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Herbalist Schools
This listing is for herb school members of the American Herbalists Guild. The information listed is provided by the herb school and is not reviewed, evaluated or endorsed in any way by the AHG.
To search for an herb school, please use the search box below. It allows you to search by US state, Canadian province, or by country. Please use the two letter postal code abbreviations for states or provinces, type the first letter and wait for the drop down menu. Then select and hit apply.
International Integrative Educational Institute
The International Integrative Educational Institute (IIEI) is a school of natural healing, offering herbalist training, nutrition certification programs, and courses for the general public. The IIEI provides training in a diversity of herbal traditions, from Traditional Chinese, to Ayurvedic, to Western herbalism.
Led by one of the foremost natural healing experts in North America -- K.P. Khalsa, you will find a variety of in-person, and online courses, with offering for beginners to advanced students. Our classroom courses are offered across the country at a variety of locations, and are conducted by K.P. Khalsa and a highly trained, diverse faculty of instructors.
The IIE course offerings include:
• Year 1 Professional Herbalist Course
• Year 2 Professional Herbalist Course
• Nutritional Therapy Program
• Clinical Herbalist Program
• A variety of weekend workshops and retreats
• Mentorships with K.P.
Please see our website for further detail. Most of the courses offer Continuing Education credit or professional certification.
Phone: 541.242.3314
Fax: 541.242.3314 (FAX)
E-mail: email@example.com
Web site: http://www.internationalintegrative.com
Eugene, OR 97405 USA
Live Oak School of Natural Healing
The Live Oak School of Natural Healing is run by a nurse, Dawn Gates, R.N. and was founded on the belief that there is wisdom in both ancient teachings and in modern science. The LOSNH provides students with an integrated education in the traditional practice of Western, Chinese, Ayurvedic and Native American herbal medicine. Our school offers live, correspondence, and online classes with opportunities for clinical practicums, live seminars, and apprenticeships. We have three programs that are developed for all levels of experience from the beginner to the advanced student including nurses, doctors, and pharmacists. The schools mission statement is "To provide a rounded herbal education in order for our students to be the natural health leaders in their communities" The school provides a full curriculum, including herbal history, botany, anatomy/physiology, Materia Medica, nutrition, formulary development, advanced diagnostics (facial, tongue, pulse), meanings of lab values, how to take a complete history/physical as well as practice development and growth.
The online school is via interactive classrooms with Skype video conferences, e-mail discussion groups, podcasts, with a one-on-one mentorship program aimed at getting the online student the most individualized attention possible.
Phone: 877.281.0447
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web site: http://www.Liveoakschoolofnaturalhealing.com
Paisley, FL 32767 USA
Living Earth School of Herbalism
Living Earth School of Herbalism offers online distance learning and in-class workshops in Western herbalism and related subjects for those who wish to pursue a career as a professional herbalist or who want to learn about herbs and herbal medicine for their own general interest or as an adjunct to their existing healing practice. The director of the school is Michael Vertolli. The curriculum is based on his over twenty-six years of experience teaching and practising herbal medicine.
Our Philosophy
Living Earth courses and programs offer a blend of European and Native American traditional wisdom and modern scientific knowledge without compromising the spirit of holism. Our philosophy is based on a holistic and organismic paradigm, recognizing the importance of all levels of human functioning and experience (biochemical, physiological, emotional, mental, social, spiritual, etc.). The focus is on helping people to achieve a greater level of health and well-being, not solely the elimination of symptoms at the physiological level. This philosophy is the cornerstone of all courses and programs offered by Living Earth.
Our System
The backbone of the curriculum of Living Earth's Traditional Herbalist program and one of the most important features that differentiates this program from other Western clinical herbalist programs is the Four Elements Herbal Therapy system. This is a system of herbal therapeutics and formulating developed by our director, Michael Vertolli, during the twenty-six years that he has practiced and conducted empirical research in herbalism. This unique system eliminates the many years of trial and error that students inevitably experience when they graduate from programs that do not provide a concise system of herbal therapeutics and formulating.
Courses and Programs
• Traditional Herbalist Diploma Program: 1,500 hours, part online, part in-class. Clinical training and field training cannot effectively be taught online and are offered as intensive workshops in southern Ontario.
• Holistic Herbal Studies Certificate Program: 335 hours, mostly online plus field workshops.
• Professional Intensive Workshops: Open to professional herbalists from any background and naturopaths.
• Online General Interest Courses: Open to anyone interested in herbs and herbal healing.
• Field Workshops: Herb identification and material medica.
• Spirit of Herbs Workshops: Open to anyone interested in the energetic and intuitive elements of herbalism.
Phone: 905.303.8723 Ext. 1
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web site: http://www.livingearthschool.ca
Maple, ON L6A 1S1 CANADA
Lodgepole School of Wholistic Studies
Community based learning opportunities for your body, mind and spirit.
Born out of the need to keep herbal education and dynamic herbal & wholistic presenters in the classroom, Lodgepole collaborated with the Wild Rose College of Natural Healing (WRC) offering WRC herbal curriculum in the classroom. Along with Herbal education Lodgepole created a space and opportunity for Wholistic health educators to present their workshops, offering a variety of bodywork courses, nutritional seminars, Herbalist presenters, and the ongoing lecture series Folk Herbalist Revival.
Whether you are embarking on your new career path, looking for a course to complement your existing practice, for general interest, or in need of CEU's, Lodgepole School has many offerings of quality wholistic-based classes, instructors and presenters available in Calgary Alberta Canada.
Established in 2014 by Herbalist & Integrative Nutrition Health Coach Jeananne Laing & Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine & Herbalist Tiffany Freeman, Lodgepole School of Wholistic Studies endeavors to bring to the community quality herbal & wholistic education in a classroom environment.
Herbal Education: In Collaboration with the Wild Rose College of Natural Healing (WRC), Lodgepole School offers Official WRC Herbal Curriculum in the classroom. Work towards your Practical, Master or Clinical Herbalist Diploma. All diplomas are issued by WRC.
For a list of Lodgepole course offerings http://lodgepoleschool.com/upcoming-courses/
More info on Wild Rose College of Natural Healing Diploma programs http://wrc.net/script/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/diplomaflowchart.pdf
E-mail: email@example.com
Web site: http://lodgepoleschool.com
Calgary, Alberta CANADA
Maryland University of Integrative Health
The Master of Science in Herbal Medicine program at Maryland University of Integrative Health (formerly Tai Sophia Institute) combines current scientific research with centuries of tradition to provide students with a solid knowledge of the philosophy, theory, and practice of herbal medicine for the support and maintenance of health and well-being. As individuals increasingly take responsibility for their own healthcare, there are questions from consumers, pharmacists, physicians, and complementary medicine practitioners about issues of use, quality, and cross-effects with mainstream pharmaceuticals and treatments.
The program is designed to serve a critical need for education, research, and information in the field of herbal medicine by training graduates to become practitioners of excellence as well as leaders in research and in the production and standards of commercial botanical remedies. Graduates will:
• Have the competence and experience to be successful, practicing clinical herbalists.
• Provide guidance to practitioners, policy makers, academic researchers, and industry leaders concerning the standards of efficacy, quality, and safety of herbal products.
• Contribute to national efforts to promote the professional practice of herbal medicine and increase awareness of the value of herbal medicine and its role in integrative medicine.
• Provide educational programs for the wider community in the practice of herbal medicine.
• Develop a body of knowledge that will inform and assist clinicians and consumers in their use of herbal products.
• Build a bridge between conventional and herbal medicine practitioners.
The program provides students with a solid familiarity of the foundation of herbal medicine, human biology, and varied healing traditions. Each student will build a knowledge base of over 100 herbs, their traditional usage, the clinical research validating their usage, their dosage as well as known pharmacological effects and contraindications, toxicity, and possible drug interactions. The program offers the country's first Master of Science in Herbal Medicine, providing students with a comprehensive, in-depth education in understanding the rich history, science, and complexity of herbal medicine.
Founded by Simon Mills, co-author of two of the world's leading textbooks on herbal medicine, president of the British Herbal Medicine Association, and secretary of the European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP). Led by Director James Snow with highly experienced and prestigious core faculty, along with distinguished guest lecturers.
Over 1000 hours of hands-on clinical training and experience, as well as, extensive training in the preparation and formulation of herbal remedies.
Phone: (410) 888-9048
Fax: (410) 888-9004 (FAX)
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web site: http://www.muih.edu/
Laurel, MD 20723 USA
Mederi Foundation and Mederi Centre for Natural Healing
The Mederi Foundation and Mederi Centre For Natural Healing offer both a Fundamentals and Advanced professional clinical training program in the Eclectic Triphasic Medical System, founded by Donald Yance, CN, RH (AHG).
Up to 25 healthcare practitioners are admitted for Mederi's clinical training programs each year to those who are committed to providing comprehensive care in the field of integrative (collaborative) medicine, specifically with an interest in The Eclectic Triphasic Medical System (ETMS). Training in the ETMS emphasizes advanced clinical applications of botanical, nutritional, and biological medicine principles within a multifaceted framework in order to successfully execute health-building interventions for enhancing patient vitality and lifespan. ETMS allows healthcare professionals to personalize, monitor and continually modify patient care, and is taught exclusively through the nonprofit Mederi Foundation and the Mederi Centre for Natural Healing in Ashland, Oregon. Who Should Attend? Oncologists, Oncology Professionals, Medical Doctors, Naturopathic Doctors, Acupuncturists, Oriental Medicine Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Registered Clinical Herbalists, Certified Nutritionists and Medical School Faculty. A minimum of 4 years managing patient care in the clinical setting is required for our Level One program.
