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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Kodak Sues Apple, HTC And Fujifilm For Infringement


Even as the specter of bankruptcy protection looms, Eastman Kodak Co. is intensifying its efforts to defend its intellectual property.


In a lawsuit it filed here Friday against Fujifilm Corp., Kodak claimed some of its Japanese rival's cameras infringe its digital-imaging technology. At the beginning of the week, Kodak sued Apple Inc. and HTC Corp. claiming some of their smartphones, tablets and other devices infringe Kodak patents related to transmitting images.

The ailing photography pioneer has relied on patent licensing fees and lawsuits to collect $1.9 billion since 2008.

Kodak's stock slumped Friday amid renewed fears that the 132-year-old business icon is preparing to seek bankruptcy court protection from its creditors.

Based on Rochester, New York, Kodak has amassed more than 1,000 digital-imaging patents, and almost all of today's digital cameras rely on its technology.
read more "Kodak Sues Apple, HTC And Fujifilm For Infringement"

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

DOTA 2 Wounded / Injured Hero Animation


In the recent updates, Valve has been updating DOTA 2 with wounded animation for characters. It’s an injured animation which triggers when your hero is injured (on RED Hit-points). This is a really cool and great  feature that doesn’t affect gameplay in any way but currently it’s limited to specific number of heroes only, more heroes will be added by time. 

Tidehunter's Wounded / Injured Ravage


Check out some of the heroes that has wounded animation:

DOTA 2 Wounded / Injured Hero Animation

Tidehunter’s Wounded / Injured Ravage animation

What can you say about this feature that valve added in the DOTA 2 gameplay? Isn't it great? Stay tuned for more DOTA 2 game updates in 'D Pages!

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6 Gadgets That Defined CES 2012


Cheaper tablets, thinner laptops and an array of sleeker TVs stood out at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
More than 140,000 people gathered for the event that's growing despite the absence of Apple and more recently, the decision by Microsoft to make this the last year it participate.


Here are some of the more significant gadgets that shined at CES:

Cheaper Tablets
  • The industry's enthusiasm for tablets was considered tempered this year compared to last, when more than a hundred manufacturers thought they could capitalize on the iPad's success with their own models based on Google Inc.' Android software. 

  • Then, last year, Amazon.com Inc. demonstrated that you can take on Apple by selling a smaller, barebones tablet for $199. Analysts believe Amazon sold millions of kindle Fires in little more than a month.
  
Nokia Lumia 900
  • In recent years, the worlds largest phone maker, Finland's Nokia Corp., has practically been a no-show in the U.S. market. Now, it hopes to come back with smartphones that run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone software. 

  • The Lumia 900 is its first such phone for the AT&T network, and the first Nokia phone to use AT&T's faster wireless "LTE" network. In a sign of how much is riding on these phones, both the Microsoft and Nokia CEOs showed up for Monday's Announcement. The companies didn't announce price or availability.

Lenovo K800
  • While Nokia's been shut out of the U.S. phone market, Intel Corp., the world's largest chip maker, has been shut out of phones entirely. Its PC chips use too much power to go into smartphone: they'd drain the battery in no time. 
  •  Now, Intel says a new line of ships is ready for smarthphone use, and Lenovo Corp. of China is the first to take them up on it, with a smarthphone to be sold in China in the second quarter.It's indistiguishable from any other touchscreen phone, and it runs Android.

OLED TVs

  •  Both LG and Samsung showed off 55-inch TVs with screens made from organic light-emitting diodes rather than stand and liquid crystals or plasma cells, and said they'll on sale this year. They didn't say what they would cost, but analysts expect the price to be upwards of $5,000.

Ultrabooks
  •  Intel created the "Ultrabook" as a marketing term for thin, light and powerful laptop computers. They're essentially the Windows version of Apple's MacBook Air. PC makers have embraced the term enthusiastically. As a result there were scores of Ultrabook models on display at the show. 

  • Two that stood out were the Lenovo Yoga, which has a touch sensitive screen that bends backward to fold over completely, turning the device into a large tablet. It will launch with the new Windows 8 operating system later this year. The HP Envy 14 is more conventional luxury model, and goes on sale Feb. 8, but has two details that set it apart: a sensor for Near-Field Communications Chips (which means you can transfer information from a similarly equipped phone by tapping it to the PC) and an audio chip that can communicate with some headphones to provide much better audio quality than Bluetooth. Th Envy 14 will cost $1,400.

