you can set up a numpad into one of the SSK's regions or wipe away the keys to turn it into a drawing surface for graphics design tasks.
- Apple M1 chip: performance, specs and release date
- Here are the best MacBooks and Macs of 2021
- Check out MacBook Air (M1) review
While the patent certainly looks cool, as 9to5Mac points out, there are some hurdles to overcome for something variable like this to replace the tried-and-true tactile keyboard.
For one, professionals who type a great deal for a living will be the first to tell you how important touch-typing is to their productivity. That kind of experience is very hard to replicate on a flat glass surface. It also isn't the most comfortable, especially after prolonged use.
Another is the amount of feedback physical keys give you when you are typing – ask anyone who loves to use a mechanical keyboard what it's like to type on a non-mechanical device and they'll scoff. Ask them what it's like to type on an iPad and you'll offend them.
Still, a solid state keyboard is a cool idea
There are still a lot of good reasons to pursue a solid state keyboard though. For one, standard keyboards wear out with use and are easily damaged by, say, a spilled cup of coffee.
Worse still, a liquid spill into a keyboard can threaten to damage more than the typing surface, since vital laptop components are directly underneath the keys – and there's no way to fully waterproof the internals and still have a functioning keyboard. After all, there needs to be a physical connection between the keys themselves and the system internals, so liquid can always find a way in.
A solid state surface can eliminate this hazard, and while it's not going to herald a new era of waterproof laptops, it's not nothing.
Also, having the ability to reassign space on a solid state surface of the laptop to perform different functions on the fly is the kind of thing you see in science fiction films, and could be as useful as we imagine. We could even see new peripheral inputs that you could download instead of having to buy a bunch of new devices that plug in via USB.
As always, just because there is a patent doesn't mean that this will necessarily come to market. It'd be really cool if it did though.
- Stay up to date on all the latest tech news with the TechRadar newsletter


text:
French learn to communicate in 24 hours
Chia sẻ: Hà Thị Ánh Tuyết | Ngày: | Loại File: PDF | Số trang:337
lượt xem 856
The main premise of Countdown to French is that you can learn this extremely useful and beautiful language quickly and effectively. If you are willing to spend just 24 hours of your time studying the grammar, vocabulary, and phrases presented in the lessons, you will find that you will be able to understand and communicate in French in various types of everyday situations. You can immediately feel confident that you will meet this challenge and accomplish your goals effortlessly and rapidly
Bình luận(0) Đăng nhập để gửi bình luận!


text:
Usain Bolt seemed to trot to finish a mile ahead of the competition in the Olympic 100m sprint Saturday. In the process he set a new world record of 9.69 seconds erasing his own 9.72 mark set in May at a meet in New York.
In almost an all-Caribbean final with six of the eight competitors from Jamaica, three; Trinidad and Tobago, two; and one from the Netherlands Antilles, Bolt rewrote the history books, winning Jamaicas first gold in the event. Disappointingly, countryman, Asafa Powell, who was touted as a possible winner, finished out of the medal frame.
"It wasn't planned. My aim was to come out and win. When I saw the time, I'm celebrating," Bolt told newsmen. "I'm happy."
Bolt had a less than perfect race as his left instep dragged on the track out of the starting block, and he pulled up to a almost a jog at about 80 meters and began celebrating as he glanced to his right, seeing no one close by.
"No one will get near it," fellow Jamaican Michael Frater, who finished sixth.
"Usain was spectacular," Powell said. "He was definitely untouchable tonight. He could have gone a lot faster if he had run straight through the line."
Of his own disappointing showing Powell said, "I messed up big time, my legs died on me. Usain ran an awesome race, I'm very happy for him.
"I'm not sure what happened, I just have to be happy for Usain. It's a sad time for me, I really wanted to get that gold medal. But its quite obvious I wasn't ready for the big stage yet."
Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Thompson was second in 9.89 and third went to USA's Walter Dix as the first six runners posted sub 10 second times.
Bolt now readies for his specialty, the 200 meters and a possible golden double. He also is in a great position to take three golds as the Jamaican sprint relay team combines Powell and Frater.
About Mark Lee
Editor, author and writer with career spanning print, radio, television and new media.


text:
How to get VA health care without all the paperwork
It will soon be easier for you to get VA health care in your community without paperwork.
As of January 2020, you won't have to provide a signed, written authorization for VA to release your electronic VA health information to a participating community care provider.
VA will automatically begin sharing your health information with participating community care providers using the Veterans Health Information Exchange. The electronic system is secure and safe.
This change will make it easier for your health care team to make better decisions about your health care. It can also help you be safer, especially during emergencies.
No action needed
If you are OK with VA sharing your electronic patient information with your community care provider, you don't have to do a thing. Your information will be shared automatically.
Form needed to OPT OUT of electronic sharing
However, if you do not want to share your information electronically, you must submit VA Form 10-10164 (Opt Out of Sharing).
There is no September 30 deadline to submit your form 10-10164
You can submit your Form 10-10164 at any time. VA will share your information until you submit your form.
If you submitted Form 10-0484 before September 30, you do NOT need to submit Form 10-10164.
You can return VA Form 10-10164 at any VA Medical Center. Just visit the Release of Information (ROI) office. You can also send it by mail. After VA processes your form, your VA health information will not be shared electronically with community providers you see for treatment.
(Photo by John Schnobrich)
Change your mind? No problem
You change your mind and share your health record with your participating community provider. Just complete and return VA Form 10-10163 (Opt In for Sharing) at any time.
You also can still ask VA to share your information with participating community care providers by fax or mail service.
If you don't share your information, it will not affect your VA health care or your relationship with your VA health care provider.
Download and print forms here.
This article originally appeared on VAntage Point. Follow @DeptVetAffairs on Twitter.


