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Inbox: Who will the Blue Jays go after?
Beat reporter Gregor Chisholm answers fans' questions
By Gregor Chisholm / MLB.com
-- Giancarlo P., Toronto
There's certainly a strong possibility that could happen, and Toronto reportedly is one of the finalists to sign Beltran, according to an online report by CBSSports.com. That rumor does make some sense, as the signing would provide the Blue Jays with another middle-of-the-order bat that general manager Alex Anthopoulos has been looking for.
Beltran also likely wouldn't command a very long-term commitment, which makes the scenario even more intriguing for the Blue Jays. The 34-year-old is weighing offers that vary from two to three years, and that would fit into Toronto's overall plan of not being locked into contracts that will prohibit future moves.
Toronto already has several players competing for playing time in left field, and Beltran would be added into that mix. He likely would split his time between left and designated hitter, and he would provide a major upgrade for Toronto's lineup. He's apparently weighing an offer from the World Series champions St. Louis Cardinals and several other teams, which could hamper the Blue Jays' pursuit.
Beltran has had difficulty staying healthy in the past, but he did manage to appear in 142 games this past season. He hit .300 with 22 homers and 84 RBIs with a .385 on-base percentage with the Mets and Giants.
Now that the Blue Jays have lost out on Yu Darvish, what are the odds of pulling off a trade for Gio Gonzalez?
-- Jonathan L., Moncton, New Brunswick
It should come as no major surprise that the Blue Jays have been engaged in conversations with Oakland regarding Gonzalez. The talks took place at the Winter Meetings and continued in the weeks that followed, but so far, Oakland appears to have received better offers from other teams.
Oakland expressed interest in Snider this past season, and it's possible he could be included in a potential deal, but it would take much more than that to acquire the A's No. 1 starter. Washington is considered a top suitor for Gonzalez, and MLB.com's Bill Ladson reported Wednesday that the club has offered up top pitching prospect Brad Peacock in a package that could also include three other players. As of Thursday afternoon, reports began to indicate that a trade involving Gonzalez might be nearing completion.
Have a question about the Blue Jays?
E-mail your query to MLB.com Blue Jays beat reporter Gregor Chisholm for possible inclusion in a future Inbox column. Letters may be edited for brevity, length and/or content.
Toronto has the depth in its Minor League system to top almost any offer, but Gonzalez won't be the only option that Anthopoulos explores to upgrade the rotation. The Blue Jays reportedly have expressed interest in Chicago's Matt Garza and were a finalist to acquire right-hander Mat Latos from San Diego before he was dealt to Cincinnati last week. When other arms become available, the Blue Jays will be in on those as well.
With ownership's reluctance to offer more than five guaranteed years, why don't the Blue Jays offer five years and then player/team options to push up the deal?
-- Joe F., London, Ontario
This seems to be this week's most popular question. It's true that Anthopoulos and president Paul Beeston are reluctant to offer a player more than five guaranteed years on a contract. That has been a club policy for quite some time, and while the duo has left the door open for that to be broken in the future, it does not appear that Prince Fielder will be the exception to the rule.
There's also no reason to believe that Fielder would be willing to accept five years plus club options. He reportedly is seeking a 10-year contract similar to the one Albert Pujols received from the Angels at the end of the Winter Meetings. Agent Scott Boras might not be able to secure that type of long-term deal, but it is still expected he will get more than five years.
If Fielder's market completely collapses, then it's possible the Blue Jays would eventually enter the picture, but right now, that scenario seems extremely unlikely.
When are the Blue Jays going to start spending money on big-name free agents? Fans were told the money would be there when the club is ready, and now is the time.
-- Neil S., Calgary, Alberta
Anthopoulos seems to be coming under fire the past few weeks for not being aggressive in free agency, but Toronto's GM is sticking to the plan he stated at the end of the season. In year-end interviews with reporters, Anthopoulos said he would first explore all trade options, and improving through free agency would likely be a last result.
Expectations from fans seem to have increased since the Winter Meetings because of all the rumors surrounding the club. That likely will frustrate Anthopoulous, who has maintained that he'd like to avoid handing out long-term commitments and would rather deal with the cost certainty that comes with trades.
That doesn't mean the Blue Jays are willing to sacrifice the 2012 campaign. I was told by multiple sources during the Winter Meetings that the Blue Jays were making a strong push through trades with an eye on competing for a spot in the postseason as quickly as possible. At the time, those talks revolved mostly around the search for a frontline starter such as Gonzalez, and those type of discussions will continue in the coming weeks.
The offseason is barely half over, so it's too early to judge how Toronto will fare next season. Let's all wait at least another month before judging the final product on the field.
Where does Kyle Drabek fit into the rotation next year?
-- Alex M., Toronto
Drabek will have an opportunity to compete for the final spot in the rotation during Spring Training. But he already appears to be facing an uphill battle to make the club, and it will become an even more difficult challenge if Toronto adds another starter before February.
It appears Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Henderson Alvarez all have guaranteed jobs in the spring. That leaves left-hander Brett Cecil, right-hander Dustin McGowan and Drabek to battle it out for the final two spots.
Romero told MLB.com earlier this week that he has never seen Cecil as motivated as he has been this offseason. That should hardly come as a surprise since Cecil suffered through a disappointing 2011 campaign and needs a bounce-back performance to re-establish his place in the organization. Early indications are that Cecil has dropped a lot of weight through an improved training program, but the real test will come when camp officially opens.
McGowan also will be given every opportunity to make the starting five. The 29-year-old is currently out of options on his contract and has to make the 25-man roster out of Spring Training or risk being exposed to waivers. He could eventually transition to the bullpen, but the commitment from the organization is that it wants to give him a chance to make it as a starter.
That doesn't leave any room for Drabek, but it's still possible an impressive spring could change things. Otherwise, he'll likely find himself back in the Minors to start the year and would be the first pitcher called up in the event of an injury.
There has been lots of talk about the starting rotation, but I'm worried about next year's bullpen. What is Anthopoulos going to do to improve it?
-- Adam H., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Anthopoulos remains in the market for a left-handed specialist and ideally would add another right-handed arm to help bridge the gap between the starters and closer Sergio Santos. Toronto has been forced to deal with the departures of Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch and likely Shawn Camp, but it still has a lot of other arms at its disposal.
Casey Janssen, Luis Perez, Carlos Villanueva and Jesse Litsch appear to have secure jobs. That leaves just two openings on the 25-man roster, with Joel Carreno, Chad Beck and Danny Farquhar in the mix if the club is unable to add more depth.
Free-agent left-hander Darren Oliver would make some sense for the Blue Jays, but if Anthopoulos wants to add an eighth-inning setup man, it likely will have to come through trade. It's worth noting, though, Janssen established himself as one of the better relievers in the American League during the second half of 2011.


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Average Rating: 4.15
Rating Variance: 1.14
Objectivity Score: 58% (Somewhat Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicAerosmith Done With MirrorsAlice in Chains FaceliftBlack Veil Brides Set the World on FireDef Leppard HysteriaSimply one of the greatest albums of the 1980's. Does include horrid failures like Pour Some Sugar On Me that still haunts me to this day, but in all it is a great album that deserves modern day recognition. Best Track: Gods Of WarGoo Goo Dolls JedGoo Goo Dolls Goo Goo DollsGoo Goo Dolls Hold Me UpGreen Day American IdiotHalloween TerrortoryHalloween Horror FireHalloween Don't Metal With EvilMother Love Bone AppleMother Love Bone ShineMother Love Bone Mother Love BonePearl Jam TenSeduce Too Much Ain't Enough4.5 superbGoo Goo Dolls Dizzy Up The GirlGreen Day DookieHalloween Victims of the NightPearl Jam Vs.Pearl Jam Ten ReduxSaxon Crusader4.0 excellentGoo Goo Dolls Something for the Rest of UsGreen Day ¡UNO!Saxon Rock the NationsSeduce Seduce3.0 goodDef Leppard The Def Leppard E.P.Green Day 21st Century BreakdownGreen Day iDOS!Green Day 39/SmoothGreen Day WarningHalloween 4.0 - Tricks, Treats, and Other Tales from the Cry2.5 averageGreen Day KerplunkSaxon Innocence is No ExcuseThe only song I really dug was the excellent Broken Heroes, other than that the rest of the album wasn't terrible but wasn't on par with my personal favorite, 1984's Crusader1.5 very poorSaxon DestinyWow, this was bad. I used to like this but holy crap, talk about CHEEZE!!! Ride like the wind is O.K and then it all goes to hell and back again!1.0 awfulAerosmith Music from Another Dimension
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

subset: commoncrawl


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Updated Oct 21, 2007 by mrs starkers
Comment #1 Sunday, October 21, 2007 7:32 PM
Most excellent my dear friend!
I'm way behind in my comments, so please pardon the graphic!��
Much love to you and yours MsShaunna!
Comment #2 Sunday, October 21, 2007 7:53 PM
Comment #3 Sunday, October 21, 2007 9:18 PM
without your shots , amazing what you are
doing ...........
BoooooooooooooooWhoooooWhooooooooo to you tooo.
Comment #6 Monday, October 22, 2007 1:22 AM
Comment #7 Monday, October 22, 2007 4:28 AM
Comment #9 Monday, October 22, 2007 7:29 AM
thanks cindi, sorry I havent got here sooner been busy
thanks terigw, I am so happy you stopped by
Comment #10 Monday, October 22, 2007 7:10 PM
Yeah, and Tippy's wall is another beauty, isn't it! And you've done some amazing things to showcase it here.....that's gold!
Comment #11 Monday, October 22, 2007 10:07 PM
Comment #12 Tuesday, October 23, 2007 1:52 AM
Thanks RoseNell, its always nice to see you here
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Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Offyea i'm with dev on this, but i still liked the review
Album Rating: 4.2albums p good [2]
Album Rating: 4.0I personally loved this album to death, but you make some very good points that I mostly agree with, especially with Giorgio by Moroder being the song that just definitely overstays its welcome. I just love how damn catchy this album is overall, and I don't think I've ever enjoyed disco so much.
Album Rating: 3.53, Best New Music. Hmmmm
Album Rating: 4.2^ Haha, I was just thinking the same thing :P
Album Rating: 2.0I mostly dislike electronic music, but this album even managed to get my attention when a colleague of mine played it through his simple iMac speakers. So yeah, underrated album, way better than Human After All.
Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Offhow could anyone dislike electronic music?
Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Offmatt where's our 4.5 staff review???
Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Offidk man, idk
I still haven't heard this
Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound OffGood to see a contrib review on this, and a nice one at that; good comments too, fun ideas here.
Album Rating: 4.0my daughter is dancing to Get Lucky right now. so proud
vid or it didn't happen
Album Rating: 3.5too bad this isn't better than it is
Digging: 21 Savage, Offset and Metro Boomin - Without Warning
Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Offyeah
Digging: Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights
I don't know why this album is getting so much hate here. It's really awesome.
Album Rating: 3.5It was 8 bucks on Fairsharemusic so an automatic purchase for me. Much softer approach, I already listened to the album through itunes streaming and haven't decided what to think of it yet. Like parts of it, little too watered down in places for me, but also more of a refined DP style in other parts. Think it's growing on me though.
Album Rating: 4.2I just personally didn't enjoy how repetitive the formula got with this one; that's my biggest issue with the album, honestly
Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Offthis bored me to death. only song i really liked was Lose Yourself to Dance.
Album Rating: 1.0i agree with most of you, this is pretty awful
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