Canon G1 X
  • The Japanese camera maker revealed a compact camera that pushes into professional camera territory. Its G like of relatively large compact cameras has been popular among enthusiast, and the G1 X extends the range by including an image sensor that's more than six times larger than other models in the range. Sensor size is the most important factor for cameras image quality for more than the number of megapixels - 14, for the G1 X. It's the first camera to use a sensor of this type, which is only 20 percent smaller than the "APSC" sensors used in single lens reflex cameras or SLRs. 

  • The G1 X will have a 4x zoom lens that retracts into the metal body, and will sell for $800.
read more "6 Gadgets That Defined CES 2012"

Friday, January 13, 2012

DOTA 2 Nortrom (Silencer) Preview


At last, the moment of silence has arrived in DOTA 2 with the addition of Nortrom, The Silencer. He’s one of the few intelligence hero in Dota who rely on their physical attack to dominate hostile units. Silencer can either be played as carry or a supporter. With the help of his 1st ability; Curse of the Silent,  he can easily own in tri-lanes by spamming it. His 3rd ability Last Word is an  offensive aura against spell-casters which silences enemies frequently thus making their combo’s useless.


Here are some in-game screenshots of DOTA 2 Hero Notrom (Silencer):

DOTA 2 – Nortrom, The Silencer – Idle at mid lane

Silencer 1st skill – Curse of the Silent

 Silencer 2nd Skill – Glaives of Wisdom

Silencer Ultimate – Global Silence

What do you think? The Silencer model looks good, right? Or do you still prefer the Warcraft 3 Nortrom? Hit the comment box for opinions. Keep visiting 'DP'.
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DOTA 2 Update (12th Jan. 2012)


After 2 weeks, the update for DOTA 2 is finally released. This update adds Nortrom (Silencer) and Baratharum (Spirit Breaker) to DOTA 2 hero lineup. The update also includes the implementation of all the recent DotA 6.73 changes except for the new heroes. Valve has increased the spectator slot to infinite, now unlimited number of players can view a single match.


Here are the 12th January 2012 Patch Notes:

6.73 PARITY
  • Alchemist: Chemical Rage Base Attack Time reduced from 1.45/1.35/1.2 to 1.45/1.3/1.15.
  • Alchemist: Goblin’s Greed bonus gold limit increased from 18 to 26.
  • Anti-Mage: Reverted the 6.72 Base Attack Time improvement, BAT from 1.35 to 1.45.
  • Anti-Mage: Armor reduced by 1.
  • Axe: Aghanim’s Culling Blade cooldown from 10 to 6.
  • Axe: Base Int from 14 to 18.
  • Axe: Base HP regeneration from 1.25 to 2.
  • Axe: Battle Hunger gives Axe a 4% bonus movement speed per target it affects.
  • Axe: Berserker’s Call cooldown from 14 to 10.
  • Axe: Counter Helix damage increased from 100/125/150/175 to 100/130/160/190.
  • Axe: Counter Helix proc cooldown decreased from 0.7/0.65/0.6/0.55 to 0.65/0.6/0.55/0.5.
  • Axe: If Culling Blade kills a unit, Axe unleashes a war cry, giving nearby allied units (600 AoE) a temporary movement bonus (25% for 6 seconds).
  • Blood Seeker: Thirst no longer partially reveals invisible heroes below 40% health.
  • Blood Seeker: Thirst now fully reveals invisible heroes below 20% health.
  • Blood Seeker: Rupture duration improved from 5/7/9 to 7/8/9.
  • Blood Seeker: Rupture cooldown now scales from 70 to 70/60/50.
  • Bounty Hunter: Track gold bonus for Bounty Hunter increased from 75/150/225 to 150/200/250.
  • Dark Seer: Ion Shell duration increased from 15 to 20.
  • Dark Seer: Ion Shell AoE from increased 225 to 250.
  • Dark Seer: Ion Shell cooldown increased from 7 to 10.
  • Dark Seer: Ion Shell damage increased from 30/45/60/75 to 30/50/70/90.
  • Dark Seer: Wall of Replica illusions are now semi-transparent to enemy players.
  • Doom Bringer: Scorched Earth duration increased from 8/10/12/14 to 10/12/14/16.
  • Dragon Knight: While in Dragon form Dragon Tail’s cast range increased from 150 to 400.
  • Drow Ranger: Base Agility increased by 4.
  • Enchantress: Movement speed from 305 to 310.
  • Nature’s Prophet: Wrath of Nature cooldown rescaled from 90/60/60 to 90/75/60.
  • Jakiro: Ice Path cooldown decreased from 16/15/14/13 to 12/11/10/9.
  • Jakiro: Macropyre duration increased from 5 to 7 seconds.
  • Juggernaut: Omnislash random damage improved from 150-250 to 175-250.
  • Juggernaut: Omnislash hit count increased from 3/5/8 (5/7/10 aghanim) to 3/6/9 (6/9/12 aghanim).
  • Kunkka: Strength growth increased from 2.7 to 3.0.
  • Kunkka: Ghost Ship’s CoCo’s Rum duration increased from 5/6/7 to 8.
  • Kunkka: Tidebringer cleave AoE improved from 380/420/460/500 to 500.
  • Kunkka: Torrent slow increased from 30 to 35%.
  • Kunkka: X Marks The Spot cooldown decreased from 30 to 20 seconds.
  • Death Prophet: Witchcraft movement speed increased from 3/6/9/12% to 4/8/12/16%.
  • Skeleton King: Reincarnation slow duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
  • Skeleton King: Reincarnation cooldown decreased from 300/220/140 to 260/160/60.
  • Leshrac: Movement speed increased from 310 to 315.
  • Leshrac: Pulse Nova AoE increased from 400 to 450.
  • Lich: Added a 0.2 second buffer time between Chain Frost bounces.
  • Lina: Base intelligence increased by 3.
  • Lina: Dragon Slave travel distance increased by 100.
  • Lina: Dragon Slave final AoE increased from 125 to 150.
  • Lion: Mana Drain level 4 increased from 100 to 120 per second.
  • Lion: Mana Drain now drains at 0.25 second intervals instead of 1 second (596884).
  • Mirana: Fixed Arrow damaging but not stunning invisible units.
  • Morphling: Base agility increased by 5.
  • Morphling: Adaptive strike cooldown decreased from 20 to 10.
  • Necrolyte: Death Pulse AoE increased from 375/425/450/475 to 475.
  • Necrolyte: Heartstopper damage increased from 0.4/0.6/0.8/1.0% to 0.5/0.7/0.9/1.1%.
  • Necrolyte: Sadist level 4 now restores 600 mana if you kill a hero.
  • Pudge: Flesh Heap now has a overhead notification when strength is gained.
  • Pugna: Life Drain damage increased from 95/140/185 to 100/150/200 (and Scepter from 150/200/250 to 175/225/275).
  • Pugna: Life Drain duration increased from 9 to 10 seconds.
  • Queen of Pain: Base damage increased by 4.
  • Queen of Pain: Scream of Pain AoE increased from 400/425/450/475 to 475.
  • Razor: Static Link duration, after it finishes draining, increased from 13 to 18.
  • Razor: Static Link cooldown rescaled from 35/30/25/20 to 25.
  • Sand King: Epicenter’s slow is no longer blocked by magic immunity.
  • Sand King: Caustic Finale buff duration increased from 2 to 8 seconds.
  • Shadow Fiend: Movement speed increased from 300 to 305.
  • Shadow Fiend: Agility growth increased from 2.4 to 2.9.
  • Shadow Fiend: Necromancy soul cap increased from 8/15/23/30 to 8/16/24/32.
  • Sniper: Shrapnel AoE increased from 325 to 350.
  • Spectre: Dispersion damage no longer disables items like Blink Dagger.
  • Riki: Backstab damage bonus increased from 0.25/0.5/0.75/1.0 to 0.5/0.75/1.0/1.25 of agility.
  • Storm Spirit: Overload bonus damage increased from 30/45/60/75 to 30/50/70/90.
  • Sven: Great Cleave increased from 20/30/40/50% to 30/40/50/60%.
  • Sven: God’s Strength is no longer purgeable.
  • Sven: God’s Strength damage buff increased from 100/125/150% to 100/140/180%.
  • Sven: Warcry duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
  • Sven: Warcry cast time removed.
  • Tinker: Laser’s miss duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
  • Ursa: Armor increased by 1.
  • Ursa: Enrage damage increased from 4/5/6% to 5/6/7% of current HP.
  • Ursa: Earthshock AoE increased from 365 to 385.
  • Ursa: Earthshock cooldown decreased from 7 to 6.
  • Ursa: Fury Swipes damage increased from 10/15/20/25 to 15/20/25/30.
  • Warlock: Infernal’s Flaming Fists trigger chance increased from 40% to 60%.
  • Warlock: Infernal’s Flaming Fists damage increased from 75/115/150 to 100/150/200.
  • Zeus: Arc Lightning level 4 damage increased from 130 to 145 damage.
  • Zeus: Lightning Bolt cooldown decreased from 6.5 to 6.
  • Zeus: Static Field now affects creeps.
  • Zeus: Static Field no longer requires unit visibility to take effect.
  • New Item: Rod of Atos.
  • New Item: Heaven’s Halberd.
  • New Item: Ring of Aquila.
  • New Item: Abyssal Blade.