*Fundamentals of the Eclectic Triphasic Medical System (ETMS) - September 14th-17th, 2016 in Ashland OR.
Course Curriculum:
-Yance's philosophical and clinical approach
-Fundamental objectives and core 'branches' of the ETMS – assessing disease processes from a wholistic perspective with emphasis on the three energetic harmonies and five energy networks
-Interviewing skills, case history acquisition, and physical examination techniques
-Differential analysis of symptoms and signs
-Case follow-up, formulating, prescribing, and dispensing
-Endocrinology, neurology, and cardiology – determining the causal chain of disease and the clinical management of related disorders
-Basic cancer biology, efficacy and limitations of conventional therapies
-Food as medicine
-Materia medica and principles of herbal prescribing – dosages and toxicology, dispensary techniques and systems
-Botanical and nutritional monographs
*Advanced Clinical Applications of the ETMS in Cancer Care April 25th-28th, 2017 in Ashland, OR (pre-requisite: Fundamentals of the ETMS)
Phone: (541) 488-0514
Fax: (541) 488-0417 (FAX)
E-mail: email@example.com
Web site: http://mederifoundation.org/what-we-do/education/clinical-training-programs/fund...
Ashland, OR 97520 USA
Midwest School of Herbal Studies
Our mission is to provide the highest level of education in botanical studies, with an emphasis on integrative herbalism (modern Western phytotherapy, native-American, Unani, Ayurvedic, & TCM), and to do so at an affordable cost and in the most user-friendly format possible.
Phone: toll-free (866) 781-2038
E-mail: email@example.com
Web site: http://www.midwestherbalstudies.com
New Brighton, MN 55112 USA
Mockingbird Meadows Herbal Health Farm
At Mockingbird Meadows, our working herb farm has focused on connecting students to their own inner wisdom, to their surrounding community and to the earth since 2004.
We believe in a botanical-based education that embraces folkloric tradition with a contemporary knowledge of body systems, phytochemical compounds and current research. Above all, we believe in empowering the individual to take control of health decisions.
We provide the following levels of herbal and holistic education:
Community Health Workshops
General interest education and guest lecturers.
Botanical Home Health Intro Course
Weekend course providing a broad, but detailed overview of herbalism, hands on experience and general techniques for those interested in herbal home health care. Geared for beginners.
Our apprentice programs are intended to develop thoughtful and well-informed herbal consumers, growers, makers and practitioners. Completion of the three tracks will provide an intimate knowledge of over 160 materia medica and coursework in differential assessment, basic sciences, practice management and ethics, writing for the plant sciences and presentation & speaking skills. We will assist the student in gaining clinical experience. Students do not need to commit to all three years.
Year One: Foundations in Botanical Health
Year Two: Advanced Botanical Health
Year Three: Applied Botanical Health (Mentorship)
Director and Core Faculty: Dawn Combs
Phone: 614-354-5162
E-mail: email@example.com
Web site: http://www.mockingbirdmeadows.com
Marysville, OH 43040 USA
Natural Healing College
Natural Healing College, Stockton, CA is an online school offering
both a Master Herbalist diploma program and an Ayurvedic Practitioner
Program. A hignspeed internet connection and a computer (pc, mac or
laptop) are required. Both programs are geared towards graduates
having the academic knowledge and practical strategies to open a
wellness consultation business. Every class is based on well-known
published industry respected books which are included in tuition fees
for US students. The classes are both textbook and research driven.
NHC classes bear no relationship to old-fashioned correspondence home
study classes. There are online prerecorded video lectures for most
chapters, spoken word audio glossaries and lessons that are online,
computer based, and textbook interactive, learning experiences.
Lessons and exams are auto graded to provide reviews and grades
immediately upon completion. A staff of teachers with accredited
degrees and real world experience who answer questions and personally
comment on student work twice a week makes Natural Healing College
able to simulate classes as if it were a brick and morter school where
students study and progress at their own pace. Unique among online
schools NHC works with its graduates to help them obtain local
internships and mentors if the graduate desires.
Phone: (209) 390-8076
Fax: (209) 390-8078 (FAX)
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web site: http://www.naturalhealingcollege.com/
Stockton, CA USA
Natural Nurse® Herbal Certification Course
Ellen Kamhi, PHD, RN, AHG, AHN-BC
I have been learning and teaching the medicinal use of herbs since 1964, as well as providing information to thousands of individuals on how to use herbs for themselves, their patients and their families. I am a medical school professor, and taught medicinal pharmacognocy at the masters level for many years. I am also a hands on indiginous herbalist with a strong belief in interspecies communication with plants and other living and earth based personalities, as well as a wildcrafter. As I travel around the world giving lectures and workshops, I get many requests for more in depth classes, and the opportunity to apprentice with me.
This correspondence course will afford you that opportunity.
The course is conducted via individual webinar training. I will send you a link to a powerpoint, and then we will mutually choose a time (about an hour) to review the slides. As I discuss each topic, we will go into many aspects that are mentioned on each slide in a much more comprehensive way, giving you in depth data on how to collect, purchase and use each individual herb for yourself and your family.
Before we complete each lecture, I will email you a specific assignment that must be completed before our meeting. Depending on the level of the topic, it will be basic or more advanced. For example, I might ask you to go to your local health food store, and read the 'other ingredients' and 'standardization claims' on a few different herbal products. We will then discuss the significance of your findings. For a more advanced course, I may ask you to identify 2 alkaloid and 2 glycoside substances found in a particular herb, and what medicinal value they have, along with possible adverse effects that they may provoke. Don't worry, if you are a beginner, we will have covered all the initial classes you would need in order to know how to access that kind of information. Since I am both a traditional wildcrafting herbalist, AND a Professor of Botanical Pharmacognocy, I can take you as far as you want to go. Therefore, this course is appropriate for both the beginner and the professional, who would like to go more deeply into understanding the world of sentient as well as chemical interactions between plants and humans.
You can take this course as an individual, or share it with up to 5 others, since I will send a link to up to five individuals of your choosing if you choose the group rate.
Each class is $ 50 for an individual, or $ 100 for a group.
After completing 5 classes, you will receive a certification. Each additional 5 classes completed, will yield an additional certificate. I have over 50 topics available for 10 levels of certifications. The certification will indicate the number of hours of study, and the level of the course work that you have completed.
I look forward to sharing my decades of knowledge with you, and to learning from you as well, because as a teacher, I am also a perpetual student.
Phone: 800.829.0918
E-mail: email@example.com
Web site: http://www.naturalnurse.com/education
Oyster Bay, NY USA


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IELTS test in Saudi Arabia – May 2013 (Academic Module)
Hey, you're new here! I love new people, welcome.
You may want to subscribe to IELTS-Blog and get all the updates via email or via RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The questions and topics below were shared by D who took the IELTS test in Saudi Arabia.
Section 1. A mother wanted to enroll her daughter in a new school.
Section 2. A talk about a sports event.
Section 3. Don't remember.
Section 4. A talk about eating habits of the youth these days.
Reading test
Passage 1. About ancient wells in India.
Passage 2, 3. Don't remember.
Writing test
Writing task 1 (a report)
We were given a bar graph showing the percentage of women participating in or watching sports of different kinds.
Writing task 2 (an essay)
Countries should provide enough food for their own people and therefore lessen exportation of food abroad, if needed. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Speaking test
- What is your full name?
- Can I see your ID?
- Where are you from?
- Do you feel close to your friends?
- Have you experienced stress at work?
- Are you a patient person?
- How do you handle stress?
Cue Card
Describe an outdoor activity that you would like to try for the first time. Please say
- What is it?
- When and where would you do it?
- What preparations and equipment would you need?
- What do you think about extreme sports like skydiving?
- Would you encourage youth to do extreme sports?
- What are the advantages of physical activities?
- How would you encourage people to be physically active?
Related posts:
- IELTS test in Saudi Arabia and India – April 2016 (Academic Module) Thanks to IELTS test takers F and S we know...
- IELTS test in Saudi Arabia – January 2016 (Academic Module) Our friend from Saudi Arabia took an IELTS exam recently...
- IELTS test in Saudi Arabia – November 2015 (Academic Module) Our friends D and H took the IELTS test in...
- IELTS test in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan – July 2015 (Academic Module) Two IELTS test takers from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan (thank...
- IELTS test in Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia – October 2015 (Academic Module) Our friends N and J had the same IELTS exam...
Get a self study book, for Academic click here, for General here.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Disease Proof
Feline Fitness
I love cats—actually, I love all animals, but especially cats—in fact, I adopted a cheetah. Yes, a cheetah! His name is Echo and he lives at the Australia Zoo. Look how handsome:
Now, we've all heard that pets can make us feel better, but can a cat be a personal trainer? Well, Libby Sentz's cat has certainly got her moving. Poked & Prodded has more:
Now, we've all heard that pets can make us feel better, but can a cat be a personal trainer? Well, Libby Sentz's cat has certainly got her moving. Poked & Prodded has more:
I know that people and their pets are supposed to end up looking alike, but limping alike? I found out last week that she shares my diagnosis—severe osteoarthritis of the hips.Makes sense to me, I used to spend plenty of time exercising with my cat—chasing her butt around the house!
Mine is so bad that I'll need a hip replacement eventually. But somehow she's been doing a much better job than I am with managing her symptoms…
…My feline friend is setting such a good example that I've been motivated to develop my own take-care-of-myself routine. I'll call it the Wonder-Kitty Plan.