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The U.S. wrestling team has generated some momentum heading into the final two days of the world championships.
With Olympic champ Jordan Burroughs scheduled to compete on Saturday, the Americans picked up a couple of golds from the women's side on Thursday night.
Adeline Gray and Helen Maroulis won in the 165-pound and 121-pound divisions, respectively, in Las Vegas.
"I don't think there's a girl out there who can beat me," Gray said. "It's just about stepping on that mat and making sure I'm disciplined enough to get my job done that day."
Friday's competitors will include men's freestyle wrestler Jake Herbert, a past silver medalist at the world...


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SOMC Welcomes 50 New Junior Volunteers
The 2011 Class of Junior Volunteers for Southern Ohio Medical Center participated in orientation the week of June 5. About 50 participants, ages 15-18 representing all area schools will provide support for the services and programs of SOMC throughout the summer. The volunteers will work in departments such as Microbiology, Grounds and Gardens, Medical Records and Same Day Surgery. Some of the volunteers are scheduled to work at other SOMC campuses such as the SOMC Cancer Center, Hospice, Lucasville Rehab and physician offices. Shown at volunteer orientation is Debbie Shaw, secretary for SOMC Volunteer Services (top left) and Jenny Lavender, manager for SOMC Volunteer Services (top right) with the new junior volunteers. For more information about SOMC's Volunteer Program, call 740-356-8234.


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Two nice three-year-olds currently battle for favouritism in the markets for Saturday's Golden Rose lead-up, the Up & Coming Stakes 2014 one of five Group races at Randwick on the weekend.
There are 11 in the mix for this year's $125,000 Group 3 Synergy FX Up And Coming Stakes (1300m) that runs as Randwick Race 3 at 1:50pm on Warwick Stakes Day.
A host of $1 million Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) hopefuls for the upcoming September 13 feature will face off in the Up And Coming Stakes field including Better Land and Scissor Kick.
These two occupying the first lines of Up And Coming Stakes betting at Ladbrokes.com.au paying $4.20 and $4.80 respectively.
They are also the two shortest priced of Saturday's hopefuls in the futures Golden Rose odds at Ladbrokes both installed as $10 chances in markets led by Gai Waterhouse's JJ Atkins winner Almalad ($7).
Drawn in barrier seven for Saturday with Glyn Schofield to ride, narrow Up And Coming Stakes favourite Better Land lines up for his third career start.
On debut the Peter Moody-trained Shamardal colt enjoyed a win in the wet at Sale before coming back on August 9 at Randwick for a second in the Listed The Rosebud (1200m) run on a Good (3).
He gets the chance to turn the tables on The Rosebud winner Scissor Kick then on Saturday with the wet track to work in his favour.
Scissor Kick has barrier five to jump from with Tye Angland booked for the ride on the Paul Messara-trained young gun, the Redoute's Choice colt shooting for his third straight win.
He won at Canterbury first-up over 1250m before his The Rosebud success but failed on debut on a Slow (7) track to run second last behind Scratch Me Lucky back in March and so must handle the wet conditions to make it three on the trot here.
In a fairly open market there are then four other single figure Up And Coming Stakes chances with:
- #5 Meursault ($6) – John O'Shea-trained Godolphin entry, this Medaglia D'Oro colt has had just the one start when he won over 1300m at Hawkesbury on May 3, first-up again here then and has trialled well at Rosehill on Heavy going before so can handle a wet track on the weekend and distance looks ideal
- #4 Liberation ($8.50) – Gai Waterhouse's Fastnet Rock colt drawn well in barrier three, won two back over 1200m at Rosehill before stepping up to the 1300m on August 2 when runner-up behind Press Report, only a nose off the winner that day and will take improvement from the run, need to handle the soft track though which he didn't do back in March on a Slow (7) at Canterbury when fifth to Scratch Me Lucky
- #1 Valentia ($9) – Waterhouse's other hopeful, fellow son of Fastnet Rock carries the 59kg top weight, that is 2.5kg more than the weight he had when 12th in the Golden Slipper last time out, won two on the trot before that however including the Group 2 Skyline Stakes at Randwick, had two good trials also at Randwick leading up to this return including a win over Bennetta at the start of the month
- #2 Kumaon ($9) – Second heaviest weighted hope with 58.5kg, O'Shea's second acceptor is a James McDonald mount jumping from the inside alley, the Lonhro colt runner-up in the Group 2 Pago Pago on a Heavy (9) behind Time for War in late March before a decent sixth to Peggy Jean in the Group 1 ATC Sires' Produce (1400m), last start was over the Randwick mile when third to Go Indy Go, first-up record is good so far and have form on rain-affected ground
Outside of these at more generous odds are then the likes of Messara's last start Kembla Grange winner on debut Panzer Division ($11), the Chris Waller-trained Group 1 performer Hero I Am ($12) coming off a fifth in The Rosebud and Peter & Paul Snowden's Northern Meteor colt Shooting To Win ($13) who has won both his starts so far.
Check out the full Up And Coming Stakes 2014 odds below, prices open online now at Ladbrokes.com.au where first time depositors get their investment matched 100% up to $250 as a bonus bet that can be split four ways!


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Today I would like to present a project that I created a few months ago. This is the online store layout is presented furniture designed by top Italian furniture designers. The idea was to create a simple graphic that will not overwhelm presented in store products.
// Main Page
// Product Listing
// Product Page
// Basket
// Product Configuration
// Login
// Filters and product on listing
// Product Page (Details)
// Product Configuration (Details)
// Footer (Details)
Thank You!


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Shares of E-House (China) Holdings Limited jumped 11.38% and closed at $11.16 in yesterday's regular trading session on the NYSE following the disclosure of its robust third-quarter 2013 results.
This Chinese real estate company – E-House – reported net income attributable to its shareholders of 14 cents per ADS, well ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 8 cents. The company had experienced a net loss attributable to its shareholders of 18 cents per ADS in the comparable prior-year period.
E-House's solid performance is backed by substantial revenue growth that climbed 43% year over year to $195.7 million in the quarter under review and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $173 million.
An 85% year-over-year surge in revenues in its real estate online services, chiefly driven by growth in e-commerce revenues, contributed to this upside. Also, revenues from real estate information and consulting services escalated 47% year over year. These factors collectively helped compensate for slower growth in revenues from primary real estate agency services (it moved up 10% year-over-year). The company exited the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $216 million.
Further, E-House has raised its already hiked fiscal 2013 total revenue guidance. It now guides revenue of approximately $700, up from $630 million expected earlier. This also reflects a 51% elevation from $462.4 million in 2012.
Notably, E-House has been making concerted efforts for some time to develop its real estate e-commerce business and is now enjoying the benefits. The company, which had initiated the concept of real estate e-commerce in 2011, launched its e-commerce 3.0 open transaction platform in June this year.
E-House has now opted for strategic cooperation with CITIC Bank Corporation Limited for the e-commerce 4.0 platform, for combining the real estate e-commerce with financial services featuring the "Leju Loan" through CITIC Bank. This move is aimed at enhancing the purchasing power of homebuyers and drive sales conversion rates.
E-House currently carries a Zacks Rank #1(Strong Buy). One can also look at other stocks in the same industry like FirstService Corporation , Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. (KW - Free Report) and HFF, Inc. (HF - Free Report) . While FirstService and Kennedy-Wilson carry a Zacks Rank #1, HFF has a Zacks Rank #2(Buy).
In-Depth Zacks Research for the Tickers Above
Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:
Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc. (KW) - free report >>


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The Chosen
Tues/Wed at 7pm; Thurs-Sat at 8pm, Sun at 5pm, Wed/Fri matinees at 2pm (excluding 7/19). Thu, Jul 18 - Sat, Aug 3, 2013
Venue: Boyd-Quinson Mainstage
30 Union Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201Contact:
0 people saved this
Adapted by Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok From the novel by Chaim Potok Directed by Aaron PosnerA beautifully crafted play from the director/adapter of BSC's powerful, acclaimed 2011 production of My Name Is Asher Lev.The Chosen tells the much-beloved story of two boys, two fathers, and two very different Jewish communities in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Set against the backdrop of World War II, Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok's award-winning adaptation introduces us to Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders, both passionate, intelligent young boys on opposite sides of a baseball game. When the game takes a turn, and Reuven is injured by Danny, a unique friendship is born. As the boys grow up, they learn important lessons about their fathers, their community and themselves.Tickets start at $20; Low Priced Previews July 18-20 are $15 & $20.
Trustees Literary Trail
In addition to the miles of beautiful wooded trails, open beaches, and green pastures found...
Search All Listings Here.