  • New Item: Tranquil Boots.
  • Boots of Travel: Recipe cost decreased from 2200 to 2000.
  • Boots of Travel: Movement speed increased from 95 to 100.
  • Bloodstone: Initial charges increased from 5 to 6.
  • Bloodstone: Respawn time reduction increased from 3 to 4 seconds per charge.
  • Butterfly: Evasion increased from 30 to 35%.
  • Divine Rapier: Damage increased from 250 to 300.
  • Ethereal Blade: Ether blast cast range increased from 700 to 800.
  • Eul’s Scepter of Divinity: Movement speed bonus increased from 25 to 30.
  • Linken’s Sphere: Added +10 damage to account for component bonuses.
  • Linken’s Sphere: No longer triggered by Medallion of Courage.
  • Linken’s Sphere: No longer triggered by Urn of Shadows.
  • Magic Wand: No longer loses charges when upgrading from Magic Stick.
  • Mask of Madness: Berserk’s movement speed bonus increased from 20% to 25%.
  • Mjollnir: Chain lightning bounce count increased from 4 to 8.
  • Necronomicon: Archer’s Mana burn cast range increased from 250 to 600.
  • Necronomicon: Archer’s attack damage increased from 31/61/91 to 40/80/120.
  • Necronomicon: Warrior’s attack damage increased from 21/41/61 to 25/50/75.
  • Orb of Venom: Cost decreased from 450 to 350.
  • Orchid Malevolence: Recipe Reworked: now requires 2 Oblivion Staffs and a 775 gold recipe.
  • Smoke of Deceit: Dispel AoE for nearby heroes increased from 950 to 1025.
  • Refresher Orb: Added +6 Intelligence to account for component bonuses.
  • Stygian Desolator: Desolator recipe cost decreased from 1200 to 900.
  • Vanguard: HP Bonus decreased from 275 to 250.
  • Veil of Discord: Recipe now requires only one Robe of the Magi, completed bonuses are the same.
  • Couriers: Now give 150 to each enemy player, instead of 300 to the killer.
  • Couriers: No longer drop items when they die.
  • Couriers: Respawn 3 minutes after death, the items they have are inaccesible during that time.
  • Couriers: Flying courier no longer has invulnerability shield.
  • Couriers: Basic courier is magic immune (like flying courier, most spells did not work on couriers already).
  • Buyback cooldown increased from 4 minutes to 5.
  • Heroes now respawn with full mana.
  • Gold over time from 0.875 intervals to 0.8.
  • Runes will no longer spawn the same rune type 2 times in a row.
  • Forest Healing Troll now has a Mana Aura (+2 MP/sec).
  • Forest Healing Troll’s heal cooldown from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds.
GAMEPLAY
  • Added DOTA 2 Spiritbreaker (Baratharum)
  • Added DOTA 2 Silencer (Nortrom)
  • Added Tournament version switch.
  • Fixed a bug where if you issued commands in rapid succession, some commands could be ignored.
  • Alchemist: Fixed Unstable Concoction stunning Alchemist when he is magic immune.
  • Axe: Fixed Counter Helix doing the damage when the attack impacted rather than started.
  • Bloodseeker: Fixed being able to cast Bloodrage on Magic Immune allies/self.
  • Bounty Hunter: Fixed it being possible to use Jinada cooldown without triggering a critical strike.
  • Bounty Hunter: Fixed Jinada working on denies.
  • Bounty Hunter: Fixed Jinada and Shadowblade affecting buildings.
  • Bounty Hunter: Fixed Track giving bonus gold for dead illusions.
  • Bounty Hunter: Fixed Track not being dispelled by Time Lapse, Repel, Purge, etc.
  • Bounty Hunter: Fixed Track debuff icon not showing.
  • Broodmother: Fixed Spawn Spiderite working on wards.
  • Clockwerk: Fixed Hookshot hitting couriers.
  • Dragon Knight: Fixed Dragon Tail ignoring Linken’s Sphere.
  • Nature’s Prophet: Fixed not being able to see the teleportation end point if it is in FoW.
  • Huskar: Fixed Lifebreak being dodgeable.
  • Leshrac: Fixed Pulse Nova turning back on when out of mana sometimes.
  • Lifestealer: Fixed Rage not properly dispelling negative debuffs
  • Lifestealer: Fixed Open Wounds healing towers.
  • Lifestealer: Fixed Infest not working on Mud Golems.
  • Nevermore: Fixed Presence of the Dark Lord not working on siege units.
  • Night Stalker: Fixed Hunter in the Night working on Illusions.
  • Omniknight: Fixed Repel taking Shadowblade invis buff off
  • Omniknight: Fixed Repel causing Burrowstrike to fail if used during the movement period
  • Omniknight: Fixed Holy Persuation working on magic immune allies.
  • Omniknight: Fixed Repel revealing Broodmother while under Spin Web.
  • Sand King: Fixed Refresher Burrow Strike not hurting affected units
  • Shadow Shaman: Fixed Ethershock hitting units in the FoW.
  • Storm Spirit: Fixed Overload charge being used up if the target dies before impact.
  • Tidehunter: Fixed Refresher Ravage not hurting affected units.
  • Tidehunter: Fixed Kraken Shell not reducing tower damage.
  • Tiny: Fixed the timing of when the stun happened with Craggy Exterior.
  • Ursa: Fury swipes should only work on organic units and Roshan now.
  • Ursa: Fixed Illusions not dealing bonus damage on a unit that has Fury Swipe stacks already.
  • Venomancer: Fixed Plague Ward collision size
  • Fixed Satanic being dispellable.
  • Fixed Janggo Aura not affecting lane creeps.
  • Fixed Vladmir Aura’s mana regen stacking with Basilius.
  • Fixed Necro Warrior’s Mana Burn ignoring Linken’s Sphere.
  • Fixed Refresher Orb not geving bonus int.
  • Fixed Power Treads movement bonus being off by 5.
  • Fixed Force Staff not giving an error (and wasting cooldown) when used on allied magic immune.
  • Fixed Unobstructed vision working on Illusions.
  • Fixed Bash against wards.
  • Fixed a hero not leveling up multiple times if they received enough XP in one go.
  • Fixed some Legacy Keys.
  • Enabled Ursa and Bounty Hunter in Captain’s Mode.
  • Fixed Bottle usage cooldown.
  • Fixed couriers losing behaviors and being removed from unit selections and control groups when they are upgraded to flying.
User Interface:
  • Updated the minimap texture.
  • Dominated and summoned creeps now draw larger on minimap.
  • Fixed shop keys getting unbound.
  • Fixed a case where dragging a non-controllable unit’s inventory item would result in a drag of the player’s hero’s item instead.