text:
Now is the time to give your pet the extra comfort and security they crave. Pets can sense stress - and although they love having you home with them during shelter in place quarantine - they too need comforting.The patent protected snuggle cave bed from sleepy fox provides your dog with their ultimate natural sleeping environment and gives them comfort and security. Dogs are den animals and crave the comfort and security of their sleeping den/cave. Dogs have three main sleeping instincts. They seek a protective cover for security.
They like something to lean against for support, and. They want to be able to form their sleeping mattress to the perfect shape. The snuggle cave bed by sleepy fox meets all of these sleeping instincts while looking great in your home.Security - the snuggle cave cover provides your dog their ultimate sense of security and comfort. The cave cover stays open in the front, providing easy entry, while the soft cave top drapes down at the back, snuggling your dog like a blanket. Support - four individual, structured bolster cushions provide dogs with a soft yet supportive bolster to lean on. Additionally, the unique air opening in the rear of the bed ensures your dog's safety by providing fresh air at all times. Shape - with a double-sided, extra comfy center mattress, dogs can form their pillow to perfection every time.
You can choose from soft sherpa fleece fur on one side and matching bed fabric on the other. Superior to other pet cave beds, the sleepy fox snuggle cave has a stable rectangular bolster structure that is specifically designed to stay upright, with no possibility of the bed rolling or flipping over.This allows your dog to lean on the inside of the cave without the bed rolling over. The cave cover offers your pet the security and privacy they crave.
The cave front is supported by a hidden (removable) flexible tube and stays open for your pet at all times. The rear of the cave top lies down on the back of the bed to snuggle your pet like a blanket. Center mattress and cave top are lined with super-soft sherpa fleece ideal for snuggling.The separate inner mattress lets your pet shape their sleeping cushion to perfection. The side bolsters support your pet's instinct to lean and provides them with maximum security comfort. The innovative back air opening keeps your pet safe by providing fresh air. Clean and modern design looks good in your home. Attractive vegan leather carrying handles make moving the bed easy. Four separate bolster channels and bolster pillows offer superior support while ensuring the bed keeps its shape and does not roll or flip. Double-sided mattress cushion lets you choose between soft, fluffy fleece or matching bed fabric while allowing your pet to shape the mattress to their preferred perfection.
Bed covers are easily removable via interior zipper and machine washable. Zipper is placed on the inside of the bed cover to protect your floor from potential scratches. However, according to dhl, there is a backlog at the us border for inbound goods and delays in custom clearance times.Once your package arrives in the us and clears customs, it usually takes only a few days to arrive to your home. Dog model: jack russell terrier puppy is modeling a medium sized bed. Jrts and similar are usually happy in a small size bed. This item is made of high quality and exclusive quilted design, oeko tex, vegan friendly leather, hypo allergenic pillow fills, patent protected design, ethically made in europe, machine washable bed covers.


text:
Hello Dear Readers! I hope this finds you well. I am excited to be teaching this upcoming class: T. I. Astrology – Fundamentals One. Exploring the intersection of Autonomic Nervous System dynamics and Western Astrology – this is a very unique opportunity. It represents 17 years of study and practice of various potent modalities forContinue reading "Trauma Informed Astrology Class – two weeks away"
Tag Archives: Natal Astrology
Consulting: Astrology & Bodywork
Hello Dear Readers, Just putting this out there. If you have questions about astrology, whether your own chart or someone else's (or even a client), feel free to ask me! I would charge for anything more than 5 minutes of my time. I have 17 years of experience working with astrology under my belt –Continue reading "Consulting: Astrology & Bodywork"
Astrology video forthcoming
I am excited to announce that my friend Elizabeth Stafford and I are collaborating to produce an Astrology video series. At least that is the intention. This coming week we are completing the first video (so yes this might be a bit premature). But we have an outline for more videos to come, provided weContinue reading "Astrology video forthcoming"
Transiting Pluto square Mercury: possible effects
This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Thank you for visiting! "Do not make enemies by accident." I loved this quote from the Dowager Countess on the first season of Downton Abbey, which I recently got into. I also think it is the perfect quote for people who haveContinue reading "Transiting Pluto square Mercury: possible effects"
Green light for Astrology
Hello Dear Readers, First, I realize I need a website. And that project is next on my plate. I have started a Weebly account and will begin progress on a site shortly. However, until that is complete (and very professional / presentable), I will continue to post new developments here. So work has been slowingContinue reading "Green light for Astrology"
Spiritual Astrology and the Secret of Self-Knowledge (Natal Horoscopes)
This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. See the above page "Astrology" for more info and for Kirby's current rates. Thanks for reading! In this post I will describe the benefits of having your Natal Chart or Horoscope interpreted by a competent Astrologer. Kirby Moore specializes in working withContinue reading "Spiritual Astrology and the Secret of Self-Knowledge (Natal Horoscopes)"