- After hitting snooze in the mornings, I will put my heating pad on my hip. (My cat sleeps there, so this will help her too.)
- I will begin my stretches in bed, just like she does.
- When she starts hopping around and climbing bookshelves, I will roll right into the tedious strengthening exercises that physical therapists of surgeries past have urged me to stick with.
- I will take my supplements with breakfast when she takes hers.
- And once a week I will shell out for some form of manual therapy. Or maybe I can bribe my husband to massage the kitty and me together.
Trackbacks (0) Links to blogs that reference this article Trackback URL
Comments (0) Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end
Dr. Fuhrman's Executive Offices
4 Walter E. Foran Blvd.Flemington, NJ 08822
Suite 408
Suite 408


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Magazine: Angelina Jolie "Refuses to Eat"
Angelina Jolie "refuses to eat," claims Life & Style, which alleges that the actress is "surviving on an alarmingly low 600 calories a day."
But why?
Well, the magazine seems very confused on that point.
The cover declares that she's "desperate to be skinny" and "starving herself," which sure makes it sound as though the whole thing is deliberate.
Except the article itself argues that a busy schedule is leaving Jolie "run down" and "frazzled," leading her to lose weight.
Someone probably should have made sure there was some editorial consistency.
In any case, this feels like the 100th sensationalized tabloid story this year insisting that Jolie has stopped eating and is losing weight drastically.
Way back in September, Life & Style itself tried this exact same tactic, claiming Jolie had transformed into a "pile of bones."
Yet since that time, the actress kept traveling the world, taking care of her kids, giving interviews and completing humanitarian work, stubbornly failing to disintegrate as rapidly as the tabloids would like.
A source close to Jolie tells Gossip Cop this latest fiction about Jolie "starving" is also 100% false.
Check out PHOTOS of Angie & Brad at the Moneyball premiere in Japan!
Follow @GossipCop on Twitter!
Like us on Facebook!


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Leland Strother Glass
Position: WR
Height: 6-0 Weight: 185 lbs.
Born: November 5, 1950 in Sacramento, CA
High School: Sacramento
College: Oregon (school history) (Glass college stats)
Drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 8th round (190th overall) of the 1972 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 7 (8324th overall since 1950)
Other SR Links: College Football at Sports-Reference.com


text: Many businesses have unique business requirements that traditional enterprise software suites can't address. Others may see a unique opportunity where information technology can be used as a strategic asset to beat the competition. Whether you are updating legacy applications or chasing the bleeding edge of technology, Oracle software development specialists can bring the world-class software expertise found within Oracle to your company's own software development projects.


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Does this look like an item of interest or is it a glorified belly band?
Printable View
Does this look like an item of interest or is it a glorified belly band?
Might be worth a shot. I have a belly-band holster from Desantis but I don't like how I have to constantly adjust it while I'm wearing it.
very interesting concept! I would like to see a review of this holster!! hint hint poke poke!!:image035::yup:
Looks good to me but ya know to really find out - someone on this forum has to buy it and report on it......
It looks interesting but I wonder how you tuck in a shirt with the strut (which by the way is a major improvement over traditional belly bands)
I have one on order. I will report when it gets here. I am rather large and a bit over weight so it should be a different test. Film at 11!
This looks interesting but I can't see how you could tuck your dress shirt in and still have the 'strut' engage your belt. You'd also have to go through the sew the buttons on the left side of the shirt and use velcro on the placket to keep your shirt from blousing. Let's hear a review from an independant party!
At the least I applaud the thinking outside the box here. Yea there's silly ideas out there no doubt, but this is how a few good ones make it too.
I'm interested in seeing a review myself.
Looks like a good attempt to address the major concerns for all day comfort, concealibility within use of your normal wear clothing and ease of access when sitting in your automobile.
Interesting design and might be another answer for deep concealment and special conditions but I have to say I'm gonna pass. :wink:
I own one and it is very comfortable and concealment is great with normal size clothing. Great comfort and access in the sitting position
The guy describing and demo'ing the holster stated that it was convenient for a one-handed draw, but every demonstration showed the weak side arm pulling clothing out of the way in order to quickly draw. That all by itself is a deal-breaker for me. He also mentioned shoving the draw hand behind the band as a part of the process. Another deal-breaker. If I can't draw and fire in a second or less, one-handed, it won't work for me.


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All | Editorial | General Tech | Graphics Cards | Networking | Motherboards | Cases and Cooling | Processors | Chipsets | Memory | Displays | Systems | Storage | Mobile | Shows and Expos
A powerful architecture
In March of this year, NVIDIA announced the GeForce GTX Titan Z at its GPU Technology Conference. It was touted as the world's fastest graphics card with its pair of full GK110 GPUs but it came with an equally stunning price of $2999. NVIDIA claimed it would be available by the end of April for gamers and CUDA developers to purchase but it was pushed back slightly and released at the very end of May, going on sale for the promised price of $2999.
The specifications of GTX Titan Z are damned impressive - 5,760 CUDA cores, 12GB of total graphics memory, 8.1 TFLOPs of peak compute performance. But something happened between the announcement and product release that perhaps NVIDIA hadn't accounted for. AMD's Radeon R9 295X2, a dual-GPU card with full-speed Hawaii chips on-board, was released at $1499. I think it's fair to say that AMD took some chances that NVIDIA was surprised to see them take, including going the route of a self-contained water cooler and blowing past the PCI Express recommended power limits to offer a ~500 watt graphics card. The R9 295X2 was damned fast and I think it caught NVIDIA a bit off-guard.
As a result, the GeForce GTX Titan Z release was a bit quieter than most of us expected. Yes, the Titan Black card was released without sampling the gaming media but that was nearly a mirror of the GeForce GTX 780 Ti, just with a larger frame buffer and the performance of that GPU was well known. For NVIDIA to release a flagship dual-GPU graphics cards, admittedly the most expensive one I have ever seen with the GeForce brand on it, and NOT send out samples, was telling.
NVIDIA is adamant though that the primary target of the Titan Z is not just gamers but the CUDA developer that needs the most performance possible in as small of a space as possible. For that specific user, one that doesn't quite have the income to invest in a lot of Tesla hardware but wants to be able to develop and use CUDA applications with a significant amount of horsepower, the Titan Z fits the bill perfectly.
Still, the company was touting the Titan Z as "offering supercomputer class performance to enthusiast gamers" and telling gamers in launch videos that the Titan Z is the "fastest graphics card ever built" and that it was "built for gamers." So, interest peaked, we decided to review the GeForce GTX Titan Z.
The GeForce GTX TITAN Z Graphics Card
Cost and performance not withstanding, the GeForce GTX Titan Z is an absolutely stunning looking graphics card. The industrial design started with the GeForce GTX 690 (the last dual-GPU card NVIDIA released) and continued with the GTX 780 and Titan family, lives on with the Titan Z.
The all metal finish looks good and stands up to abuse, keeping that PCB straight even with the heft of the heatsink. There is only a single fan on the Titan Z, center mounted, with a large heatsink covering both GPUs on opposite sides. The GeForce logo up top illuminates, as we have seen on all similar designs, which adds a nice touch.
Continue reading our review of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan Z 12GB Graphics Card!!
A refresh for Haswell
Intel is not very good at keeping secrets recently. Rumors of a refreshed Haswell line of processors have been circulating for most of 2014. In March, it not only confirmed that release but promised an even more exciting part called Devil's Canyon. The DC parts are still quad-core Haswell processors built on Intel's 22nm process technology, but change a few specific things.
Intel spent some time on the Devil's Canyon Haswell processors to improve the packaging and thermals for overclockers and enthusiasts. The thermal interface material (TIM) that lies in between the die and the heat spreader has been updated to a next-generation polymer TIM (NGPTIM). The change should improve cooling performance of all currently shipping cooling solutions (air or liquid), but it is still a question just HOW MUCH this change will actually matter.
You can also tell from the photo comparison above that Intel has added capacitors to the back of the processor to "smooth" power delivery. This, in combination with the NGPTIM, should enable a bit more headroom for clock speeds with the Core i7-4790K.
In fact, there are two Devil's Canyon processors being launched this month. The Core i7-4790K will sell for $339, the same price as the Core i7-4770K, while the Core i5-4690K will sell for $242. The lower end option is a 3.5 GHz base clock, 3.9 GHz Turbo clock quad-core CPU without HyperThreading. While a nice step over the Core i5-4670K, it's only 100 MHz faster. Clearly the Core i7-4790K is the part everyone is going to be scrambling to buy.
Another interesting change is that both the Core i7-4790K and the Core i5-4690K enable support for both Intel's VT-d virtualization IO technology and Intel's TSX-NI transactional memory instructions. This makes them the first enthusiast-grade unlocked processors from Intel to support them!
As Intel states it, the Core i7-4790K and the Core i5-4690K have been "designed to be used in conjunction with the Z97 chipset." That being said, at least one motherboard manufacturer, ASUS, has released limited firmware updates to support the Devil's Canyon parts on Z87 products. Not all motherboards are going to be capable, and not all vendors are going to the spend the time to integrate support, so keep an eye on the support page for your specific motherboard.
The CPU itself looks no different on the top, save for the updated model numbering.
Core i7-4790K on the left, Core i7-4770K on the right
On the back you can see the added capacitors that help with stable overclocking.