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Classic Moogerfooger Ring Modulator
Product Code 66539
Retail Price
Sale Price!
Buy Today and Save $60.00 (17% from Retail)
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The MF-102 Ring Modulator is a direct descendant of the original Moog modular synthesizers. It contains three complete modular functions: a ring modulator, a voltage-controlled carrier oscillator, and voltage-contolled dual-waveform LFO. It can be used to process any instrument-level to line-level signal.
A ring modulator produces sum and difference frequencies between the audio input and a carrier oscillator. The ring modulator's LFO can be used to modulate the carrier frequency. The moogerfooger ring modulator can create effects ranging from subtle tremolo to harmonically rich distortion, gong-like sounds, sweeps, swoops, and divebombs. It can be subtle, or outlandish in it's use - you decide!
The moogerfooger ring modulator's control parameters are signal mix, carrier frequency, LFO rate, and LFO amount. All of the ring modulator's parameters can be controlled by the great feeling knobs that beg to be tweaked as well as with expression pedals or external control voltages. Panel switches select LFO waveform and carrier frequency range. 1/4" jacks are provided for audio input and output, pedal/control inputs, carrier input and carrier output. The heavy-duty yet smooth acting bypass switch allows tabletop or floor use.
Imagine that the ring modulator's carrier oscillator is producing a 500 Hz sine wave, and your input signal is a 100 Hz sine wave. The ring modulator's output will be a complex waveform. You will hear two pitches: 400 Hz and 600 Hz. You will not hear your original input or the carrier oscillator.
Power supply is included: order 110v for use in US or Canada or 220v for use in Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia.
0 0
- FREQUENCY rotary control, which varies the carrier frequency over a six-octave range.
- RATE rotary control, which varies the LFO's frequency from 0.1 Hz to 25 Hz.
- LFO AMOUNT rotary control, which adjusts the amount that the LFO output sweeps the carrier oscillator.
- MIX rotary control, which crossfades continuously from unmodulated to modulated audio.
- DRIVE rotary control, which adjusts the gain of the audio input.
- SQUARE-SINE rocker switch, which chooses the LFO waveform.
- LO-HI rocker switch, which chooses between the low frequency carrier range (2 Hz to 130 Hz) and the high frequency carrier range (60 Hz to 4,000 Hz).
- LEVEL, a three-color LED that is used to set the DRIVE control.
- LFO, a LED that indicates the LFO rate.
- BYPASS, a two-color LED that tells whether the ring modulator is on or bypassed.
- ON/BYPASS, a rugged, smooth-acting 'stomp switch.'
Jack Panel Features
- AUDIO IN 1/4" phone jack - accepts any instrument-level or line-level audio signal from -16 dBm to +4 dbm.
- AUDIO OUT 1/4" phone jack - -4 dBm nominal output level.
- FREQUENCY, RATE, LFO AMOUNT, MIX, all of which are stereo 1/4" jacks that accept moogerfooger EP1 (or equivalent) expression pedals, or control voltages from two-circuit or three-circuit 1/4" jacks.
- AUX AUDIO IN - provides a means of applying an external signal to the ring modulator, in place of the carrier oscillator.
- LFO OUT jack - delivers the LFO voltage for use by other voltage-controlled devices.
- CARRIER OUT jack - delivers the carrier signal for use by other devices.
- +9V POWER INPUT jack - accepts standard 9 volt power adaptors (power adaptor included).
General Specifications
- CASE: Black panel with hardwood sides - classic analog appearance.
- DIMENSIONS: 9" x 6" x 2-1/2"
- NET WEIGHT: 2 lb
- SHIPPING WEIGHT: 4 lb, including power adaptor and instruction manual.
- POWER REQUIREMENTS: 105-125 volt, 5W. 220 volt power adaptor available on special order.
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Bogart-based burton + BURTON, formerly Flowers Inc. Balloons, will host its annual Ballooniversity Wednesday to Saturday at the Classic Center.
The conference is designed for professionals in the balloon and balloon decor industry and offers participants educational seminars and hands-on training featuring balloon artists and instructors from around the world. Classes range from balloon basics to advanced balloon sculptures, floral design, and visual merchandising. The conference also allows burton + BURTON to introduce new products and designs to its customers. Ballooniversity is one of the Classic Center's largest events.
The conference culminates with a themed gala dinner and show, and this year's grand finale is dubbed "Hooray for Hollywood." Country musician Jeff Bates will headline the entertainment.
More information can be found at www.ballooniversity.com.
© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


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I guess all that waiting for a new Bond movie really got to people, because when they were finally given the chance to see a new Bond flick, moviegoers jumped in feet-first. After collecting an impressive run overseas in the last two weeks, the latest 007 film, "Skyfall" continued its winning streak by opening big in the U.S. with nearly $88 million in its debut.
How big was that? It was bigger than the last Bond movie, the much derided "Quantum of Solace" by a solid $20 million, and it more than doubled the $40 million of Daniel Craig's first outing as the British superspy, "Casino Royale".
All of this is to say, "Skyfall" is setting itself up as the biggest Bond movie in the character's 50 year history. Not bad for an old fogey in a suit.
In less than a month of release, "Skyfall" has already totaled more than $428 million worldwide. Adding in U.S. box office in its first weekend, "Skyfall" has now surpassed $500 million. In case you were wondering — yes, that is pretty damn impressive.
It's curious, though, that it took "Skyfall" to make the Bond brand the biggest it's ever been, especially considering that this latest outing has divided so many fans. I was never that big of a Bond fan, but I kinda liked it myself, though most fans thought it wasn't quite "Bond" enough for them. Director Sam Mendes definitely had a lot of influence on that, I would imagine, though it's going to be pretty difficult for anyone else to step in the Bond loafers if star Daniel Craig decides to call it quits after this one.
What do you think of "Skyfall's" box office success? Surprised? Elated?… Disappointed?
Via : Box Office Mojo


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Republicans joined with Democrats late Thursday in a rare expression of angst at Sen. Ted Cruz for delaying a vote on legislation to keep the government funded past Monday.
The top Democrat in the Senate – Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. – attempted to move up the timeline for a series of votes that would strip provisions to defund Obamacare from a House-passed bill to finance government operations after Sept. 30. But Cruz and one ally, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, objected with the purpose of delaying the vote until Friday.
At the end, Reid relented; he said votes would begin at 12:30 on Friday.
And after days of behind-the-scenes grumbling, Republican frustration toward their conservative colleagues went public. Republican Sen. Bob Corker, Tenn., joined with Democrats to criticize the delay as needless. Corker said GOP leaders in the House had told him "they would like to get the piece of legislation over there from the Senate as quickly as possible so they can respond."
Corker went so far as to suggest that Cruz – who received bountiful media coverage for his 21-hour speech against Obamacare – was only delaying the vote because he had already advised outside conservative groups that the key vote would come Friday, and he wished to put on a "show" for them.
"It's not the Republican side that's asking to stall -- we only have two Republican senators who are asking to push this off," Corker said.
The Tennessee senator's comments laid bare the internal GOP divisions over funding the government, and some Republicans' frustration toward the quixotic effort spearheaded by Cruz to use the shutdown deadline as a leverage point to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. The internal division over Obamacare has significantly slowed work toward a solution to fund the government – Cruz has characterized any Republican's vote to dispatch the legislation back to the House as tantamount to supporting Obamacare, which would cause a number of GOP senators to fall out of favor with their constituents.
The problem for Congress is that time is running out for them to move forward with the process to fund the government with only days to go before a shutdown. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, suggested on Thursday that the GOP in that chamber would not accept the Senate version of the stopgap funding measure, and would try to append new measures to it before returning the bill to the Senate.
Reacting to Cruz and Lee's objections to hold votes Thursday evening, Reid could hardly contain his incredulity.
"Is this some kind of subterfuge to close the government?" he asked mockingly.
The Senate needs to hold a few votes before sending the legislation to fund the government back to the House. They need to vote to end debate, attach an amendment to do away with the provision to defund Obamacare, and vote to finally pass it.
"Everybody in this body knows how the votes are going to go," Reid pleaded.


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KELOWNA – Pickleballers from across Canada will be in Kelowna this weekend for the National Championships.
Pickleball is a relatively new racquet sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and wiffle ball. The Pickleball Canada National Championships will take place at Parkinson Recreation Centre July 8, July 9 and July 10.
Hundreds of players from across the country will compete in men's and women's singles and doubles with medals handed out to the top three players and teams.
Registration begins at 7 a.m. and opening ceremonies at 7:45 a.m.
For details and schedule of matches visit the Pickleball Canada website.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw or call 250-718-0428 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.


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Mineola, NY - LIPA Chairman Resigns In Wake Of Sandy Criticism
Mineola, NY - Long Island Power Authority chairman Howard Steinberg has resigned from the board of directors.
His exit Friday is the latest in a string of departures following criticism of LIPA's (LY'-puhz) performance in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
Newsday (http://bit.ly/VjVcFN ) reports that Steinberg resigned in a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He said his work as a private-sector attorney precludes him from devoting the time to address challenges facing LIPA.
Steinberg's resignation follows those of LIPA chief operating officer Michael Hervey, trustee X. Christofer Damianos and vice president of customer service Bruce Germano.
Steinberg was appointed by Gov. George Pataki in 1999.
The utility is being investigated for its performance after Sandy. More than a million customers lost power, and some remained in the dark for more than two weeks.
More of today's headlines"Washington - The White House said on Friday a new Israeli settlement expansion plan was "counterproductive" and could make it harder to bring Israel and the Palestinians..." Washington - White House Not OK With Israel's New West Bank Settlement Construction "North Carolina - Imprisoned Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard was rushed to a North Carolina hospital on Friday after having collapsed in his jail cell. Pollard's wife..." North Carolina - Pollard Collapses in Prison Cell, Rushed to Hospital
Read Comments (3) — Post Yours »
Dec 02, 2012 at 09:34 AM
There are still people without power. Clear instructions were absent. In the Internet age that is outrageous. Customers should get a rebate for each day of outages with the rate doubling daily! They only understand money.
Dec 02, 2012 at 12:51 PM
Let me understand this. This man was chairman and on the board and was a full time lawyer?
How much did he get paid?
Why do we put up with this??
Dec 02, 2012 at 11:02 PM
Longwave, members of boards of corporations usually devote very little time to the corporation. Boards don't run companies. They hire managers to do that.