  • Fixed control clicking on an active item showing a confusing error.
  • Added a Animate Portrait setting to the video config.
  • Fixed Cheap Water setting being backwards.
  • Fixed the quickbuy purchase shortcut not buying items if they existed in both the secret and side shop, when at the side shop.
  • The shop button now highlights when you are in range of the shop.
  • When using Alt, minimap hero names are now icons.
  • When using Alt, there are now TP icons to show which teammate is teleporting in.
  • When using Alt, illusions draw smaller and semitransparent.
  • Disallowed item moves from the stash to the main inventory while reincarnating.
  • Minimap lines for muted players are no longer drawn.
  • Added an overhead indicator for flesh heap.
  • Added a tooltip to the courier button.
  • The courier button shows as inactive when there are either no couriers, or only dead couriers.
  • Fixed the reliable/unreliable gold tooltip showing up for non-hero units.
  • Fixed hero images not showing up in the top bar and scoreboard until their entities came out of dormancy.
  • Fixed being able to select units previously part of a multi-unit selection by clicking on the space where they were displayed, after returning to single-unit selection.
  • Added health number on the player’s hero’s floating health bar.
  • Fixed a case where the stash would show the wrong item icon.
  • Added “Auto Speed” feature to Directed mode in the spectator HUD when watching a replay.
    • Will automatically speed up the replay when nothing is happening, and slow down when action occurs.
    • Will do super slow-mo at moments when heroes are killed.
    • Only works on replays recorded after this release.
  • Fixed bug where the stickly slot would sometimes, mysteriously, change items.
  • Fixed not being able to buy stackable items from side shop with a full inventory (ie. teleport scroll).
  • Fixed channel bar not going away when querying a channeling hero that enter fog of war.
  • Shift-clicking a unit in multi-unit selection hud element now deselects the unit.
  • Fixed Top bar clicks not going to the correct heroes when playing back demos.
  • Taskbar icon will now flash when a game is paused/unpaused, if the game doesn’t already have focus.
  • Added attack icon and ping for enemy structures.
  • Mana and health regen values are no longer drawn in the hud when querying enemies.
  • Practice lobby settings are now shown to all lobby members.
  • Improved scrollbars and scrolling views.
  • Winner and duration are hidden on the match details screen by default.
  • Fixed default date range when searching for replays.
VISUALS
  • There is now an impact effect on enemies who are damaged by Dazzle’s Shadow Wave.
  • There is now a splash effect when Morphling takes an illusion’s position.
  • Removed track casting effect from enemy vision.
  • Changed how Dark Seer’s illusions look — smaller and illusion color for both teams.
  • Fixed Ursa turning bright yellow on lower-end cards.
  • Made Lifestealer’s Rage effect slightly more subtle.
  • Made Pudge’s Rot way less subtle.
AUDIO
  • Death Prophet will comment on her ghosts returning when they begin turning back instead of when they’re done returning.
  • Slightly lessened the volume of the Match Ready sound.
  • Made warning about Ancient being under attack always play, even if there are heroes nearby defending it.
Dota 2 BOTS
  • Enabled bot difficulty selection. Currently all bots in the match will use the same difficulty setting.
  • Fixed cases where bots would want to gank a nearby invisible unit.
  • Bots will now wait a couple seconds before using a TP scroll to ensure that their desire to go to a location wasn’t just momentary.
  • Fixed case where bots would say “Defending none” when they were defending their base.
  • Fixed bug where you would lose your assigned lane if you moved too close to the base.
  • Fixed bug that was causing bots to use TP scrolls less often than they should when doing long pathfinds.
  • Fixed bug that was making bots think Windrunner was way more powerful than she actually was when she had the Focus Fire buff active.
  • Increased desire to not move with Rupture.
  • When bots are pushing a tower, and allies have signed up to help out, they will do a better job of waiting for them to show up before actually doing the push.
  • Made bots more likely to stick with Roshan when his health is low, even if they think it’s dangerous.
  • Added slight buyback delay so bots aren’t superhuman about buying back into the game.
  • Improved Tidehunter’s Ravage usage, he will now consider using it even when retreating.
  • Made bots more likely to commit post-allied-Ravage.
  • Fixed bug where bots would gather up for a tower push when no more reinforcements were coming.
  • Fixed bug that caused bots to be jerks and prematurely retreat with extremely high priority when a teamfight happened and one of their teammates was being attacked.
  • Made bots more likely to break off Roshan (and not decide to do Rosh) if any hero fights are happening nearby.
  • Increased tower avoidance at mid-range health values, should help avoid some ill-advised tower-dives.
  • Made bots focus a bit more on a tower/rax push rather than swapping off to attack a hero.
  • Made bots less likely to ignore very high-health enemies.
  • Made bots less likely to tank creeps when attacking an enemy’s minons.
  • Bots now have the ability to figure out which enemy heroes are illusions and which aren’t, and they will adjust their ability usage accordingly.
  • Fixed a few cases where bots would try to cast an interrupting stun on a magic-immune enemy that was channeling.
  • Made bots a bit less aggressive about buying dust.
  • Made bots a bit more scared of Juggernaut’s Blade Fury when at low health.
  • Fixed bug where bots would sometimes buy a duplicate courier.
  • Improved how bots infer ganks, tower pushes, and tower defenses from human players.
  • Bots are now more likely to automatically help out humans with tower pushes, tower defenses, and doing Rosh.
read more "DOTA 2 Update (12th Jan. 2012)"