The clock speed advantage that the Core i7-4790K provides over the Core i7-4770K should not be overlooked, even before overclocking is taken into consideration. A 500 MHz base clock boost is 14% higher in this case and in those specific CPU-limited tasks, you should see very high scaling.
Continue reading our review of the Intel Core i7-4790K Devil's Canyon CPU!!
Lightning Returns
With the GPU landscape mostly settled for 2014, we have the ability to really dig in and evaluate the retail models that continue to pop up from NVIDIA and AMD board partners. One of our favorite series of graphics cards over the years comes from MSI in the form of the Lightning brand. These cards tend to take the engineering levels to a point other designers simply won't do - and we love it! Obviously the target of this capability is additional overclocking headroom and stability, but what if the GPU target has issues scaling already?
That is more or less the premise of the Radeon R9 290X Lightning from MSI. AMD's Radeon R9 290X Hawaii GPU is definitely a hot and power hungry part and that caused quite a few issues at the initial release. Since then though, both AMD and its add-in card partners have worked to improve the coolers installed on these cards to improve performance reliability and decrease the LOUD NOISES produced by the stock, reference cooler.
Let's dive into the latest to hit our test bench, the MSI Radeon R9 290X Lightning.
The MSI Radeon R9 290X Lightning
MSI continues to utilize the yellow and black color scheme that many of the company's high end parts integrate and I love the combination. I know that both NVIDIA and AMD disapprove of the distinct lack of "green" and "red" in the cooler and box designs, but good on MSI for sticking to its own thing.
The box for the Lightning card is equal to the prominence of the card itself and you even get a nifty drawer for all of the included accessories.
We originally spotted the MSI R9 290X Lightning at CES in January and the design remains the same. The cooler is quite large (and damn heavy) and is cooled by a set of three fans. The yellow fan in the center is smaller and spins a bit faster, creating more noise than I would prefer. All fan speeds can be adjusted with MSI's included fan control software.
Continue reading our review of the MSI Radeon R9 290X Lightning Graphics Card!!
Kaveri Goes Mobile
The processor market is in an interesting place today. At the high end of the market Intel continues to stand pretty much unchallenged, ranging from the Ivy Bridge-E at $1000 to the $300 Haswell parts available for DIY users. The same could really be said for the mobile market - if you want a high performance part the default choice continues to rest with Intel. But AMD has some interesting options that Intel can't match when you start to enter the world of the mainstream notebook. The APU was slow to develop but it has placed AMD in a unique position, separated from the Intel processors with a more or less reversed compute focus. While Intel dominates in the performance on the x86 side of things, the GPU in AMD's latest APUs continue to lead in gaming and compute performance.
The biggest problem for AMD is that the computing software ecosystem still has not caught up with the performance that a GPU can provide. With the exception of games, the GPU in a notebook or desktop remains under utilized. Certain software vendors are making strides - see the changes in video transcoding and image manipulation - but there is still some ground AMD needs to accelerate down.
Today we are looking at the mobile version of Kaveri, AMD's latest entry into the world of APUs. This processor combines the latest AMD processor architecture with a GCN-based graphics design for a pretty advanced part. When the desktop version of this processor was released, we wrote quite a bit about the architecture and the technological advancements made into, including becoming the first processor that is fully HSA compliant. I won't be diving into the architecture details here since we covered them so completely back in January just after CES.
The mobile version of Kaveri is basically identical in architecture with some changes for better power efficiency. The flagship part will ship with 12 Compute Cores (4 Steamroller x86 cores and 8 GCN cores) and will support all the same features of GCN graphics designs including the new Mantle API.
Early in the spring we heard rumors that the AMD FX brand was going to make a comeback! Immediately enthusiasts were thinking up ways AMD could compete against the desktop Core i7 parts from Intel; could it be with 12 cores? DDR4 integration?? As it turns out...not so much.
Continue reading our preview of the AMD FX-7600P Mobile Kaveri APU!!
Introduction, Specifications and Packaging
Intel has a nasty habit of releasing disruptive technology, especially in the area of computer storage. Among the first of those releases was the X25-M, which was groundbreaking to say the least. At a time where most other SATA SSDs were just stopgap attempts to graft flash memory to a different interface, Intel's SATA SSD was really the first true performer.
With performance in the bag, Intel shifted their attention to reducing the cost of their products. The next few generations of the Intel line was coupled with leadership in die shrinks. This all came together in the form of SSD releases of increasingly reduced cost. Sure the enterprise parts retained a premium, but the consumer parts generally remained competitive.
Now Intel appears to have once again shifted their attention to performance, and we know it has been in the works for a while now. With the SATA bottleneck becoming increasingly apparent, big changes needed to me made. First, SATA, while fine for relatively high latency HDD's, was just never meant for SSD speeds. As SSD performance increased, the latencies involved with the interface overhead (translating memory-based addresses into ATA style commands) becomes more and more of a burden.
The solution is to not only transition to PCIe, but to do so using a completely new software and driver interface, called NVM Express. NVMe has been in the works for a while, and offers some incredible benefits in that it essentially brings the flash memory closer to the CPU. The protocol was engineered for the purpose of accessing flash memory as storage, and doing so as fast and with the least latency as possible. We hadn't seen any true NVMe products hit the market, until today, that is:
Behold the Intel SSD DC P3700!
Introduction, Specifications and Packaging
Back in July of last year, Micron announced production of 16nm flash memory. These were the same 128gbit dies as the previous gen parts, but 16nm means the dies are smaller, meaning more dies from a single wafer, ultimately translating to lower end user cost.
It takes a bit of time for those new flash die shrinks to trickle into mainstream products. Early yields from a given shrink tend to not have competitive endurance on initial production. As production continues, the process gets tweaked, resulting in greater and longer enduring yields.
Tablet Specifications
In many ways, the Google Nexus 7 has long been the standard of near perfection for an Android tablet. With a modest 7-inch screen, solid performance and low cost, the ASUS-built hardware has stood through one major revision as our top selection. Today though, a new contender in the field makes its way to the front of the pack in the form of the ASUS MeMO Pad 7 (ME176C). At $150, this new 7-inch tablet has almost all the hallmarks to really make an impact in the Android ecosystem. Finally.
The MeMO Pad 7 is not a new product family, though. It has existed with Mediatek processors for quite some time with essentially the same form factor. This new ME176C model makes some decisions that help it break into a new level of performance while maintaining the budget pricing required to really take on the likes of Google. By coupling the MeMO Pad brand with the Intel Bay Trail Atom processor, the two companies firmly believe they have a winner; but do they?
I have to admit that my time with the ASUS MeMO Pad 7 (ME176C) has been short; shorter than I would have liked to offer a truly definitive take on this mobile platform. I prefer to take the time to work the tablet into my daily work and home routines. Reading, browsing, email, etc. This allows me to filter though any software intricacies that might make or break a purchasing decision. Still, I think the ASUS design is going to live up to my expectations and is worth every penny of the $150 price tag.
The ASUS MeMO Pad 7 has a 1280x800 resolution IPS screen. This 7-inch device is powered by the new Intel Atom Z3745 quad-core SoC with 1GB of memory and 16GB of on-board storage. The front facing camera is of the 2MP variety while the rear facing camera is 5MP - but you will likely be as disappointed in the image quality of the photos as I was. Connectivity options include the microUSB port for charging and data transfer along with 802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz WiFi (sorry, no 5.0 GHz option here). Bluetooth 4.0 allows for low power data sync with other devices you might have and our model shipped with Android 4.4.2 already pre-installed.
The rear of the ASUS MeMO Pad is a pseudo rubber/plastic type material that is easy to grip while not leaving fingerprints behind - a solid combination. The center mounted camera lens takes decent pictures - but I can't put any more praise on it than that. It was easy to find image quality issues with photos even in full daylight. It's hard to know how disappointed to be considering the price, but the Nexus 7 has better optical hardware.
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Courtesy of ASUS
The ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 motherboard is the newest member of thier TUF (The Ultimate Force) series. The board features the Intel Z97 chipset, but keeps the aesthetics and functionality you have come to expect from TUF series boards, and more specifically the Sabertooth line. That does not mean to say that ASUS did not improve the design of the Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 board. The Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 comes with a premium MSRP of $249.99 with features to justify its premium price point.
Courtesy of ASUS
Courtesy of ASUS
Courtesy of ASUS
ASUS used the previous Sabertooth board as a template to design and improve upon the Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1. The board includes the line's signature TUF Thermal Armor board overlay and TUF Fortifier back plate. With the new revision of the Thermal Armor, ASUS integrated two optional fans into its design as well as flow ports above the CPU VRM heat sinks to adjust the airflow through the Thermal Armor. The board is designed with an 8 phase digital power system with alloy chokes redesigned to run cooler than previous generation chokes, 10k-rated Titanium capacictors, and military-grade TUF MOSFETs. Additionally, ASUS integrated on board ESD (elctro-static discharge) protection into the rear panel keyboard/mouse, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, LAN, and audio ports to protect the motherboard and integrated components from voltage fluctuations and power surges.
Continue reading our review of the ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 Motherboard Review!
The N2310 is a budget dual-bay NAS from Thecus and an interesting product beyond the low cost for this category, boasting a number of features that help set it apart.
Apart from the primary role of a network attached storage (NAS) device - you know, storage - there are some interesting things a piece of hardware like the N2310 can do. This inexpensive NAS is actually a server, too, so beyond storing up to 8TB of data it's powerful enough to replace a dedicated PC for certain tasks - the kind of tasks that some of us leave a PC running 24/7 to accomplish.
In this review we'll take a look at some of the functionality that helps set the N2310 apart, as well as the kind of real-world performance you might expect to see.