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Quirky Mocubo - One Stop Chop Chopping Board
- Bamboo chopping board with three pull-out integrated prep drawers
- Surface has been beautifully finished with a mineral oil treatment
- Surface less prone to knife markings and moisture absorption over time
- Features non-slip rubber feet to keep board steady as you work
- Dimensions: Width: 16"; Height: 11"'; Depth 1.75"
More product info
Stuck for a wedding present or even a house warming present? Perhaps you know someone who loves to cook or a budding chef who is keen to appoint their kitchen with the latest and quirkiest of of kitchen utensils and accessories.
The Mocubo is a bamboo cutting board with integrated slide-out strainer and food prep containers. You'll be able to slice, dice, and organize like a master chef, without breaking a sweat. The bamboo surface has been beautifully finished with a mineral oil treatment which makes it look good in the kitchen. Plus, the strength and durability of bamboo makes it the ideal material for cutting board surfaces since it is less prone to knife markings and moisture absorption over time.
As you slice and dice, the three prep drawers pull out so you can slide the food in. These containers can be removed from beneath the tray and placed in the fridge or removed for washing. The board also has rubber feet to keep the board steady as you work.
Holding a dinner party? Go from chopping board to cheese board. Once the board has been used in the kitchen for food preparation, bring it to the table and display and serve the cheese and biscuits at the end of the meal. Not just great kitchen accessory, a great piece of tableware too.
Dimensions: 16" width x 11" height x 1.75" depth


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Michigan-based Total Logistic Control purchased Kellogg's 225,000-square-foot Athens Packaging facility off Georgia Highway 211 on Feb. 12. Barrow County officials hope the firm will spare the jobs of 244 people working there.
Jeff Blake/Staff
STATHAM - Officials hope a Michigan-based company's purchase of a Kellogg packaging facility in Barrow County protects the Statham operation's 200-plus employees.
But on Wednesday, Total Logistic Control (TLC) Vice President Paul Lomas couldn't promise his company's Feb. 12 purchase of the 225,000-square-foot Athens Packaging facility off Georgia Highway 211 would spare the jobs of the 244 people working there.
''People who are employees will be looked at (for possible re-hiring),'' Lomas said.
Lomas said TLC, which provides packaging for a number of mostly food-based companies, will use the facility as-is, with hopes to expand its production in the future. Lomas did not have specific numbers or a timetable for this increase in production Wednesday.
Lomas said that while the facility's current employees' experience will be a factor in their possible re-hiring, it would not be an ''overriding'' factor.
Kellogg Co. spokesman Tim Knowlton said the Battle Creek, Mich.-based cereal and snack maker acquired the Statham facility as a part of its 2001 purchase of cookie and cracker manufacturer Keebler.
On Tuesday, the state Department of Labor released a report saying that Kellogg officials planned a significant layoff of the Statham facility's 244 employees on April 25.
But Sam Hall, director of communications for the labor department, said that the company had submitted that information before Total Logistic Control's agreement to purchase the facility.
''Hopefully, those layoffs will never materialize,'' Hall said.
Lomas said that TLC, based in Zeeland, Mich., will assume operations of the Statham facility on April 26.
Lomas said that while the new operation could draw key management from other TLC facilities, TLC would recruit most of the operation's work force locally.
The number of facility employees needed for TLC's new operation would be dependent on the business the new facility could generate and could not yet be determined, Lomas said Wednesday.
The facility was the only packaging-type facility owned by the company. Its sale will allow Kellogg to concentrate on its core operation of food manufacturing, Knowlton said.
Currently Kellogg operates food manufacturing facilities in Rome, Columbus, Augusta and Athens, he said.
Barrow County Chamber of Commerce Director Carolyn Wright said that the Athens Packaging facility is one of Barrow County's largest employers, along with the county school system, Harrison Poultry, Yokohama Tire, Chico's and Chateau Elan.
Currently, TLC does not operate any facilities in Georgia. TLC provides services for companies like Sara Lee, General Mills and ConAgra Foods. The TLC operation will also package Kellogg products, Lomas said.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, February 19, 2004.
© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


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One of the most devious deceits in history had to be when the faltering emperor of Rome, Nero set the Western side of the city ablaze in order to divert attention from his ineptness.
Apart from this perhaps being one of the greatest examples of overkill in all of history, it was definitely one of the most callous and cruel misdirections ever. Because diverting attention from himself wasn't enough to take the focus off him—he also had to fan the flames of rumor using the single most powerful combustant ever devised for this purpose—gossip.
So, as history tells it, Nero not only sent hundreds out to torch Rome physically—he also sent hundreds out to torch the reputation of a new and feared group known as Christians. Knowing that most pagans already feared this fast growing movement of God and saw it as a threat to their pagan worship of Jupiter and Venus, Dionysus and other false gods adopted from Greek mythology—they were already ripe for a strategically placed whisper here and there. Most had no trouble pinning the blame on the followers of Jesus even though there wasn't a shred of evidence to indicate they had anything to do with the fire that burned down half of Rome. Quite to the contrary—everything pointed to Nero himself. However, not inclined to let something as inconvenient as the facts get in the way, the most horrifying era of persecution the church has ever seen was underway and would last for nearly 300 years until the emperor, Constantine put an end to it.
By this time it had become common knowledge that Nero was responsible for the tragic fire that burned the great city and killed thousands, but persecuting Christians had blossomed into sort of a national past time by then, so they kept right on doing it.
Hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions—martyred because of one evil man who could not face up to his own ineptness and brutality as a leader. But even more astonishing is the seemingly insignificant weapon used to get it all started—the tongue.
There used to be an old Christian song called, "Pass it On." I actually loved it. In it there is one line that goes like this,
'It only takes a spark,
to get a fire going'
The Bible speaks to this as well,
James 3:5 says, "the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark."
The tongue can be used for good or evil—for building up or tearing down. To build small groups or worldwide ministries—to destroy a small group or bring down a worldwide ministry—to spread the word and plant a new and vibrant church or to spread lies and split the Bride of Christ apart.
Like to talk?
Make sure you're not burning down what the Lord has built up in the process.


