Microsoft’s Integration Strategy Continues to Solidify With Upcoming Surface Phone

Posted on April 3, 2016 by dsarden17

Microsoft has continued it’s push into the device world. This is a company that’s not continuously considered cool, or hip. In the cell phone industry they have lagged for too long, and when they release a new device it’s not an event for legions of devotees to their brand.

Since Microsoft has purchased Nokia’s handset division, they have remained in the bottom of the market share fight with Google, Apple, Samsung. The cell phone market is highly saturated. However, Microsoft knows that its focus in cloud computing requires them to get into the market, and CEO Sataya Nadella sees this as an opportunity.

Integration is the name of the game for the tech world, and will continue to spread into the future. There part of the game isn’t completely about market share. In fact, they only need to worry about selling enough to keep that segment profitable.

So, if their game isn’t about being number one, then what is it?

Microsoft has the most widely used operating system, and they share the broadest reach internationally with Google. Microsoft knows that corporations in emerging markets will more than likely grow with Windows, if they want to branch out globally, or even interact with international companies. As those companies grow, the availability of integrated devices will see a boost in phone sales, and keep Microsoft competitive globally.

However, never rule out Microsoft becoming large in the devices industry. Microsoft has always been a software company, but now the ability to build their own devices, such as the highly successful Surface and Surface Pro. The Surface phone looks to bring a new dimension to Microsoft, and the rest of the tech world should take notice.

http://www.inferse.com/40950/microsoft-windows-phone-10-surface-phone/

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Does Working Out Harm My Bones?

Posted on April 2, 2016 by brimacnaught

We have all heard the countless rants regarding health. One moment eating a particular item is good for you and the next it is the leading cause for cancer. This may be a drastic example, but this statement holds some weight. Long gone are the days where we know exactly what is healthy and what is truly not.

We have come to face another dilemma where we are constantly told that working out will eventually lead to built up of strong bones. According to the article in the New York Times “Exercise Is Not the Path to Strong Bones” by Gina Kolata, exercise has little or no effect on bone strength. The news of this fact can alter how we look at exercise. How do we strengthen our bones in the first place?

Scientist have spent a lot of time in studying the effect exercise has on the body. These detailed studies “failed to find anything more than a minuscule exercise effect — on the order of 1 percent or less, which is too small to be clinically significant”. Meaning there is no actual benefit to our bones from exercise, and if there is, it is barely noticeable.

The mystery continues as more scientist continue to do research on whether our bones benefit from working out. However, It is a fact that exercise builds muscle, which makes us healthier humans. Our focus should be on the pursuit of healthiness and we should strive to maintain a healthy lifestyle however that looks like.

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NBA: Magic rout Pacers showing signs of what is to come next season.

Posted on April 1, 2016 by College of Sciences

The Orlando Magic began the season with hopes and aspirations of a playoff birth.  These hopes were officially shut down last weekend when they were mathematically eliminated from the playoff equation.

This didn’t stop the young Magic team from giving their best to Paul George and the Indiana Pacers on Thursday.  With a 114-94 victory, the Pacers are in bad shape in regards to making the playoffs.  That puts them at a 2 – loss streak, and 8th place in the conference standings.  They’re now on the down swing with the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards in the hunt for the last playoff spot that the Pacers currently are barely holding on to.

The Magic on the other hand, despite being out of contention are performing like a playoff team.  Capturing their first win in Indiana in 4 years, the Magic were confident and poised in the face of team that they hadn’t beat in 6 straight meetings.  Led by Evan Fournier with 25 pts, he shot an efficient 10-14 from the field, including 3-5 three-pointers.   Nikola Vucevic made his return, coming off the bench with 24 pts in 25 minutes of play, shooting 12-15 with 6 rebounds.

The Pacers kept up until towards the end of the 3rd Quarter when Fournier took control, finishing the period by putting Orlando up 89-79.  The Magic would go on to maintain that lead throughout the 4th quarter, finishing at 114-94.

This performance bodes well for the rising stock of the Magic in addition to the cap space clear out they went through a month ago.  A big free agent addition will help push them into the playoffs in the 2016-2017 season.

Winning the last three games, respectively over the Bulls, Nets, and Pacers.  Coach Skiles said “… clearly, in the last three games we’ve played like a playoff team…”  following Thursday’s victory.

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Skittles Saved Her Life

Posted on March 30, 2016 by dgantea

A former homeless mother of two has endured a rough couple of years.  Twenty-seven year old Sarah Louise Bryan has been sleeping on friends’ couches after being left penniless and facing rental arrears.  The mother has been doing everything she can to keep a roof over her children’s heads until she had a miraculous dream that could save her life.

Sarah Louise Bryan had an idea while lying in bed one night- an idea that could potentially make her lots of money.  She dreamt of a dress made completely of Skittles, and immediately jumped out of bed to search online and make sure the idea had not already been done.  The next day she began her creation and after 180 hours, 90 tubes of glue and 3,000 Skittles, her masterpiece was complete.  Bryan posted a photo of her creation on Twitter and the post went viral.