It's All About the Gigabytes
There are more reasons now than ever before for large storage options. Even though SSD's are at their lowest prices ever most of us still need to supplement a fast boot drive with some traditional spinning disks. Just think about what accumulates in an average year on your PC… photos, music, videos, program backups and images, you name it. All those GB's have to go somewhere, and there are obviously internal and external hard drives to share the load. However, regardless of the local storage option you might chose, it's not always so convenient to actually access this stuff again. Clearly, the easier it is to access your files, the better - and not just from one device. So, having centralized storage is a great idea, right?
Between computers, tablets, and of course our phones, there are generally quite a few connected devices in the average technology-inclined home. And while every device mentioned can connect to the internet - and cloud storage has become very popular - there's still something to be said for local content management. Beyond the convenience of sharing sometimes massive amounts of data easily at home, another benefit of always-on storage is backup. Ideally, every computer in the home would be backed up locally as well as the cloud, and a great way to take care of the local side of backup is with a NAS. Setting one up is very easy these days, with a growing number of affordable options from various vendors.
Thecus makes an interesting case for a budget NAS with the N2310. For a comparison, Allyn recently looked at Western Digital's My Cloud EX2 network drive, and this is a highly polished all-in-one solution is now selling for about $199 (without drives). The Thecus N2310 is less expensive at $149, and both offer two 3.5" drive bays. (The My Cloud is also offered pre-populated with drives providing up to 8TB of storage.) These "diskless" enclosures present a good opportunity to save some money up front, and whether you choose to run on two drives you happened to have around the house or office, or if you want to go out and grab a couple of Western Digital 4TB Red drives, they can accommodate your situation.
Let's take a look at the Thecus N2310.
Continue reading our review of the Thecus N2310 SOHO NAS Server!!
The AMD Argument
Earlier this week, a story was posted in a Forbes.com blog that dove into the idea of NVIDIA GameWorks and how it was doing a disservice not just on the latest Ubisoft title Watch_Dogs but on PC gamers in general. Using quotes from AMD directly, the author claims that NVIDIA is actively engaging in methods to prevent game developers from optimizing games for AMD graphics hardware. This is an incredibly bold statement and one that I hope AMD is not making lightly. Here is a quote from the story:
Gameworks represents a clear and present threat to gamers by deliberately crippling performance on AMD products (40% of the market) to widen the margin in favor of NVIDIA products. . . . Participation in the Gameworks program often precludes the developer from accepting AMD suggestions that would improve performance directly in the game code—the most desirable form of optimization.
The example cited on the Forbes story is the recently released Watch_Dogs title, which appears to show favoritism towards NVIDIA GPUs with performance of the GTX 770 ($369) coming close the performance of a Radeon R9 290X ($549).
It's evident that Watch Dogs is optimized for Nvidia hardware but it's staggering just how un-optimized it is on AMD hardware.
Watch_Dogs is the latest GameWorks title released this week.
I decided to get in touch with AMD directly to see exactly what stance the company was attempting to take with these kinds of claims. No surprise, AMD was just as forward with me as they appeared to be in the Forbes story originally.
The AMD Stance
Central to AMD's latest annoyance with the competition is the NVIDIA GameWorks program. First unveiled last October during a press event in Montreal, GameWorks combines several NVIDIA built engine functions into libraries that can be utilized and accessed by game developers to build advanced features into games. NVIDIA's website claims that GameWorks is "easy to integrate into games" while also including tutorials and tools to help quickly generate content with the software set. Included in the GameWorks suite are tools like VisualFX which offers rendering solutions like HBAO+, TXAA, Depth of Field, FaceWorks, HairWorks and more. Physics tools include the obvious like PhysX while also adding clothing, destruction, particles and more.
Continue reading our editorial on the verbal battle between AMD and NVIDIA about the GameWorks program!!
4K for $649
The growth and adoption of 4K resolution panels (most commonly 3840x2160) has really been the biggest story of the past year or so in the world of PC gaming. After a couple of TVs that ran at 3840x2160 over HDMI at 30 Hz found there way into our offices, the first real 60 Hz 4K monitor that I got some hands on time with was the ASUS PQ321Q. This monitor was definitely targeted at the profressional market with its IGZO display (near IPS quality) and somewhat high price tag of $3500. It has since dropped to $2400 or so but it remains somewhat complicated by the use of MST technology (multi-stream transport) that was required to hit 60 Hz.
Earlier this month I took a look at the Samsung U28D590D 28-in 4K panel that was capable of 60 Hz refresh rates for just $699. This display used a single-stream transport DisplayPort connection to keep setup simple but used a TN panel rather than IPS/IGZO. This meant viewing angles were not as strong (though better than most TN screens you have seen before) but...that price!
Today we have our second low cost, SST 4K monitor to evaluate, the ASUS PB287Q. We saw it at CES back in January and with a launch date of June 10th and an MSRP $649, ASUS is setting itself up for an impressive release.
So what can you expect if you purchase the ASUS PB287Q 4K monitor? In short you get an adequate screen that won't live up to IPS standards but is just good enough for the PC gamer and productivity user in all of us. You'll also get a form factor that well exceeds that of the Samsung U28D590D with fully moveable stand and VESA mounting. And a price of $649 for a 3840x2160 screen doesn't hurt either.
Read on the next pages for more details on the user experience in Windows 8.1 as well as while gaming to see if this is the right monitor for you to buy this summer!
Continue reading our review of the ASUS PB287Q 4K 60 Hz 28-in Monitor!!
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Courtesy of MSI
MSI's Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard offers a bevy of updated features and aesthetics to usher in the Intel Z97 chipset-based product line. The intial update you'll notice are the design of the CPU VRM and chipset heat sinks. The VRM heat sinks have a unique banded design, reminiscent of a dragon's claws. This was done purposefully to cement the Gaming series moniker to the board in the user's mind. The chipset heat sink contains a glowing MSI corporate logo with the Dragon Gaming series shield logo centered above it. The black and red board color scheme is done tastefully with the red coloration used to accent and highlight the heat sinks. With an MRSP of $189, the Z97 Gaming 7 board is competitively priced to take the market by storm.
Courtesy of MSI
Courtesy of MSI
MSI designed the Z97 Gaming 7 board with a 12-phase digital power delivery system combining Hi-C and Dark capacitors with super ferrite chokes for optimal power delivery with enhanced power efficiency characteristics. The board includes the following integrated components: eight SATA 3 ports; one M.2 10 Gb/s ports; a Qualcomm® Atheros Killer E2205 NIC; three PCI-Express x16 slots; four PCI-Express x1 slots; a 2-digit diagnostic LED display; on-board power, reset, CMOS clear, and OC-Genie buttons; Slow Mode boot, Multi-BIOS, and Audio Power switches; left and right channel audio gain control switches; Realtek audio solution with isolated audio PCB and Nichicon audio capacitors; dedicated per-channel headphone OP-AMPs; integrated V-Check voltage measurement points; and USB 2.0 and 3.0 port support.
Courtesy of MSI
Continue reading our review of the MSI Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard!
Introduction: The Elements of (Life)Style
If this review began by describing this mini-ITX enclosure's all metal and glass construction, its rounded corners, and the premium price tag, it might easily start to sound like it came from that company in Cupertino. Come to think of it, this case would look right at home in a lifestyle magazine photo shoot...
Living the IN WIN 901 lifestyle?
The 901 is definitely stylish, and this is in keeping with the design philosophy of a company that promotes the aesthetics of products first and foremost. So where does this design merge with functionality? This question is a fundamental part of industrial design (ID as it's known in the industry), and in our look at this striking enclosure we'll see how much substance there is to go along with all of that IN WIN style.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Computer cases are a personal thing, which is why we hesitate to make recommendations in this area. Within a certain price point there might be dozens of options for just about any need. But whether or not you're a fan of the sleek styling of a product like the 901, it's different beyond that first impression. The case starts with an aluminum quasi-unibody construction with tempered glass panels on both sides. There is a rather complex structure within this simple exterior, but it is well organized with some thoughtful (and some really smart) design choices.
IN WIN says the 901 mini-ITX case is an example of "precision craftsmanship with no compromises", and an initial inspection would leave one hard pressed to disagree. It's apparent that some serious engineering has gone into this enclosure, and there is a high level of quality befitting something with this price tag. At $179.99 this is geared toward the high-end enthusiast community, and even a smaller subset considering it is only compatible with mini-ITX motherboards. And while mini-ITX is the supported form-factor, this is definitely not a SFF case. In fact, it's almost big enough to be a micro-ATX enclosure, but this isn't a complaint. The size of the 901 allows it a unique internal layout.
Continue reading our review of the IN WIN 901 Mini-ITX Case!!
Another Boring Presentation...?
In my old age I am turning into a bit of a skeptic. It is hard to really blame a guy; we are surrounded by marketing and hype, both from inside companies and from their fans. When I first started to listen in on AMD's Core Innovation Update presentation, I was not expecting much. I figured it would be a rehash of the past year, more talk about Mullins/Beema, and some nice words about some of the upcoming Kaveri mobile products.
I was wrong.
AMD decided to give us a pretty interesting look at what they are hoping to accomplish in the next three years. It was not all that long ago that AMD was essentially considered road kill, and there was a lot of pessimism that Rory Read and Co. could turn AMD around. Now after a couple solid years of growth, a laser-like focus on product development based on the IP strengths of the company, and a pretty significant cut of the workforce, we are seeing an AMD that is vastly different from the one that Dirk Meyers was in charge of (or Hector Ruiz for that matter). Their view for the future takes a pretty significant turn from where AMD was even 8 years ago. x86 certainly has a future for AMD, but the full-scale adoption of the ARM architecture looks to be what finally differentiates this company from Intel.