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Understanding HSDPA's Implementation Challenges
4 comments
Since its introduction, third-generation (3G) cellular technology has been heralded for its ability to deliver more voice channels and higher-bandwidth pipes. But, in reality, operators have started to realize that, while 3G allows for high-quality voice and media streaming services, it is a poor fit for-high speed data.
High-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) technology promises to bridge the gap between 3G and the Internet, providing an overlay for the existing protocol stack that makes the delivery of high-speed data access to many users in a cell a reality. Instead of limiting high-speed data access to fewer than five users in a cell, HSDPA can deliver 384-kbit/s data to many more, maybe 30, users.
Realizing HSDPA will provide them with cost-effective high-speed data, operators are pushing for deployments. Testing of HSDPA by Cingular in their 3G trial network in Atlanta got underway for launch this year; NTT DoCoMo anticipates commercial deployment of HSDPA in its network this year and others expect to start rollouts by 2006. Some carriers, such as 02 in Europe and SK Telecom and KTF in Korea will leap from earlier releases and go directly to HSDPA for launch.
Not Simple
But HSPDA is not a simple software upgrade to 3G systems. In many respects, the change from Release 99 to HSDPA is as dramatic as that from voice-only GSM to EDGE: changing both modulation and the way packets are processed.
There are parts of the HSDPA standard that are relatively simple to implement using existing hardware. But, taken as a whole, HSDPA will simply break many deployed architectures and will require new hardware. Most base stations (also known as Node Bs) will need significant upgrades to cope with the increased data throughput and the consequences of moving to a more complex protocol.
HSDPA increases the downlink data rate within a cell to a theoretical maximum of 14 Mbit/s, with 2 Mbit/s on the uplink. However, it is not about delivering Ethernet bandwidth to one fortunate user. What is important is the ability to deliver, reliably, many sessions of high-speed, bursty data to a large number of users within that cell. The changes that HSDPA enables include better quality and more reliable, more robust data services. In other words, while realistic data rates may only be a few megabit per second, the actual quality and number of users achieved will improve significantly.
Burst Problems
IP is a bursty protocol that demands changes to the wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) protocol stack to support IP efficiently. Bursty protocols provide a poor fit with the dedicated channel (DCH) that is used in existing W-CDMA networks. Although the DCH can support many different types of traffic, the utilization of the channel for bursty traffic is typically quite low. This is because the process of channel reconfiguration that can be used to tune the DCH for a change in traffic mix traffic is a slow process, taking on the order of 500 ms.
These issues have been addressed in Release 5 of the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, which radically changes the network to make it far better suited to data traffic. Support for IPv6 has been incorporated into the core network together with a key enhancement to provide high-bandwidth support for bursty IP traffic for the mobile user.
Instead of sending data using individual DCHs, HSDPA extends the downlink shared channel (DSCH), allowing packets destined for many users to be shared on one, higher-bandwidth channel called the high-speed DSCH (HS-DSCH). As with wired networks such as Ethernet, this allows for the more efficient utilization of the available bandwidth. On top of that, a faster channel configuration process allows the basestation to control the channel more effectively, further improving efficiency Figure 1.
Too Many Options
There are many options available to basestation designers and to operators when dealing with HSDPA. This complicates the provision of HSDPA as the network is upgraded but intelligent choices over basestation implementation can result in higher throughput for high-revenue services, improving operators' margins.
The maximum bandwidth that can be achieved with HSDPA depends greatly on cell size. To limit the power needed to send each bit of information, the maximum achievable bit rate tends to fall away for users at the edge of the cell. For a large cell with a diverse range of users, the peak aggregate data rate will be in the range of 1 to 1.5 Mbit/s. This can increase to 4 to 6 Mbit/s and beyond as the cell size decreases to the micro cell level and beyond. In principle, a picocell could see data rates of 8 Mbit/s or more.
To achieve higher raw data rates, HSDPA uses, at the PHY layer, higher-level modulation schemes such as 16-point quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM), together with an adaptive coding scheme based on turbo codes. An important point to note is that the modulation scheme is adaptive and is changed on a per-user basis. The spreading factor used for the HS-DSCH remains ïxed at 16, but the coding rate can vary, on a per-user basis, between 1/4 and 3/4. In theory, the protocol allows an uncoded link of 4/4 but that is only useful for lab tests to achieve the theoretical maximum of 14 Mbit/s using 16QAM modulation.
It is notable, however, that many of the results announced so far fall far short of what should be expected from a mature, robust system. Certainly in small cells (the 3G equivalent of hotspots) very high data rates should be realistically attained.
Under poor reception conditions, the modulation can vary as well, possibly reverting to QPSK from the higher-order modulation of 16QAM. Link adaptation ensures the highest possible data rate is achieved both for users with good signal quality, who are typically close to the base station, and for more distant users at the cell edge, who may receive data with a lower coding rate. The link adaptation is performed on each transmission timing interval (TTI), with the user equipment sending an estimate of the channel quality to the Node B that is then used to select the modulation and coding rate for that user on the next transmission.
Moving MAC Control
The more important change that HSDPA makes is to move control of the medium access control (MAC) from the radio network controller (RNC) into the basestation. Crucially, this move enables the use of fast-scheduling algorithms where under constructive fading conditions users are served data based on the channel-quality estimates. This compares to risking high error rates that would be experienced by users in poor reception conditions using a conventional user-priority or round-robin scheme and where the scheduler uses average channel conditions to select the modulation and coding scheme used. As a result, fast scheduling works hand-in-hand with the algorithms used to select optimum modulation and coding schemes.
This greatly increases the responsiveness of the basestation. The 16QAM coding change increases the peak speed, in the same way that a high-powered engine can boost the performance of a car; but it is the MAC change that makes HSDPA deliver a real-world speed increase, much like replacing a learner driver with a Formula One racing driver.
Using the race car example, performance would be better even with the same engine, and here the performance will be noticeably better even if the 16QAM modulation cannot be used. It demonstrates how a shift in the 3G architecture from a traditional "dumb pipe with intelligent center" towards a more datacom like "smart edge" can yield better results.
In all, the datarate has increased seven-fold, the response time has reduced by 80% and the algorithms, scheduling and complexity have increased dramatically. These changes will be hard to achieve in a hardware design that was not architected to support them.
Indeed, some of the early demonstrations only implemented a few of these features, or only achieved limited data rates. While 16QAM modulation is the most obvious change, and easy to demonstrate at a trade fair, the capabilities of the MAC-hs and adaptive control loops are more important but less visible. Developing, testing and "hardening" these algorithms for field deployment is the major challenge for manufactuers.
Increasing Complexity
Obviously, the improved performance and processor power provided by HSDPA implies an increase in complexity. There are many high-speed feedback loops needed to implement HSDPA efficiently and provide users with the best data rates possible.
For example, the TTI used for modulation and coding selection for individual frames in the HS-DSCH is just 2 ms compared with a typical time of 10 ms (and up to 80 ms) for the TTI used for power control in the existing Release 99 shared channel. Further, the algorithms needed to make good use of the possibilities provided by fast scheduling will be more complex than those implemented by existing radio network controller (RNC) software, but those decisions have to be made within a millisecond.
When link errors occur, data packets can be retransmitted quickly at the request of the mobile terminal. In existing W-CDMA networks, these requests are processed by the RNC. As with fast scheduling, better responsiveness is provided by HSDPA by processing the request in the base station.
The hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol developed for HSDPA allows efficient retransmission of dropped or corrupted packets. The protocol has been designed to allow the average delivered bandwidth of HSDPA to be higher than would be possible if more extensive forward error correction were to be used. However, it puts significant demands on the basestation as support for HARQ calls for low latency. The latency demanded for efficient HARQ support calls for retransmissions to be processed within 2 to 7 ms. But the feedback loop that allows HARQ to be implemented is not one that exists in Release 99 basestations, as that function sits in the RNC for existing DCH and DSCH transmissions. So, not only must things work faster, many functions are new, adding to the capabilities and intelligence of the Node B.
In addition to fast retransmissions, a number of techniques are used to provide the mobile terminal with a better chance of receiving the data correctly. For users with a high coding rate, simple chase combining may be used, which simply repeats the packet. For users with a low coding rate, incremental redundancy can be used. In this scheme, parity bits are sent to allow the mobile terminal to combine the information from the first transmission with subsequent retransmissions.
The consequence of these design decisions is that the scheduler and re-transmission manager require large buffers to hold all the packets that might need to be resent. This function was not present in earlier functions, and the hardware to support it needs to have been designed in readiness for it for existing implementations to support HSDPA at sufficiently high data rates.
Factors impacting Scheduling
A number of factors will control how well scheduling will work in the field. It is simple to devise a scheduling algorithm that will work well for a few users in the laboratory with artificially generated constructive fading conditions. It is much harder to develop one that works robustly in the field, for many users all with different, complicated and changing situations. There are many circumstances that will affect real-world systems. Not least of those are the evolving capabilities of the terminals themselves, whether they are handsets or data cards inserted into PCs. The latency demands of HSDPA mean that designs will react differently to changing fading conditions and packet delivery speeds.
Similar problems were seen in the early days of the Internet where interactions between the different layers of the protocol stack led to less efficient bandwidth utilisation than expected. Numerous techniques were developed to overcome the problems and inserted into terminal equipment and infrastructural systems to bring performance back up to their expected levels.
If a scheduler is not designed to react to problems, operators may see some users with terminals that are able to handle high-speed transfers starved of bandwidth while other users with less capable systems use up too much of the HS-DSCH bandwidth. Such a situation will see much lower data utilization than expected. A more intelligent scheduler that watches for changes to channel and terminal conditions and schedules packets for terminals that are able to receive at higher data rates will improve the overall revenue that can be derived.
However, the need to support different quality-of-service (QoS) contracts with each terminal will further complicate the situation for the scheduler, as it cannot simply deny bandwidth to a terminal with a high QoS setting because it happens to be in a poor reception area or unable to react quickly enough to the data it receives from the basetation.
As well as allowing for evolution in scheduler design, in many cases, it will be desirable to have different scheduling policies in action at different times of the day or tuned for certain types of location, such as an airport waiting lounge. To test this requires multiple scenarios to be evaluated under different loading conditions. As a result, architectures that maximise flexibility will be key to efficient HSDPA implementation.
Granularity Needed
Processing granularity will be a major consideration for the efficient implementation of a HSDPA-compliant basestation. Systems based on a small number of high-performance DSPs tend to demand large buffers and, to reduce the overhead of switching between tasks, will tend to work on large groups of data at any one time. This makes things "clumpy" with high latency. However, such a coarse-grained approach to task scheduling is a poor fit for algorithms such as scheduling that need low latency to work effectively.
The advanced silicon processes available today for integrated circuits (ICs) make it possible to implement hundreds of processors on a single chip together with distributed memory blocks and an interconnect structure that provides for the efficient delivery of data needed to implement the many feedback paths needed. Protocols such as HSDPA, as with earlier versions of W-CDMA, work well on parallel-processing architectures, as the many different processes need to happen at the same time (Figure 2).
Fine-grained control will be necessary to implement features such as fast scheduling and per-user coding and modulation adaptation. With a large number of processing elements, it becomes possible to dedicate processing and buffer resources almost on a per-user or per-function basis. For example, one processor may collate information for a processor that just runs an advanced scheduling algorithm. This allows the processor to perform scheduling decisions all the time. This will yield much lower latencies than a system where scheduling is shared with other tasks on a general-purpose processor or DSP.
A flexible, software-based design will be vital for future improvements to the W-CDMA service offering. HSDPA is an unbalanced system, with a maximum of 14 Mbit/s on the downlink and 2 Mbit/s on the uplink, from the terminal to the network. That can be a concern, as TCP can easily be "uplink choked" if acknowledgments are slow, reducing the downlink rate.
Release 6 of the 3GPP specification will change that by introducing high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA). This allows users to take advantage of faster uplinks with lower latency when sending large files or emails. That in turn improves the efficiency of the link, increasing effective throughput, even though the modulation has not changed. Indeed, without the improved efficiency of HSUPA, it is highly likely that HSDPA will be impaired in applications that have more balanced bandwidth needs.
HSUPA puts even more strenuous demands on the basestation design and will mean that the processing electronics will have to deal with a much more complex decode environment in the same way that HSDPA demands much more of the terminals in terms of decoding. HSUPA means moving further control functions from the RNC to the Node B. As is the case for HSDPA, these will likely break many installed architectures. Given the speed these changes are arriving, having a flexible or upgradeable platform is important.
Wrap Up
In summary, HSDPA significantly improves the quality and performance of wireless data for 3G " with a corresponding dramatic impact on the operator's profit. Changes to the modulation, architecture and networking control algorithm are all required. However, despite some claims, this upgrade is not simple and many basestations will require extensive new hardware if they are to deliver on the potential. Immediately following HSDPA is its counterpart for the upstream. This is too has great advantages but likely requires further hardware changes. Carriers should plan both for the major opportunity, but also to minimise the disruption.
About the Author
David Maidment is a product manager at picoChip Designs. David can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Special SCS Presentation
- Gates&Hillman Centers
- 6115
Keeping the Baby Album: An Informal Conversation about Newell and Simon and the Birth of Artificial Intelligence at Carnegie-Mellon
Pamela McCorduck is the author or co-author of ten published books. Both her fiction and her nonfiction deal with aspects of science—mainly the psychological impact of computing, especially of artificial intelligence, and in her later books, the sciences of complexity.
She began her writing career as a novelist, and published two critically praised novels. In what she believed would be a temporary detour, she moved to nonfiction, and wrote Machines Who Think, the first history of artificial intelligence. She only returned to writing novels after six published works of nonfiction.
In its original year of publication, Machines Who Think was cited by the New York Public Library as a book of particular merit, was generously praised in Scientific, American, and twenty-five years later, the journal ,AI Magazine devoted a two-page article to the book's quarter century of influence. In March 2004, a 25th anniversary edition was published, which included a substantial afterword to bring the history of artificial intelligence up to date then. The book is still in print thirty-five years after its original publication.
Her recent novels reflect many of the same interests as her nonfiction. The Edge of Chaos(2007) and Bounded Rationality (2012), the first two parts of a planned trilogy, called Santa Fe Stories, are centered on a group of characters formally or informally connected with the Santa Fe Institute and its revolutionary research into the sciences of complexity. Writing the trilogy has recently been interrupted, however, by writing an untitled memoir and social history of artificial intelligence. The new book relies not only on her personal recollections of the four founding fathers of AI, Allen Newell, Herbert Simon, John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky, but on the private journals she has kept for more than forty years. In addition to Machines Who Think her nonfiction includes The Fifth Generation, The Rise of the Expert Company, The Universal Machine, Aaron's Code, and The Futures of Women.
Her nonfiction books have been translated into all the major European and Asian languages, and The Fifth Generation was an international best-seller.
She received a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.F.A. from Columbia University. She now divides her time between New York City and Santa Fe with her husband, Joseph F. Traub


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FROM Opposition in Aghagallon
I am fed up with the nonsense now coming from the SDLP. Leader and deputy are some partnership, saying different things all the time! It says on the SDLP website, "The SDLP have delivered in government and will do so again", and then Dolores Kelly tells us the SDLP and UUP should consider opposition.
These notions of opposition are delirious in my opinion. There is a political arrangement here that is different from anywhere else, and for good reason. Dolores Kelly constantly tells us how bad things were during the Troubles and how wrong violence is, and was. Doesn't she see that the current arrangements facilitated an end to violence?
The SDLP tell us how they are big supporters of the Good Friday Agreement and then on the other hand Dolores Kelly tells us the SDLP should consider opposition, even though the Good Friday Agreement has put them in the Assembly. Where is the logic?
The only logic I can see is that Dolores sees opposition as a suitable path because the SDLP are no longer the dominant nationalist party in government. The arrangements were fine when Seamus Mallon was the Deputy First Minister; a time when at least there was leadership.
I don't agree with putting political party interests ahead of the community and peace. Stormont is far from perfect but it has everyone round the table. I would much rather someone like Dolores, a deputy leader, was pushing to take her party's Ministry and try to make a change through that avenue.
The fortunes of any MLA or any party cannot be allowed to take precedence over everything else.