Ripley’s museum in America ended up buying the dress and Bryan has since been given her own clothing and handbag line and is set to supply her designs to the Kardashians.  For a former beautician who had been living homeless, this was a dream come true.  During an interview with the Birmingham Mail, Bryan stated “Not so long ago I had basically nothing. I was struggling with rent, I was a teenage parent as well and I used to be in foster care.”

Sarah Louise is an example of how powerful social media is in our generation.  A simple idea can be taken to any social media outlets and instantly be shared with millions of people.  It just goes to show how easy it is to pursue what your passionate about and follow your dreams.  Bryan said, “When little things knock you back, and believe me they do, just pick yourself up and just try again.”

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How Do We Should We Cater To All The Different Types of Audiences? -Here We Tell You What To Keep In Mind!

Posted on March 28, 2016 by jesusalberto2120

For example, someone who is currently living in Venezuela with the country’s insecurity problems, robberies, inflations, socialist president could probably care less about the new restaurant that Kim Kardashian just opened up in Manhattan, but as soon as that person opens their Facebook I could guarantee that that headline will be in their feed or, at least, show up in the trending topics of Facebook because those are the type of news we mention in our society. So to them it might seem so ridiculous that this is the serious trending new, when they are dealing with actual problems in their home country but people don’t know about it because they are trying to keep up with the Kardashians on their reality tv show that teaches nothing to our younger crowd than just to look pretty.
This is why we have to cater to what most people would like to see instead of just one genre of people. Current events will always be important to everyone regardless where they are from because we all care what happens worldwide in regards to hard news. Entertainment news is a touchy subject because that depends on each person’s likes and dislikes but we can guess usually what most people would like to know about or a cool recipe that involves chocolate, because let’s be honest, who doesn’t like chocolate? exactly.

The reason I choose this reading is because it relates so much to what I see everyday, I consider myself a millennial, but I am someone who believes to be more mature for my age, because even though I love to see entertainment news in my news feed I like to be up to date with just regular actual news, so when thinking about this article brings light to the fact that I am able to not just see info about college and celebrities but also what’s going with ISIS all over the world, so it is interesting to realize that I know why things are catered to one type of audience over another.

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Easter the Biggest Smallest Holiday

Posted on March 27, 2016 by ashley riordan

By Shawn Presley

In Lou of the Holidays I must admit Easter is by far the Biggest little Holliday. With so much that surrounds the holiday, things such as buying clothes, seeing family, and the many festivities, Easter is considered a major holiday. Furthermore the festivities of Egg hunts with egg painting are synonymous with that of the pumpkin and Halloween.

On the other hand, the “little” factor of Easter is due in part to the professional aspect. Many jobs and businesses do not regard the holiday as just that, a holiday. Sure you may get specials on Eggs and candies but the individuals selling the eggs and candies are not permitted a shorter day of work or increasesd pay scales.

Without a doubt many of Americans acknowledge the holiday but it’s not held in nearly the same light as that of Halloween or Christmas. Some  can argue is due in part to it’s religious significance but so is Christmas. I argue the reason for “downplaying” of the holiday is due in part of it’s celebration. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is celebratory occasion the secular world just cannot find itself highlighting.

 

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PGA: Day recaptures World No.1 Ranking and Match Play victory

Posted on March 27, 2016 by College of Sciences

Austin, Texas —  Day recaptured his World number one ranking on Saturday a day before he would go on to win the Dell Match Play tournament at Austin Country Club.  The change in rank was after Jordan Speith (Former No. 1) fell out of contention on Saturday leaving Day to finish the tournament above him in overall points no matter of what position he finished in after Speith lost his match.

Day made the weekend sweeter by going on to defeat Rory Mcilroy (also a Former No.1) in Sunday morning’s matchup.  The dramatic Semi-Final matchup was won on the 18th green with Day’s 12 foot par putt.  Not the lowest of scores, but hole by hole Day outlasted Rory to go on to face Louis Oosthuizen in the Championship round.

“I couldn’t buy a birdie” said Oosthuizen regarding his less than remarkable championship round.  But, Day should be thankful for Oosthuizen in regards that it was he, who took Speith out of the competition and allowed for Day to recapture the title of best golfer in the world (for the moment).

This all seems remarkable given that Day almost withdrew on the opening day because of a back ailment.  Thankfully, Day reconsidered his decision and took the headlines this weekend.

Looking onto the next big question, who will win the 2016 Masters?   Augusta is only 2 weeks away, and it’s the biggest major of them all.  Rumors have been swirling the most talked about golfer who doesn’t golf, Tiger Woods.  It was rumored that Woods had been spending some time recently at Augusta, possibly practicing for the chance at a 5th Masters title.  But, unfortunately that rumor was quickly squashed by his agent.