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Microsoft CEO Reveal Windows 8 Creation



Much  of the 70-minute presentation in the International Consumer Electronics Show revolved around Microsoft's work on software that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballner has been promising will make the company a bigger factor in the increasing important market for smarthphones and computer tablets.


Microsoft Corp. hopes to make its biggest breakthrough with Windows 8, the next version of its dominant computer operating system due out later this year. As expected, Ballner didn't announce a specific date for Windows 8's mass-market release. Most analysts expect the system to hit the market in the late summer or early autumn.

Ballner calls Windows 8 a "no compromise" approach to computer tablets because the system will retain the familiar tools that people have been using on desktop computers for years.


A New Version

Microsoft's long-awaited push into a computer tablet market led by Apple's trend-setting iPad will come with the much-anticipated release of Windows 8.


Like Windows Phone, the next version of the Windows operating system will include a mosaic of tiles that will allow applications to the controlled with a swipe of the finger. Windows 8 will also respond to computer keyboard command and clicks from a computer mouse.
read more "Microsoft CEO Reveal Windows 8 Creation"

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Tattoo Safety Questioned After Bali HIV Scare



Travelers who got tattoos or piercing while in Bali, Indonesia, have been warned to have themselves checked after a Western Australian man reportedly contracted HIV during a recent holiday trip to the resort island.

Health officials are warning travelers about the danger of getting tattoos or piercing in developing countries, saying the regulations and codes of practice in these countries don't necessarily comply with Australia's.

  • There are 4,200 HIV / AIDS case in Bali, Indonesia
While  the investigation is ongoing, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said individuals who want to avoid infections from HIV and viral hepatitis should make sure they don't share needles for tattoos, body piercings, or other injections.

Americas Food and Drug Administration has also launched a new tattoo studies to investigate a chemical in black ink called benzo(a) pyrene. This chemical has been shown to cause skin cancer in lab animals and malignant melanomas in some tattoos.