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|You are in: Special Report: 1998: 11/98: Nepal - foothills of democracy
Friday, 6 November, 1998, 18:16 GMT
Nepal wages war on TB
South Asia Correspondent Daniel Lak reports
Medical experts are warning of the threat of a tuberculosis epidemic in Nepal as the sex trade in South Asia helps fuel the spread of diseases.
The poverty and cramped living conditions of much of rural Nepal means a disease that the developed world thought had been conquered is, in fact, thriving.
Three-year-old Bishnu Maya caught tuberculosis from her mother.
She says: "We thought she was going to die when she first got sick. She had this horrible swelling on the side of her neck and she was coughing a lot. Now she'll be alright - she's going to be cured."
Now Bishnu and other TB patients make the daily half-hour walk to a clinic where they get treatment.
The little girl is given a daily cocktail of drugs to bring the disease under control.
TB becomes resistant to treatment if all the medicine is not taken so a local health worker watches to make sure that Bishnu competes the whole course.
Potential disaster
It is safe to say that Nepal has declared war on tuberculosis, and the battle is well under way.
But Dr Ian Smith of the World Health Organisation says there is still the potential for disaster:
"Over half the people in Nepal have been infected with TB - in other words they have the potential to go on and develop the active disease.
About 90% of Nepal's people live in remote rural areas and villages. But the cities are where the TB problem has become most acute.
Many of those who live in the countryside will some day move away to find work in Kathmandu - or even in India - and that migration has added a chilling new factor to the already disturbing epidemic of tuberculosis.
Sex slaves carry disease
For years women from Nepal have been kidnapped or lured away to become prostitutes in Bombay's infamous red light area.
Many come back infected with HIV which makes it almost certain they will get tuberculosis and pass it on.
Abserra is two - she has TB and is HIV-positive.
Aids and HIV infection are common here - largely due to the years these women spent as sex slaves in Bombay.
They live at the shelter because they are not welcome in their villages. But their deteriorating health is already part of an HIV-fuelled wave of new TB infections in Nepal.
"We were at the brothel one night and the police raided and took me away. They sent me back to Nepal. I started having chest pains when I was in India but in Nepal I was coughing up blood - I was really sick," one told me.
Nepal's only hope comes with keeping their children healthy - and that means keeping them separate from infectious TB sufferers. It is essential across Nepali society as a whole for the health of an entire generation.
See also:
05 Sep 98 | South Asia
18 Oct 98 | South Asia
30 Oct 98 | South Asia
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LionWise is a point of sale system for the retail and restaurant industries that also offers inventory management and customer management capabilities. Its customers deal directly with LionWise for any sales or support related questions, as they develop the software themselves. The system is deployed on premise, and is also compatible on Windows tablets.
LionWise can be purchased purely as a software solution, or combined with any necessary hardware options. LionWise provides turn-key remote services for setup and training. LionWise helps track customer histories, rewards points programs, payment and purchasing history, item discounts, and more.
The LionWise point-of-sale application is a true hybrid-POS capable of handling the operational business needs for retailers and restaurateurs, as well as other multi-concept merchants. It can be tailored to suit the needs of a single independent retailer, or a large multi-entity business.


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text: We have for you the new FIFA 14 offical trailer, have a look and tell us what you think below: Mike The players look a lot more realistic this year which is great. Can Pro Evo finally catch up? AB Lets see, as im more of a Pro Evo guy, i have seen some of the tech the new Pro Evo has and i'm very impressed


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POSTED BY Mavy | June 9, 2015Label: Adventure Travel, Asia, Beach Holidays, Travel Tips
When we think of Indonesia, many of us think of one thing. Bali Beaches. Not only is Bali one of the most beautiful islands in the world - it also boasts arguably the most rich and varied selection of dive sites on the planet.
Great options of shore-based resort diving within a beautiful setting where you'll find incredible beaches, pretty terraced rice paddies and a stunning backdrop of volcanoes make it an ideal destination.
And with many dive sites promising very light, or no current, it's ideal for anyone wanting to learn to scuba dive.
Diving on the island is one of the top things to do in Bali. Here you'll find coral ridges, a colourful and varied marine life, including the rare sunfish, manta rays and whale sharks, and one of the world's most famous shipwrecks.
There are three main scuba diving zones in Bali - South, East Coast and North West Coast - all with sites suitable for beginners.
Here's our guide to the best dive spots in Bali, where you should be heading as a newbie and Bali dive schools.
Diving in this area is usually good all year round, with visibility of around 20-30 metres and water temperatures of 25-26°C, dropping to low 20s during Mola Mola season, where if you are lucky you may even spot one of the giant Sunfish. Mantas are present here all year, although best spotted from April to June. Meanwhile, the best time to spot sharks, sunfish and other large pelagics is between June and September, during the monsoon winds.
Dive schools in this area include Big Fish Diving and World Diving, both based in Jungut Batu, Nusa Lembongan.
While some dives in this area, such as Blue Corner, are strictly for experienced divers, Lembongan Bay offers a perfect introduction, thanks to its calmer conditions and maximum depth of 10m. Coral bommies found on the sandy bottom are home to moray eels, frog fish and schools of many smaller species of fish.
The water here is very clear, meaning there's some of the best visibility on the island, but as the reason for this is a strong current, in general it's not a destination for beginners.
Buyuk, however, is an easy dive suitable for all levels. The water temperature is quite warm and there's usually only a slight current and plenty of sea life. Mantas, turtles, sea snakes and even the occasional sunfish can be spotted here amongst the corals.
The vast shipwreck of Liberty, a US Naval Supply Vessel torpedoed by the Japanese in 1942, at Tulamben is a unique opportunity for beginners to experience this type of exciting dive site. As well as schooling fishes, barracudas and Blacktip Reef Sharks, it's also popular with "macro diving" fans and rare pygmy seahorses can be found in the area. This one is absolutely not to be missed.
You'll find a few dive operations to chose from here, including Aqua Dive Paradise and Baruna Dive Center.
No current and a nice environment make Coral Gardens, situated next to the Liberty, a perfect spot for beginners to enjoy Tulamben.
Nearby Amed can provide a good base to explore the Liberty and with a coral so close you can walk out to it, is a very easy option. Jemeluk is a great spotting the rare ghost pipefish and the mimic octopus and is also somewhere beginners can have an atmospheric night dive.
The Blue Lagoon near Padang Bai is an easy spot for fun dives and classes, while Tanjung Sari is a place where inexperienced divers can swim with sharks and is another option for night dives and macro photography.
Dive sites off the North West coast of Bali, form part of the Bali Barat National Park, which is home to Mejangan Isalnd, one of Bali's most famous dive sites.
Blue Season Bali at The Menjangan offer dive packages in the area.
Sitting inside a bay, Menjangan is one of Bali's most protected locations for diving, with good visibility and almost current free conditions.
You'll mainly see small and medium sized fish, but can spot blacktip and whitetip reef sharks and Manta rays at certain times of the year and may even see bull and whale sharks.
While the mysterious sunken 'Anker Wreck' is considered too deep a dive for beginners, 'Pos 1' is a good easy option near by.
The Gili Islands are the paradise many of us imagine when we think of Bali. Three small islands just off of Lombok with bright white sand, crystal clear waters and Bintangs all day long! If you're tempted to seek out dives further afield, dive sites in the Gili islands are becoming popular with beginners and experienced divers alike.
Known as 'the turtle capital of the world', here you'll find 25 dive sites and dive schools including South Sea Nomads and Manta Dive. A visit to Bali is never complete without a trip to the Gili's, home of some of the best beaches in Bali
There area number of dive sites around Gili Trawangan that are suitable for beginners, including Shark Point, Halik Reef and Manta Point.
As the name suggest, this is a brilliant spot to see Manta rays between November and February, when they pass in large groups. As there's very little current this site is popular with divers of all levels and is also good for getting up close to reef sharks, sting rays, cuttlefish, octopus.
Call to book 0208 9444 555