Look, I'm Amphibious!
AMD is not amphibious. They are working on being ambidextrous. Their goal is not only to develop and sell x86 based processors, but also be a prime moving force in the ARM market. AMD has survived against a very large, well funded, and aggressive organization for the past 35 years. They believe their experience here can help them break into, and thrive within, the ARM marketplace. Their goals are not necessarily to be in every smartphone out there, but they are leveraging the ARM architecture to address high growth markets that have a lot of potential.
There are really two dominant architectures in the world with ARM and x86. They power the vast majority of computing devices around the world. Sure, we still have some Power and MIPS implementations, but they are dwarfed by the combined presence of x86 and ARM in modern devices. The flexibility of x86 allows it to scale from the extreme mobile up to the highest performing clusters. ARM also has the ability to scale in performance from handhelds up to the server world, but so far their introduction into servers and HPC solutions has been minimal to non-existent. This is an area that AMD hopes to change, but it will not happen overnight. A lot of infrastructure is needed to get ARM into that particular area. Ask Intel how long it took for x86 to gain a handhold in the lucrative server and workstation markets.
Click here to read the entire article on AMD's Core Technology Update!
Typical Flow Diagram for Single Block Loop
All-in-one liquid coolers seem to be all the rage with several companies introducing expandable systems for integration of a system chipset or graphics cooling block to the loop. We will be exploring the performance of two of our previously reviewed coolers to see just how well those liquid coolers can handle the addition of an additional in-line graphics card block. Both the Koolance EXT-440CU Liquid Cooling System and the Cooler Master Glacer 240L Liquid CPU Cooler were used with the ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 graphics card placed in-line for testing.
Typical Flow Diagram for Multi-Block Loop
Several key factors come into play in a liquid cooling loop that the addition of a second block effects including:
- heat dissipation capacity of the radiator
- flow rate of the system
- resistance of the system components
Basically, additional liquid cooling blocks add more heat and longer tube runs to the system. This increases the amount of heat that the system must dissipate and introduces increased flow resistance to the system because of the increase of the loop size as well as the internal makeup of the added cooling blocks. The increase resistance and loop size directly effects the system flow rate and how hard the pump must work to keep the coolant flowing through the system.
For the purpose of this testing, we did not measure the liquid flow of the system directly. Rather, we measured the temperature of both components (the CPU and GPU) which directly correlates to the flow and heat dissipation capacity of the system. The ASUS Poseidon block adds little resistance to the system, besides the added length of the liquid channel, because of its simple U-loop channel internal to the block.
For additional information about the components used for this article, please see our review of the Koolance EXT-440CU Cooling System here, the Cooler Master Glacer 240L Liquid CPU Cooler here, and the ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 graphics card here.
Continue reading our analysis of Cooling capacity in a Multi-block Liquid Cooling loop!
3840x2160 for Cheap!!
It has been just over a year ago when we first got our hands on a 4K display. At the time, we were using a 50-in Seiki 3840x2160 HDTV that ran at a 30 Hz refresh rate and was disappointing in terms of its gaming experience, but impressive in image quality and price ($1500 at the time). Of course, we had to benchmark graphics cards at 4K resolutions and the results proved what we expected - you are going to need some impressive hardware to run at 4K with acceptable frame rates.
Since that story was published, we saw progress in the world of 4K displays with the ASUS PQ321Q, a 4K monitor (not a TV) that was built to handle 60 Hz refresh rates. The problem, of course, was the requirement for a multi-stream connection that essentially pushes two distinct streams over a single DisplayPort cable to the monitor, each at 1920x2160. While in theory that wasn't a problem, we saw a lot configuration and installation headaches as we worked through the growing pains of drivers and firmware. Also, it was priced at $3200 when we first reviewed it, though that number has fallen to $2400 recently.
Today we are looking at the Samsung U28D590D, the first 4K panel we have seen that supports a 60 Hz refresh rate with a single stream (single tile) implementation. That means that not only do you get the better experiences associated with a 60 Hz refresh rate over a 30 Hz, you also gain a much more simple and compatible installation and setup. No tricky driver issues to be found here! If you have a DisplayPort 1.2-capable graphics card, it's just plug and play.
The Samsung U28D590D uses a 28-in TN panel, which is obviously of a lower quality in terms of colors and viewing angles than the IGZO screen used on the ASUS PQ321Q, but it's not as bad as you might expect based on previous TN panel implementations. We'll talk a bit more about that below. The best part of course is the price - you can find the Samsung 4K panel for as low as $690!
Continue reading our review of the Samsung U28D590D 28-in 4K 60 HZ Monitor!!
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Courtesy of GIGABYTE
Like many other manufacturers, GIGABYTE is using the launch of the Intel Z97 Express chipset to update its product line aesthetics and makeup. The Z97X-Gaming G1-WIFI-BK motherboard is part of GIGABYTE's Black Edition product line, differentiated from other GIGABYTE offers because of the enhanced validation criteria each individual Black Edition product is put through prior to leaving the assembly plant. Each board is put through a 168 hour stress test, consisting of both CPU and GPU-based Lite Coin mining, to prove its worth as part of the elite Black Edition product line. The Z97X-Gaming G1-WIFI-BK motherboard itself shares components and aesthetics with their Gaming line, featuring the line's black and red coloration and the GIGABYTE Gaming logo (the silver eye) on the Z97 chipset heat sink. With an MSRP of $349, the board is priced at a premium, more than justified by its enhanced feature set and Black Edition enhanced validation criteria.
Courtesy of GIGABYTE
GIGABYTE paired the Z97X-Gaming G1-WIFI-BK motherboard with an 8 phase digital power delivery system to ensure clean power to the CPU under all operating conditions. Additionally, the board's VRM heat sinks can be integrated into an existing water loop using the provided G 1/4" threaded ports. Note that the PLX and chipset heat pipe is physically separate from the VRM heat pipe and does not benefit by water cooling the board's VRM cooler. The Z97X-Gaming G1-WIFI-BK motherboard boasts the following integrated feature list: eight SATA 3 ports; one SATA Express 10 Gb/s ports; dual Gigabit NICs - an Intel i217V NIC and a Qualcomm® Atheros Killer E2201 NIC; an Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth PCIe adapter; four PCI-Express x16 slot; three PCI-Express x1 slots; 2-digit diagnostic LED display; on-board power, reset, and CMOS clear buttons; Dual-Bios and active BIOS switches; left and right channel audio gain control switches; Sound Blaster Core 3D audio solution; removable audio OP-AMP port; integrated voltage measurement points; hybrid VRM cooling solution; and USB 2.0 and 3.0 port support.
Courtesy of GIGABYTE
Continue reading our review of the GIGABYTE Z97X-Gaming G1-WIFI-BK motherboard!
Upgrades from Anker
Last year we started to have a large amount of mobile devices around the office including smartphones, tablets and even convertibles like the ASUS T100, all of which were charged with USB connections. While not a hassle when you are charging one or two units at time, having 6+ on our desks on any day started to become a problem for our less numerous wall outlets. Our solution last year was Anker's E150 25 watt wall charger that we did a short video overview on.
It was great but had limitations including different charging rates depending on the port you connected it to, limited output of 5 Amps total for all five ports and fixed outputs per port. Today we are taking a look at a pair of new Anker devices that implement smart ports called PowerIQ that enable the battery and wall charger to send as much power to the charging device as it requests, regardless of what physical port it is attached to.
We'll start with the updated Anker 40 watt 5-port wall charger and then move on to discuss the 3-port mobile battery charger, both of which share the PowerIQ feature.
Anker 40 watt 5-Port Wall Charger
The new Anker 5-port wall charger is actually smaller than the previous generation but offers superior specifications at all feature points. This unit can push out more than 40 watts total combined through all five USB ports, 5 volts at as much as 8 amps. All 8 amps can in fact go through a single USB charging port we are told if there was a device that would request that much - we don't have anything going above 2.3A it seems in our offices.
Any USB port can be used for any device on this new model, it doesn't matter where it plugs in. This great simplifies things from a user experience point of view as you don't have to hold the unit up to your face to read the tiny text that existed on the E150. With 8 amps spread across all five ports you should have more than enough power to charge all your devices at full speed. If you happen to have five iPads charging at the same time, that would exceed 8A and all the devices charge rates would be a bit lower.
Continue reading our review of the Anker 40 watt 5-port Wall Charger and 2nd Gen Astro3 12000 mAh Battery!!
Introduction, Specifications, and Packaging
Image credit: NCASE
The NCASE M1 Mini-ITX case has been lusted after for about a year now by those of us interested in small form-factor (SFF) computing, ever since it made the news last spring by making its initial goal on the crowd-funding site Indiegogo. The last campaign to raise funds ended in August of last year, and not leaving anything up to chance the creators of the M1 contracted none other than Lian Li to make their dream a reality. Today, we have the privilege of seeing the finished product!
Making things happen
We've all talked about changing some existing product to fix problems or just add features that we'd like to have. But most of us probably wouldn't take our idea to a public funding site to actually make it happen, and that's exactly why the story of NCASE and the M1 is unique. The creators were members on hardforums, and the original thread for the M1 is now well over 500 pages long.