WebMD says getting a permanent tattoo requires breaking the skin and coming in contact with blood and body fluids.
read more "Tattoo Safety Questioned After Bali HIV Scare"

Yahoo Names Paypal Head As New CEO


Yahoo's previous turnaround attempts have flopped under three different leaders with dramatically different backgrounds - former movie mogul Terry Semel, beloved Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and profanity-spewing Silicon Valley veteran Carol Bartz.

Now, the struggling Internet company is making yet another unorthodox choice with announcement that it has lured away Scott Thopmson from a lower-profile job running eBay's Thriving Paypal service to step into the pressure-packed position as Yahoo's fourth CEO in less than five years.


The appointment  raised questions among analysts, since Thompson, 54, has no experience in online content and advertising, Yahoo's chief sources of revenue. Te timing of Thompson's hiring also came as a surprise, given that Yahoo's board has been considering a sale of all or part of the company since firing Bartz four months ago. With Thompson's selection, Yahoo's board is signaling that it believes the company can still rebound, despite several years of losing grounds to Google and Facebook in product innovation and online advertising.

Thompson's job will be to revive Yahoo's revenue growth and repair the company's fractured relationship with investors fed up with a litany of broken turnaround promises.

Analysts estimate Yahoo's revenue last year totaled about $5 billion, down from nearly $7 billion in 2007. During the same span, Google's revenue soared from $17 billion to an estimated $38 billion. Privately held Facebook doesn't disclose its finances.

Thanks largely to cost-cutting measures imposed by Bartz, Yahoo has become more profitable. Last year, it earned an estimated $1.1 billion, up from $660 billion in 2007.

Still, investors are disappointed with the downturn in revenue at a time when advertisers are spending more money on the Internet.
read more "Yahoo Names Paypal Head As New CEO"

Friday, January 6, 2012

LG 55- inch OLED TV Using New Ultra-thin Technology


LG Electronics Inc. says  it's planning to sell a 55-inch (140-centemeter) set based on  organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. The South Korean company  is set to show it off at the  International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)  in  Las Vegas, which starts Jan. 10.


Samsung Electronics  Co., LG's Lorean rival, will also reveal a nearly market-ready OLED TV at the show, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The spoke on  condition of anonymity because Samsung  has yet to make an announcement. 



Ultra-thin Technology

The screen technology is in  use in high-end smartphones    and provides deeply saturated colors and high contrast. However,   it's been very difficult to make larger screens with consistent results.

In late 2007, Sony Corp. started selling an 11-inch (28-centimeter) OLED TV for about $2,500, but it never followed  it up with a bigger model. Since then, LG and Samsung have shown prototype OLED TVs at the annual CES show, but haven't revealed any marketing plans.

Apart from providing improved picture quality, OLED TVs can be very thin. LG's set will be four millimeters thick (3/16ths of an inch) and weight 16.5 pounds (7.5 kilograms). Analyst estimates that OLED sets will start out above $5,000.

read more "LG 55- inch OLED TV Using New Ultra-thin Technology"

Whale Sharks Sighted Off Oslob, Cebu Boost Tourism In The Area


The town of Oslob in southern Cebu noted a sudden increase in the number of tourists. They can only think of one reason - whale sharks.

In the past three months, whale sharks have been seen off Barangay Tan-awan, Oslob. From just one, seven - including two pups - where seen interacting with divers.

Through word of mouth, people have started going to Tan-awan to swim with the whale sharks.
Boost In Tourism

Lives of coastal residents in the town changed when "tame" whale sharks, locally known as butanding, appeared in their waters, attracting curious foreigners and locals and boosting tourism in the area.

Fishermen in the area have been earning more by acting as tourist guides. They take guests aboard their bancas to the spot where the whale sharks congregate.

Tourist feed the whale sharks small fish and  krill to make the creatures stay. But the behavioral pattern of the whale shark has changed. What will happen if people stops feeding them?


According to the Internet, whale sharks inhabit tropical and warm-temperate seas. They migrate to spawn to Australia's west coast, where the supply of plankton, their main source of food, is abundant.

Now, the local government are doing its best to take good care of these creatures and formulating   guidelines that will ensure the protection of the whale sharks and viewers and the livelihood of fishermen in the area.

read more "Whale Sharks Sighted Off Oslob, Cebu Boost Tourism In The Area"

Thursday, January 5, 2012

CastleVille Cheats, Tips And Tricks On Facebook


 When you enter the world of Castle Ville you are immediately surrounded by an astonishing environment, merry characters, cute animals, and numerous colors, all appealing simultaneously to the kid inside you. In your first minutes you will be stunned by the incredible music touching your soul, the numerous brilliant ( easy to understand, and yet not so easy to complete ) quests, and the fantastic number of options you have in front of you. As soon as you start playing you are involved in the story line and the quests just keep getting more and more interesting.