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GIGABYTE Announces Official Support for AMD A-Series 'Kaveri' APUs
Subject: Motherboards | January 14, 2014 - 06:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Kaveri, gigabyte, pcie 3.0, amd, FM2+, A88X, A55
City of Industry, California, January 14th, 2014 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced official support for next generation AMD A-Series APUs based on the highly anticipated 'Kaveri' architecture. GIGABYTE 'Kaveri' support includes current AMD A88X and A55 (rev3.0) platform motherboards plus forthcoming A78 platform motherboards.By enabling support on current GIGABYTE AMD motherboards for these new AMD A-Series APUs, GIGABYTE ensures our customers are able to take advantage of a whole new approach to PC architecture design," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "Combining the highest level of quality design with the most advanced set of features, GIGABYTE FM2+ motherboards offer the best user experience for these new A-Series APUs."
"These FM2+ Series motherboards from GIGABYTE are the ultimate showcase for our new A-Series APUs," said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Business Unit, AMD. "In collaboration with GIGABYTE, AMD is proud to enable a truly optimized user experience in terms of raw computer performance while creating an industry-leading visual and audio experience with the latest generation of our APUs."
GIGABYTE FM2+ Series Motherboards
GIGABYTE FM2+ Series motherboards showcase a number of features and technologies that separate them from the competition, including GIGABYTE AMP-UP Audio which includes an upgradable OP Amp, studio-grade Nichicon capacitors and Gain Boost switches. True Digital Power Delivery is combined with Triple Display Support including AMD Dual Graphics and AMD Eyefinity Technology support. GIGABYTE FM2+ series motherboards also provide native 4K resolution support via Display port and HDMI ports.
GIGABYTE FM2+ Series motherboards also integrate a range of features designed to ensure the long term stability and longevity of your PC. GIGABYTE DualBIOS ensures users are protected from BIOS failure, while an exclusive 2x Copper PCB design optimizes heat dissipation from the critical power delivery areas of the motherboard. One-Fuse-per-Port ensures each USB port has its own dedicated power fuse that prevents unwanted USB port failure.
AMD Kaveri Platform Highlights
The latest AMD A10-7850K and A10-7700K APUs integrate an enhanced CPU core based on the 'Steamroller' architecture with a new and updated Radeon Graphics core. Supporting native 8 GT/s PCI Express gen 3.0 and DX11.1 graphics, these new AMD A-Series APUs also offer native support for 4K resolution displays on HDMI and DisplayPort.
Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA)
AMD TrueAudio Technology
The latest AMD A-Series APUs are also the first equipped with AMD TrueAudio Technology a new programmable audio pipeline that fundamentally redefines how digital audio is processed. By allowing the graphics cores to handle sound processing for spatialization, reverb, limiters and simultaneous voice processing, game developers have greater artistic freedom than ever before, allowing for a vastly more realistic and compelling audio experience.
GIGABYTE FM2+ Series Motherboard Models
AMD A88X Platform
AMD A55 Platform (rev3.0 and above)
AMD A78 Platform (Forthcoming models)
Faster than a speeding GTX 580; the HD7950 arrives
Subject: Graphics Cards | January 31, 2012 - 05:22 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: tahiti, southern islands, radeon, pcie 3.0, HD 7970, hd 7950, dx 11.1, amd, 28nm
A smattering of reviews of the newly released HD7950 have arrived to the web as the card that many enthusiasts have been waiting for finally arrives. The card does not differ significantly from the HD7970 with 1,792 Stream Processors down from 2,048, 112 Texture Units versus 128, a core clock 125MHz lower at 800MHz and 5GHz effective on memory versus 5.5GHz for the HD7970. Apart from those changes it is still the same silicon and the same 4.31 billion transistors which raises hopes that a similar BIOS mod to the one which allowed you to turn some HD6950s into HD6970s will exist for this card as well. [H]ard|OCP's testing shows the card to be better than a GTX580 but not enough to be an upgrade for current owners of that card but anyone with the ~$450 and an older card would do well to consider this car.
You can also see Ryan's take on this card alone as well as how it scales in CrossFire in our review here.
"The new Radeon HD 7950 marks the launch of AMD's more affordable Radeon HD 7900 series GPU. The Radeon HD 7950 is priced to compete with the GeForce GTX 580. We'll look at performance in comparison to several video cards in single-GPU, dual-GPU CrossFireX, Eyefinity, and Overclocking to see where it truly lands."
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
- AMD's Radeon HD 7950 @ The Tech Report
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 Review Feat. Sapphire & XFX: Sewing Up The High-End Market @ AnandTech
- XFX Radeon HD 7950 Black Edition Overclocked 3GB Graphics Card Video Review @ eTeknix
- XFX Radeon R7950 Black Edition Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews
- XFX & Sapphire HD 7950 3GB Review @ OCC
- XFX Radeon HD 7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation 3GB @ Tweaktown
- Sapphire 7950 Overclocked Edition Video Card Review @ Techwarelabs
- Sapphire HD 7950 OC @ Modders-Inc
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 & XFX R7950 Black Edition Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
- PowerColor, Sapphire, XFX HD 7950 Review @ Neoseeker
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 Launch Review @ Neoseeker
- Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB DDR5 Overclocked Version DX11.1 Video Card Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- Powercolor HD 7950 PCS+ @ Overclockers.com
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 Video Card Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Sapphire HD7950 Overclock Edition @ OC3D
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 Launch Articles @ HardwareHeaven
- XFX HD 7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Sapphire HD 7950 Dual Fan OC Review @ Hardware Canucks
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 Review; Tahiti Pro Arrives @ Hardware Canucks
- XFX HD7950 Black Edition Overlocked @ Kitguru
- PowerColor HD 7950 PCS+ 3 GB @ techPowerUp
- XFX R7950 Black Edition @ OC3D
- HIS HD7950 @ Kitguru
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 3 GB @ techPowerUp
- XFX Radeon HD 7950 Black Edition Overclocked 3GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
- HIS Radeon HD 7950 @ Guru of 3D
- PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 PCS+ @ Guru of 3D
- Radeon HD 7950 Crossfire review 2 and 3-way @ Guru of 3D
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 CrossFire @ techPowerUp
- Sapphire HD7950 Overlock Edition Crossfire @ Kitguru
- Overkill 3D - HD7950 Quadfire @ OC3D
- XFX HD 7970 Black Edition Double Dissipation 3 GB Review @ OCC
- The Radeon HD 7970 Reprise: PCIe Bandwidth, Overclocking, & The State Of Anti-Aliasing @ AnandTech
- Catalyst 12.1 Windows 7 Driver Analysis @ Tweaktown
- Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide @ TechARP
- Deepcool Gamer Storm Dracula VGA Cooler Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Swiftech Apogee HD Water Block Review @ OCIA
- Galaxy MDT GeForce GT 520 Review: Quad-Display Budget Card @ Techspot
Tahiti Gets Clipped
It has been just over a month since we first got our hands on the AMD Southern Islands architecture in the form of the Radeon HD 7970 3GB graphics card. It was then a couple of long weeks as we waited for the consumer to get the chance to buy that same hardware though we had to admit that the $550+ price tags were scaring many away. Originally we were going to have both the Radeon HD 7970 and the Radeon HD 7950 in our hands before January 9th, but that didn't pan out and instead the little brother was held in waiting a bit longer.
Today we are reviewing that sibling, the Radeon HD 7950 3GB GPU that offers basically the same technology and feature set with a slightly diminished core and a matching, slightly diminished price. In truth I don't think that the estimated MSRP of $449 is going to really capture that many more hearts than the $549 price of the HD 7970 did, but AMD is hoping that they can ride their performance advantage to as many profits as they can while they wait for NVIDIA to properly react.
Check out our video review right here and then continue on to our complete benchmarking analysis!!
Southern Islands Gets Scaled Back a Bit
As I said above, the Radeon HD 7950 3GB is pretty similar to the HD 7970. It is based on the same 28nm, DirectX 11.1, PCI Express 3.0, 4.31 billion transistor GPU and includes the same massive 3GB frame buffer as its older brother. The Tahiti GPU is the first of its kind of all of those facets but it has a few of the computational portions disabled.
If you haven't read up on the Southern Islands architecture, or Tahiti GPU based around it, you are missing quite a bit of important information on the current lineup of parts from AMD. I would very much encourage you to head over to our Radeon HD 7970 3GB Tahiti review and look over the first three pages as it provides a detailed breakdown of the new features and the pretty dramatic shift in design that Southern Islands introduced to the AMD GPU team.
Continue reading our full review of the Radeon HD 7950 3GB graphics card!!
HD7970 from ASUS and XFX, who offers the most impressive card?
Subject: Graphics Cards | January 26, 2012 - 05:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: xfx, GCN, asus, southern islands, radeon, pcie 3.0, dx 11.1, amd, 7970, 28nm
[H]ard|OCP recently came out with two HD7970 reviews, one made by ASUS and one by XFX. The ASUS Radeon HD 7970 is currently one of the least expensive choices at $559 and runs at the default speeds of 925MHz and 1375MHz. It does ship with ASUS' GPU Tweak utility to allow for easy overclocking if you wish to push the card like [H] did, in their case to 1125MHz on the GPU core, and 1695MHz GDDR5.
The other choice is the XFX R7970 Black Edition which is a custom card, overclocked to 1GHz on the core and 1425MHz GDDR5 but costs $50 more than the offering from ASUS. At the out of the box speeds, XFX's card both draws less energy and runs much cooler and was silent compared to the ASUS offering. Even after [H] overclocked the card to 1125MHz core and 1575MHz GDDR5, which was the maximum possible using AMD's Overdrive, it was almost silent when running full out.
The decision seems to be how much it is worth to you to have a quiet card and if you are willing to find a way to overclock beyond what the Catalyst Control Center can manage.
"We have the new XFX R7970 Black Edition video card to evaluate, which is XFX's current flagship Radeon HD 7970 based video card. With a custom PCB, custom hardware components and custom cooling fan, will it take us to new heights in overclocking, or leave us wishing we had just purchased a "reference" card?"
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
- Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6670 @ TechwareLab
- Sapphire HD 7970 3GB Video Cards in CrossFire Overclocked @ Tweaktown
- Asus HD7970 Tri Crossfire @ Kitguru
- ASUS Radeon HD 7970 DirectCU II Top Video Card @ Legit Reviews
- HIS Radeon HD 6570 IceQ @ Funky Kit
- Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Cards in 3-Way CrossFireX @ Tweaktown
- HIS 6670 1GB Fan @ XSReviews
- ASUS Radeon HD 7970 3GB CrossFire Review @ Legit Reviews
- An Open-Source, Reverse-Engineered Mali GPU Driver @ Phoronix
- Arctic Accelero XTREME Plus II VGA cooler Review @ XtremeComputing
- Graphics Card Overclocking: Is it really worth it? @ TechSpot
- KFA2 MDT X4 – GTX580 @ Kitguru
- Galaxy GeForce GT 440 2GB Review @ Neoseeker
- Galaxy GT 520 MDT Review @ OCC
- Nouveau For A $10 NVIDIA Graphics Card @ Phoronix
More HD 7970 reviews that you would want to shake a stick at
Subject: Graphics Cards | January 2, 2012 - 02:03 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: tahiti, southern islands, radeon, pcie 3.0, dx 11.1, amd, 7970, 28nm