The story began with conversation about improving an existing mini-ITX design, with the SilverStone SG05 the original topic. (It's fascinating to watch the design evolve on the thread!) Two forum members joined forces and started creating designs, and ended up with the blueprint for an incredibly small case that still supported large GPU's and 240mm radiators. Then, it was on to Indiegogo to see if the interest was high enough to get this case built.
Judging by the results starting with that initial round of prototype funding, there has definitely been interest in this design! Lian Li's prototype case was a success, and the initial production run funding campaign quickly raised more than double the goal again… Fast forward to spring 2014, a black M1 case was delivered safely, and I for one can't wait to get started building up a system with it!
The M1 next to a BitFenix Prodigy: It's tiny!! (Image credit NCASE)
Continue reading our review of the NCASE M1 Mini-ITX Crowdfunded Case!!
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Courtesy of ASUS
The ASUS Z97-Deluxe motherboard is the flagship board in ASUS' channel line of Intel Z97 chipset boards. ASUS revised its entire motherboard line for the Z97 chipset launch with the Z97-Deluxe featuring the updated channel board aesthetics as well as many design innovations built upon the previous board generation. With an MSRP of $399.99, ASUS priced the Z97-Deluxe at the level of other flagship motherboards with a plethora of integrated features and performance that more than justifies the price.
Courtesy of ASUS
Courtesy of ASUS
ASUS designed the Z97-Deluxe to be a serious competitor in the enthusiast space, integrating a 16+2 phase digital power system to drive the CPU and DRAM with 10k-rated Japanese capacitors used through the board. The board also features an updated heat sink and heat pipe design to optimize passive heat transfer away from the digital VRM chipset and the Z97 chipset.
Continue reading our review of the ASUS Z97-Deluxe motherboard!
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Virginia Tech Head Coach, Kevin Dresser, gives you some front headlock techniques from the feet. The first takedown that Coach Dresser shows is his famous Dresser Dump. The second takedown that he shows is a knee tap. The third takedown that Coach Dresser shows is a cross ankle pick. The final takedown that he shows is an ankle pick. See how you can use some of his famous moves to your advantage.
He explains how and why you may end up with a front headlock while standing and that it is important to be able to score from this position. He stresses keeping good position and not letting your opponent control your arm. He emphasizes when and how to execute these takedowns and the importance of getting back points from these holds.
View an additional clip from Championship Signature Move Series: The Dresser Dump. See what other Wrestling: Championship Signature Wrestling Move Series DVDs we have in our world class Wrestling DVD collection!
Ken Chertow is a US Olympian and 3x NCAA All American. Coach Chertow shows how to score from four different techniques from working the head. The first technique is a snap down go behind which is an essential move for all wrestlers to know. He shows the proper technique and emphasizes the elbow block. The second technique he shows is the snap and shuck from wrist control. The third move is a club from the open position.
Coach Chertow states the importance of always reaching with your back hand when clubbing your opponent. The last technique that Coach Chertow shows is a club to an underhook. All of these moves are great set-ups that tire your opponent out.
Check out an additional clip from the product page of "High Percentage Takedowns." Browse other great Ken Chertow DVDs and world class Wrestling DVDs!
Listen to take-down instruction from Ken Chertow, former coach at Ohio State and Penn State where his teams won the National Duals and finished in the top 5 at the NCAA Championships 75% of the time. In this video segment Coach Chertow shows how to close the gap with movement and how to secure a "baseball bat grip". From the "baseball bat grip" he shows both a high and sweep single which are both high percentage takedowns that work for wrestlers at any level of wrestling. Coach Chertow also shows a knee pull-foot sweep finish for the high single and a go behind finish for the sweep single.
Another clip from this DVD can be viewed at "High Percentage Takedowns". Check out our Wrestling DVDs and more quality instructional DVDs from Ken Chertow!
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Jahine Amid Arnold
Position: WR
Height: 6-0 Weight: 187 lbs.
Born: June 19, 1973 in Rockville, CT
High School: Homestead
College: Fresno St. (school history) (Arnold college stats)
Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 4th round (132nd overall) of the 1996 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 1 (13070th overall since 1950)
Other SR Links: College Football at Sports-Reference.com
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Building Your Own Chicken Coop: The New Trend?
Raise your breakfast in your backyard. Photo Credit: Nanimo
Raising chickens in the backyard has plenty of benefits. These birds are low maintenance and easy to care for, and they help control the bug population. Of course, the main purpose for raising chickens is for their eggs. You can cut costs at the grocery store and maybe even sell or give away your extra eggs to family and friends.
Now the next thing to do is to build a home for your flock. A well-built chicken coop will promote healthy birds and nutritional eggs. You can buy a pre-fabricated hen house, but these structures are so easy to build, why not do-it-yourself?
- Start with a simple rectangular frame. Then build the actual coop 4 or 5 feet off the ground. This will protect the birds from predators; plus all chickens sleep off the ground anyway. Another good idea to include is a run. Your chickens will be healthier if they occasionally feed on free range bugs or vegetables. The birds would also need to have their wings clipped; otherwise they could easily fly away.
- Once the framing is complete, install the floor. Use 2x4's as bracing beneath the floor and corner nail ¾-inch plywood over the top of the bracing.
- Now you're ready to put the roof on. An A-frame roof is best. It will keep rain and snow off easier than a flat or tilted roof. You should also consider these other design features as you construct the chicken coop:
- Add good ventilation
- Provide adequate perch space
- Easy access to food and water
If you have any questions about building procedures follow these step-by-step directions, its right from the chicken coop manual, "Building a Chicken Coop".
Raising Chickens a New Trend?
We'll it's hard to say. Slate.com contends that raising chickens from the backyard is a fake trend. Media critic Jack Shafer believes the many stories posted by major newspapers (Oregonian, Arizona Republic, and Chicago Tribune) on the growth of home chicken farms are full of chicken feathers. "All-feather, no-bone journalism," Shafter declares.
However, Sunset writer Elizabeth Jardina countered Slate.com with a growing number of communities that are changing local laws to accommodate for backyard chicken farms. Her article cited that the industry's demand for more chicks is way up and that's a primary reason to recognize this as a real trend in America. A hatchery in Iowa has been supplying a variety of chickens since 1917. Now it's selling chicks as fast they can hatch them.
Murray McMurray Hatchery based in Iowa City has surpassed last year's numbers by a significant amount. Jardina points out that the hatchery has sold 100,000 chicks since February of this year and is sold out through July. By those numbers alone, it's pretty easy to surmise that interest is way up in raising chickens; but it's not a new trend, maybe just a forgotten one?
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From OncoLog, November-December 2012, Vol. 57, Nos. 11-12
In Brief
Biologic Therapies for Rheumatoid Arthritis Not Associated With Increased Cancer Risk
In the systematic review, researchers used the Cochrane Collaboration database to analyze the results from 29,423 patients in 63 randomized controlled trials of rheumatoid arthritis treatments. As a group, the trials selected compared the safety of BRMs against a placebo or traditional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (e.g., methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine, leflunomide) and included only patients who had a minimum of 6 months of follow-up.
The researchers observed no statistically significant increased risk of any type of cancer in patients treated with BRMs compared with the other medications or placebos. In the trials analyzed, 211 patients developed a malignancy. No significant differences existed between patients in the control groups who developed cancer and those treated with BRM therapies.
"Patients are understandably concerned when treatments are linked to cancer risk. These results are reassuring for patients considering biologic therapies for their rheumatoid arthritis," said senior author Maria E. Suarez-Almazor, M.D., a professor in the Department of General Internal Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. "With this knowledge, clinicians can effectively demonstrate that the benefits of BRMs far outweigh the risk." The study's report was published in the September 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
For more information, talk to your physician, visit www.mdanderson.org, or call askMDAnderson at 877-632-6789.
Home/Current Issue | Previous Issues | Articles by Topic | Patient Education
©2014 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center


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Article ID: 808 - Last Modified: May 17, 2011
If I create a hypothesis manually using Create Hypothesis, how do I add excluded volumes before searching for hits?
In the Manage Hypotheses panel, which opens after you have created the hypotheses, you can select the hypothesis and click Excluded Volumes, to add volume spheres. If you are creating a hypothesis in the framework of a receptor, you can use Applications → Phase → Receptor-Based Excluded Volumes to create excluded volumes from the receptor.
Keywords: Phase, hypothesis, excluded volumes
To ask a question or get help, please submit a support ticket or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Type the words or phrases on which you would like to search, or click here to view a list of all
Knowledge Base articles


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Paul: "I don't get it. Why is this fun? Getting punched is not fun."
"Hog Wild" is the June 10 episode of "The Night Shift." Reminder: this article has spoilers, so read at your own risk. Be sure to check out the slideshow for more quotes from tonight's episode. "The Night Shift" airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. central on NBC.
It's a Drew episode! Yay! Let's focus on him and Jordan first. I love that we are seeing Jordan interact with someone other than TC. This is an ensemble cast, and so we need to spend time working on showing the relationships between everyone. Drew's comment to Krista about how difficult it is to be friends with his boss was a little too spelled out. Does that make sense? It felt like Drew was walking us through the issue. He could have just said being friends with your boss is weird. Do you want to see more of Jordan and Drew's friendship?
I love that we get to see more of Ragosa and Landry. They have such an interesting relationship that is fun to watch. I will say that it felt like Landry was being a bit too hard and rude when she tells Ragosa to stop being a dick. Her entire conversation with him seems even meaner than tough love. I expected for Ragosa to make some comment on it, but instead, he just takes her comments in stride. Did you think Landry was being a little too hard on Ragosa or did he need to hear it that way?