 CastleVille Energy Tricks

When you begin playing CastleVille, you have 10 energies that you can use to get started at your quests. You can find your energy level at the top right side of your game screen. It has a thunder-icon, you may be familiar with the icon since it's generally used for most facebook games. And you may notice the timer below it that says,"More in: 05:00" that means, you will increase your energy after 5 minutes.

So we got 1 tip in getting energy – waiting. Every 5 minutes, your energy level is increasing by 1, but you can't just wait right? And note that it won’t increase forever, like if you wait for 100 hours to get 1,200 energy – NO! Because you have energy limit for each level, let say you're level 1, your energy bar limit is 10, even if you wait for 10 days, you will only get 10 energy, because your energy limit is full. There are times that even if your energy limit is full, you can still get higher energy. This is what we want to know, you will notice that the energy bar color is changing from white to yellow when the energy is higher than your energy limit.

You can get more energy by completing quests. Each quest has rewards and most often the rewards that are energy, experience points, coins and other stuffs. Anyway, completing quests are not boring and hard in CastleVille as much other facebook games. And you should spend your energy to complete quest and level up your kingdom. So, start completing your quests and surely you'll enjoy it.

But most of the cases, while completing your quests you lose energy and cannot continue to complete your quests. That cannot stop you – you still have more other ways to get energy.

The next step in getting energy in CastleVille is to have more neighbors. Invite as many friends as can to be your neighbor on CastleVille and visit their kingdom. This will allow you see how they design in their kingdom, especially to those that higher level than you have so you might have a clue of what looks better and not. This will also gain you some Reputation Hearts, which is required for some higher quests in CastleVille. And lastly, by helping your neighboring kingdom it will give you energy as thank you gift for helping them out.


But there is also a limit in getting energy rewards when visiting friends, you can only visit 20 friends per day to get free energy. That only means, you only have 20 energy that you can get per day by visiting your friend’s kingdom. But there’s more energy resource in CastleVille.

The next is through Level Up, when you level up you got 10 free energies in an instant. And while you level up, your energy limit will also increase and that means you can wait for more energy. But when you are in higher level, leveling will take some time. Usually, it will take 2 to 3 days, when you reach level 30, that is for a regular play in a day and of course it will also be depending on how you play and we need to sleep, work, study and do our real life activities. But you can get energy while you don't play.
 CastleVille FREE Items
In order to claim your free reward in CastleVille, simply click the links below. Although CastleVille has just been launched, Zynga has decided to start with a blast and offer you some free items for playing the game already. Here below have all the free item links for CastleVille to share with you, but you'd better grab them fast because they might stop working after a time. Good Luck...

- CastleVille 500 coins link >>
- CastleVille 1 GMA Flag Pole link >>
- CastleVille 1 Exploration Crystal link >>
- CastleVille free Hyper Craft link >>
- CastleVille free 1 Gold Brick link >>
- CastleVille free Marble Fountain link >>
- CastleVille Golden Fish Fountain link >>
- CastleVille Archery Target link >>
- CastleVille free Fountain Link >>
- CastleVille Hyper Craft link >>
- CastleVille Exploration Crystal link >>
- CastleVille Good Morning Glory Link >>
- CastleVille The Queen's Silver Statue Link >>
- CastleVille free Cannon Link >>
- CastleVille Free Bluebonnet Link >>
- CastleVille Topiary Castle Link >>


How To Get CastleVille Crowns?

At start of the game, you are provided a certain amount of free crowns to use. After that, acquiring CastleVille Crowns will not be such an easy task. Let's look at the ways:

1. Leveling Up

  • Leveling up not only unlocks more structures or things to do within the game. It is a good source of rewards such as coins, experience and CastleVille Crowns.
  • You will gain 1 CastleVille Crown for each level up your character makes.

2. Purchasing CastleVille Crowns

  • With the use of real cash on different payment options, you can convert it into in-game crowns.

3. Earning Free Crowns

  • Right on top of the game interface, an "Earn Crowns" tab can be located.
  • Participating sponsors will provide free CastleVille crowns for your character upon fulfillment of its requirements.

4. Use of Zynga Cards

  • Buying a prepaid Zynga card and redeeming on the "Game Card" tab right above the game interface, will convert it into CastleVille Crowns
  • The different denominations on game cards will reflect on how much you will earn CastleVille crowns.

    read more "CastleVille Cheats, Tips And Tricks On Facebook"