If somehow you ended up feeling that Ryan missed something about the HD 7970 that was important to you, we offer a long enough list of HD 7970 reviews that you will find it somewhere. Come next week when these cards hit the market at about $800 apiece (the MSRP is $550USD so hope that number is inflated), you might want to know just how well the cards scale, assuming you are able to spend the better part of $2000 just on your graphics subsystem. The Guru of 3D has answered your Croesus-like desires by running two HD 7970's in CrossFire. The power usage turned out to be quite interesting, the total power used by two HD 7970s is comparable to that of a single HD 6970, which will at least help you save a bit on your PSU and electricity build. More important to most is the performance scaling, which Guru3D tested exhaustively and are happy to report scaling between 1.6 to 2 times the performance. Keep in mind you need huge resolutions to make this worth your investment, it takes a lot of money to play Battlefield 3 @ 2560x1600.
"We review the AMD Radeon HD 7970 in Crossfire. With two reference cards in-house, we figured well, you might be interested in some multi-GPU lovin from AMD.
Let's take it to the next level -- multi-GPU gaming in 2-way Crossfire mode."
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GPU and Graphics Card Review @ PC Perpsective
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
- HD 7970: Bulldozer vs. Sandy Bridge vs. Nehalem @ techPowerUp
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ Techspot
- Radeon HD 7970 Overclock and perf Guide @ Guru3D
- Radeon HD 7970 CPU scaling performance @ Guru3D
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ Legion Hardware
- MD Radeon HD 7900 Series Graphics Preview @ Madshrimps
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 Launch Review @ Neoseeker
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 3-part @ VR-Zone
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 Video Card Review @ Hardware Secrets
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ techPowerUp
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 CrossFire Performance Review @ HardwareHeaven
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ Overclockers.com
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Review @ Hardware Canucks
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ Guru of 3D
- Club3D Radeon HD 6950 Battlefield 3 Edition Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
- Sapphire HD 6670 Low Profile Review @ OCC
- Sapphire Low-Profile Radeon HD 6670 @ Pro-Clockers
- Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 LP Review @ Neoseeker
- Intel GMA 3150 Driver 184.108.40.20667 @ NGOHQ
- EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2 Win @ Hardwareoverclock
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Graphics Cards from Palit and MSI @ X-bit Labs
- ASUS MARS 2 SLI Madness @ OC3D
The First 28nm GPU Architecture
It is going to be an exciting 2012. Both AMD and NVIDIA are going to be bringing gamers entirely new GPU architectures, Intel has Ivy Bridge up its sleeve and the CPU side of AMD is looking forward to the introduction of the Piledriver lineup. Today though we end 2011 with the official introduction of the AMD Southern Islands GPU design, a completely new architecture from the ground up that engineers have been working on for more than three years.
This GPU will be the first on several fronts: the first 28nm part, the first cards with support for PCI Express 3.0 and the first to officially support DirectX 11.1 coming with Windows 8. Southern Islands is broken up into three different families starting with Tahiti at the high-end, Pitcairn for sweet spot gaming and Cape Verde for budget discrete options. The Radeon HD 7970 card that is launching today with availability in early January is going to be the top-end single GPU option, based on Tahiti.
Let's see what 4.31 billion transistors buys you in today's market. I have embedded a very short video review here as well for your perusal but of course, you should continue down a bit further for the entire, in-depth review of the Radeon HD 7970 GPU.
Southern Islands - Starting with Tahiti
Before we get into benchmark results we need to get a better understanding of this completely new GPU design that was first divulged in June at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit. At that time, our own
lovely and talented Josh Walrath wrote up a great preview of the architecture that remains accurate and pertinent for today's release. We will include some of Josh's analysis here and interject with anything new that we have learned from AMD about the Southern Islands architecture.
When NVIDIA introduced the G80, they took a pretty radical approach to GPU design. Instead of going with previous VLIW architectures which would support operations such as Vec4+Scalar, they went with a completely scalar architecture. This allowed a combination of flexibility of operation types, ease of scheduling, and a high utilization of compute units. AMD has taken a somewhat similar, but still unique approach to their new architecture.
Continue reading our review of the AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB graphics card and Southern Islands architecture!!
Introduction and Features
Our test bench has seen a flood of Z68-based enthusiast motherboards this fall and ASRock added their flagship Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 board to the top of the pile for testing. The Extreme 7 Gen 3 pulls out all the stops for extreme enthusiasts and ultra overclockers by arming this board with next-gen PCI-E 3.0 support and an NVIDIA NF200 chip to allow users to run dual graphics cards at PCI-E x16/x16 mode and three graphics cards at x16/x8/x8 respectively.
This $275 board brings with it a lot of features that users have been begging for like a graphical Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), Intel's Smart Response techology, dual gigabit LAN capabilities, and support for six USB 3.0 and six SATA 3 devices. They also didn't skimp on the power components by adding premium gold caps that are made in Japan and considered by many to be luxury capacitors.
Read our entire review of the ASRock Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 motherboard!
ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe GEN3 Board Spotted with PCI Express 3.0 Support
Subject: Motherboards | October 14, 2011 - 04:09 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: z68, pcie 3.0, gen3, asus
Spending time the San Francisco bay area usually results in some interesting finds. The first one I can talk about? An upcoming launch of refreshed Z68 motherboards from ASUS that include support for PCI Express 3.0 technology coming next year.
At first glance the board doesn't appear to be anything really different - it looks much like the Z68 boards currently on the market and the P67 boards before that. The heatsink and blue/black color scheme and the Deluxe moniker has been in use by ASUS since the initial Sandy Bridge processor releases. There are still 4 DIMM slots, 8 SATA ports, USB 3.0, Bluetooth, dual Gigabit Ethernet and more sitting right there, easy for us to see.
But unlike previous boards from ASUS, this one is the first we have seen to offer and validate support for the upcoming PCI Express 3.0 standard rated at 32GB/s rather than 16GB/s. ASUS is actually the last to market with the so-called "PCIe 3.0 ready boards" as we have seen boards from MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock and others on PC Perspective previously. In fact, we just published a review of the MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3) board yesterday that offers the same feature.
Still, ASUS isn't one to sit by and let the competition pass so they built their own Z68 board that is now 100% ready for PCIe 3.0 devices and the pending Ivy Bridge processor from Intel. The board will support full speed PCIe 3.0 speeds in both single GPU and SLI/CrossFire configurations. In fact, ASUS says that both the BIOS and PCIe switches are ready, out of the box, with this new P8Z68 Deluxe GEN3 model, something that some other vendors' boards may not actually be. That would mean the necessity to have a Sandy Bridge processor on-hand to flash the BIOS before an Ivy Bridge CPU would POST. Just something to keep in mind.
ASUS is hesitant to call the PCIe 3.0 support anything but future-proofing for consumers worried about the next-generation of graphics solutions from NVIDIA and AMD, though I would point out to our readers that any cards that come out in 2012 that do run PCIe 3.0 will still work just fine on PCIe 2.0 boards.
That being said, an ASUS rep did mention in passing that they MIGHT have found another benefit to PCIe 3.0 on current systems and graphics cards: a reduction in microstuttering in PC gaming. Now, I have yet to see this benefit in person and my initial thought was that this was simply a placebo effect, but I am eager to try it out when I get this board at the labs.
Just Delivered: MSI Z68A-GD65 G3 Motherboard with PCI Express 3.0 Support
Subject: Editorial, Motherboards | July 29, 2011 - 02:03 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: z68, pcie 3.0, msi
Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
As we gear up for the PC Perspective Hardware Workshop at Quakecon 2011 next weekend, August 6th, we are starting to get in some very interesting products. The coolest part? All of this is going to be GIVEN AWAY to attendees!!
MSI is supplying us with a pair of new motherboards for our system build contest that will be held during the workshop - faster person to get a system up and running will get some killer prizes. Even better, these are some of the FIRST Z68A-GD65 G3 boards in the US - the very same ones we saw at Computex in June sporting the world's first PCIe 3.0 implementation.
Sporting an LGA1155 socket and the new Z68 chipset, you get all the features associated with it including SSD caching and integrated graphics support.
The classic features from MSI continue to exist here with the Military Class II components as well as the always well-received OC Genie button.
It sports a total of 4 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, DVI and VGA outputs and a lot more.
One thing to note: this motherboard will ONLY support PCIE 3.0 speeds once the Ivy Bridge processors are released later this year so unless you have some unreleased hardware (and please do share!) then you aren't going to be seeing the advantages of this tech quite yet.
Still, future proofing is good news!!
Thanks to MSI for these boards and if you are coming to our workshop be prepared for your chance to win one before the rest of the worlds gets their hands on them!
New ASRock Z68 Fatal1ty Motherboard Supports PCI-E 3.0
Subject: Motherboards | June 29, 2011 - 08:08 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: z68, pcie 3.0, motherboard, Intel
ASRock recently unveiled a new enthusiast Z68 chipset based motherboard supporting the PCI-Express 3.0 standard. Dubbed the Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3, the company claims that when coupled with the upcoming Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs, "users are assured to enjoy the full power of PCIe Gen3 standard" as a powerful gaming motherboard.
The board further features the LGA 1155 socket, four DDR3 DIMM slots capable of 2133 Mhz, two PCI-Express 3.0 slots, one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, one PCIe x1 slot, and two PCI slots. IO standards include the latest SATA III 6 Gbps, Intel's SRT (Smart Response Technology) caching, and USB 3.0. The board is further capable of supporting either NVIDIA Quad SLI or AMD CrossfireX technology. An on-board PLX PEX8608 chip has been added to allow the PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 3.0 ports to coexist at their native speeds.
Rear connections include a special Fatal1ty mouse port that users can adjust the polling rate of to anywhere between 125 Hz to 1000 Hz, eight USB ports (likely four USB 2.0, four USB 3.0), VGA output, two HDMI outputs, Digital audio out, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 7.1 channel THX TruStudio audio outputs.
The ASRock board is ready to get its game on according to the company who stated that "is the world's first motherboard that supports PCIe 3.0 and goes on sale now."
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