Let's chat cases, shall we? This episode definitely featured a lighter case load, which is great considering we had a lot of personal storylines during this episode. I actually didn't mind that there weren't twenty million cases. The character stuff is fantastic. I watch because I love the characters. Best case of the night is definitely Topher and Kylie because Topher is adorable during it. The hog is a nice, strange touch. I loved Ragosa's scenes with Bruce (the hog). Also, what person wouldn't save her own sister's life?
Krista has been crushing on Drew hardcore, and she makes her move in this episode. Good for her for having the guts, but it doesn't really go as planned. This is the first time that we get to hear Drew talk about why he hides his sexuality. We learned in the pilot that TC knows, but there isn't much of a conversation there. Plus, his conversation with Krista is the most open we have ever seen Drew. It's a new sight, and I like it. Krista and Drew's friendship has the potential to be one of my favorites.
What did you think of the episode? Leave me your thoughts in a comment below.
Suggested Links
- ATX Festival 2014: Jill Flint talks Jordan and 'The Night Shift'
- ATX Festival 2014: Brendan Fehr on his character Drew on 'The Night Shift'
- ATX Festival 2014: Brendan Fehr on his character Drew on 'The Night Shift'
- 'The Night Shift' 1x02 'Second Chances': A wounded friend
- 'Continuum' 3x10 'Revolutions Per Minute': Catching Liber8 by surprise


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Current News:
Academic Calendar
Here is the Calendar of events for OLC.
- There are no upcoming events to show.
Genealogy Resources
Accessible from Your Home and Your Local Library -Required log-in
Library Card Number & Password is your last name.
Deadwood Historical Newspapers Index (1876-1905) Indexes issues from 1876 to 1905 of these historic Deadwood papers: "Black Hills Pioneer," "Black Hills Times," and "Black Hills Champion." Created by the staff of the Deadwood Public Library.
Indian Country Today Index (1996 - June, 2003) Indexes and provides citations (only) to articles published in the "Indian Country Today" newspaper from January, 1996 thru June 2003.
HeritageQuest Of interest to those researching local history and family histories, it includes U.S. Federal Census records from 1790 thru 1930; 25,000+ family and local history books (every word searchable); the PERiodical Source Index/PERSIT (a comprehensive subject index covering more than 6,500 genealogy and local history periodicals); and Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files.
Only Access is Your Public Library (no at home access)
AncestryLibrary Of interest to those researching local history and family histories. Includes U.S. Federal Census records from 1790 thru 1930, immigration records, military records, the Social Security Death Index, the family history library and more. Includes the U.S. Indian Census, 1885-1930, for all tribes in the United States.


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Eugene Ralph Moore III
Position: RB
Height: 6-1 Weight: 208 lbs.
Born: May 12, 1947 in San Diego, CA
High School: Los Angeles
College: Occidental
Drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the 4th round (94th overall) of the 1969 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 0 (15060th overall since 1950)
Output includes all passing, rushing, and receiving plays.See all Gene Moore Super Bowl plays using the Super Bowl Play Finder


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General: Named team's Most Improved Swimmer following 2004-05 season.
2006-07 (Junior): At the Terrier Invitational (11/17) swam her season best time in the 1650 free (19:23.37) ... against Boston University (11/11), poster her top time in the 1000 free (11:41.04).
2005-06 (Sophomore): Swam mostly in the distance freestyle events ... posted her top times of 11:34.36 in the 1,000 free and 5:38.65 in the 500 free against Boston College (1/21).
2004-05 (Freshman): Earned the team's Most Improved Swimmer award following the season ... recorded her fastest time of the season in 500-yard freestyle (5:28.20) at the Nutmeg Invitational (12/5) ... finished fourth against Fordham (1/29) in the 500-yard free (5:29.54) and third in 1,000-yard free with a season-best time of 11:15.16 ... at Rhode Island Invitational (1/15), placed 11th in 500-yard free (5:30.03) ... against New Hampshire (11/20) finished sixth in the 1,000-yard free (11:20.53).
Before UMass: Swam five seasons for Hopkinton under Bryan King and three seasons for the Shawmut Aquatic Club under Kathy White ... finished third in the MIAA Division III 500-yard freestyle and eighth in the 200-yard freestyle ... named captain her senior season ... also as a senior earned team MVP and coaches award honors for Hopkinton ... in 2001-02 was given the coaches award for the Shawmut Aquatic Club.
Personal: Jackie J. Elwell ... daughter of Linda and James Elwell ... has three siblings: Kyle, Kurtis, and Jillian ... born on June 8, 1985 in Worcester, Mass. ... majoring in public health science.
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Fun fact about me: I'm a holiday nutcase.
I spend 11 months of the year putting up with everyday life just so I can enjoy the holiday season.
This year, it took us three days to decorate. There are now four Christmas trees in my house (five if you count the 2′ tree in the powder room). I've been listening to holiday music since October. Soon my freezer will be full of cookie dough just waiting to be baked off. I'm even attempting a gingerbread house.
I live for this stuff.
So why do I hate it so much sometimes? Why was my blood pressure through the roof while I was decorating? Just the thought of all that baking and cooking and shopping and wrapping makes me want to pour a (large) glass of wine. Why am I already overwhelmed when it's not even December yet?
It's the quest for perfection that gets me every single time. The need to make every holiday season the best ever. My inability to learn from past mistakes, especially when it comes to what I'm capable of accomplishing.
Twenty years from now, will I look back fondly on the time I swore like a sailor and burned my fingers repeatedly while trying to make a coffee filter wreath? How about the time I stayed up til 2 AM putting together an enormous cookie tray to take to work? Or the massive amount of pressure I put on myself to assemble gift baskets full of homemade goodies? Talk about stress.
Of course I don't look fondly on those times (and in the case of the coffee filter wreath, I'm still nursing sore fingertips). Sure, I tend to forget them – especially when it comes time to dream up some new torture to put myself through in the name of holiday magic. Funny how the memory plays tricks on us.
If there's anything I've learned lately, it's that time is sometimes shorter than we expect. Why should I carry the pressure of everyone else's happiness on my shoulders? Life's too short.
The tree doesn't have to look like it came out of a magazine. It's okay if I only bake a half dozen kinds of cookies. The gingerbread house can be crooked – if it even remains standing by the time I'm finished with it. The holiday season doesn't hang on such insignificant details.
Instead of running myself ragged, I need to take notice of the perfection in the small moments. Enjoying a Christmas movie on the couch with Rob. Having friends over for drinks, especially friends I haven't seen in a while. Sitting down to a feast with my family – one I'm fortunate enough to be able to provide.
It doesn't have to be perfect. In fact there's no such thing. It only has to come from the heart. If there was ever a time for my best to be enough, it's now.
I'm sure my fingers won't miss the hot glue burns.


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It worked for Dolly Parton, Lilly Tomlin and Jane Fonda in 9 to 5. Uma Thurman used it to great effect in Kill Bill.
The Other Woman is neither as funny or as bloody as those two flicks that highlight the fairer sex's potential for exacting revenge, but it's going to find its audience. The movie opens Friday (April 25th) in theaters.
For those looking for the smarts, the edge and the daffiness, there's Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz. For those ladies dragging an unwilling male participant, there's Kate Upton…in a string bikini. Again, for the ladies, Nickolaj Coster-Waldau co-stars.
He'll be recognizable to those who watch HBO's Game of Thrones. Anyone who hasn't bothered to "borrow" a friend's login information for that service so they can watch Game of Thrones will be lost for a brief second – until they get a look at the guy.
Technically the film has something for both sexes, but there may be some squirmin' in the seats for guys who attend. That's because the lightly cynical Woman reveals its thoughts on the way many men act with respect to the affairs of the heart.
In this case, Mark King (Coster-Waldau) represents the scummiest of the scummy. He's seeing Carly (Diaz), a successful New York City lawyer, but he's married and living in Connecticut with his wife, Kate (Mann).
Carly, not realizing this is the case, arrives at his home in suburban paradise to surprise him with some fun only to have Kate answer the door. Oooops. She flees back to NYC and a couple days later guess who surprises her at work?
Kate arrives seeking answers to questions that she already has the answers. She just needs Carly to heap on the reality. Out of that situation a rather strange friendship blossoms.
In short order, Kate draws a still stung Carly into her world and they eventually hatch a plan for revenge only to soon discover that Mark has yet another lady - Amber (Upton) – on the side. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Try three.
That's where the fun begins as the audience gets to watch as the trio work on their comedic chops. Mann, gives a manic, hilarious performance as Kate, pushing the limits to get laughs. Diaz plays things with a bit more subtlety and Upton proves serviceable.
Director Nick Cassevetes handles the comedy with a light hand. The laughs tend to flow naturally with a couple of moments being laugh-out-loud hilarious. A few more of those and he would have had an early summer must-see.
Movie: The Other Woman
Director: Nick Cassevetes
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Nickolaj Coster-Waldau
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual references and language.
Running time: 109 minutes
George's rating: 2.5-of-5 stars
Check for theaters and showtimes at Atlas Cinemas, Cleveland Cinemas, Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com


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Jun 6, 2014 8:25 AM
Like any self-assured diva, we like to imagine music playing when we enter a room. If you want that fanfare to be heard outside of your own head, you're going to need the Guitdoorbell ($150). Hang this specialized guitar right above your doorway and it will play a chord each time you open or close the door. No need to yell, "Honey, I'm home!" - the musical accompaniment will alert everyone of your arrival.
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