Even if Woods doesn’t play, it figures to be a great tournament with names like Watson, Scott, Fowler, Mcilroy, Day, Speith as well as the aging, but surging of-late Phil Mickelson competing.

See if Day sustains this pace by watching the Masters on ESPN April 7-10.

 

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2016 the first year of Consumer Virtual Reality?

Posted on March 27, 2016 by theblacklink

We’re only a few months into 2016 and we’ve already had major leaps and strides towards real, consumer level VR. Between options like the Oculus Rift (soon to launch for around 599 USD) and the HTC Vive blasting into the consumer market in just a short amount of time, the tech stage seems all but set for the new age of virtual reality. The main barrier between the average every day person and an all new VR experience? Actually not the price point, but the PC/tech spec requirements.

While the mainline VR price points are indeed high, the real barrier to entry for anyone trying to get into VR are the PC specs required to actually enjoy them. Performance wise, high level VR (for gaming, movies, and other things) will require quite the hefty PC performance, especially if you don’t want to get yourself a headache after only an hour of use. Frame/refresh rate, graphical fidelity, and performance all need to be taken into account. And that means $$$. Building a proper VR pc is a huge price of its own, costing well into the thousands to make an appropriate build, raising the overall investment cost of Virtual reality well beyond the hundreds you initially spend. This is of course to be expected with new technology, and hopefully prices will drop as more and more companies adopt and adapt virtual and augmented reality gear. But in the meantime, there is one cheaper option: the Playstation VR.

Sony’s recently announced VR platform will be compatible with its popular Playstation 4 platform which will frontload the performance costs of the VR system. Anyone with a PS4 will be able to enjoy the offerings of virtual reality provided by Sony, for the base cost of $399 for the base model and $499 for a bundle that will include games and a few controllers. Overall this is a pretty good deal for those of use who already own the Playstation 4 console, and its relatively small price of $399 compares vary favorably with the startup costs of its VR rivals. Current news even speculates that the Playstation VR, in addition to being cheaper than both the Vive and the Rift may even one day gain general PC compatibility, meaning a greatly enhanced software library. Any way you look at it, there are options out there for those of us interested in the bright future of augmented reality, and whether or not you pick the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive, or the Playstation VR, if you’ve got the equipment to run it, you’ll come out a winner.

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UCF GETS THE THUMBS UP TO BUILD A NEW CAMPUS DOWNTOWN.

Posted on March 27, 2016 by maxlolbutzlol

As always UCF is expanding and the UCF has to always keep up with the high demand of students and class. This is nothing new to a school that is know to be number 2 of University with the largest  student body. The main problem is if there will be enough parking for everyone. Downtown is always busy during both the day and night, and at night is the worst because parking can go up to $20 and depend what celebrity it can even be more than that. UCF is also partnering up with Valencia in this whole process of moving everything with you. I think it is a great idea but it is in the wrong location. Downtown area is always quiet here during the day when all the you people and colleges kids come to hangout. On the plus side building the campus will add so many jobs to people who are in in need for, it is estimated that 2,000. So far community partners have been able to raise 16 million dollars. Like many large Universities is is common to have so many campuses spread out throughout the small area which is what UCF is doing but it is also merging with Valencia so the student from Valencia can have a better time transition to natural.

Although I am a senior and I would love to see the final product of this new campus I might not be a see it. Knowing UCF this campus is good at taking forever to complete by then I will be an alumni. No due date or deadline has been created for this new project but I will be keeping my eyes on there project.

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The Constant Flow of HD Remasters on Games and it’s Effects on Eliminating Originality

Posted on March 27, 2016 by kayleighladerman

This week, a long time favorite classic game of many people’s childhood was re-released in a new remastered format. Day of the Tentacle was originally released in 1993 by LucasArts and Double Fine Productions, one of the first games helmed by Tim Schafer, who would go on to produce Psychonauts and Broken Age, among many others. When game producers and publishers say “remastered”, what it usually means is an upscaling of the resolution and generally “cleaning up” the game by adding various Anti-aliasing and bloom effects. For games like Day of the Tentacle, a remaster is almost necessary to play the game on any modern day console or PC, since it originally ran on Windows ’98. However, many games have recently been remastered when the game is barely even one generation old. This is a blatant tactic of attempting to re-sell or remarket your game to people who have either already bought your game, or never wanted to buy it when it first came out.

Take, for Example, God of War III, originally released on the Playstation 3 in 2010, and was re-released for the Playstation 4 in 2015. While 5 years may seem like a lot, in terms of console generations, it is not. The so-called “remaster” hardly even improved the fidelity of the graphics, simply transitioning from 1080i to 1080p. Saints Row IV is another perfect example of this, re-relasing not even one full generation after it’s original incarnation, and providing nothing more than a claim of “60 FPS”. These constant remakes and remasters of still recent games is hurting the games industry – after all, why bother thinking of new ideas and original IP’s when, instead, you can just re-release a game you’ve already made with minimal changes to the graphics and resolution settings?

For older games, like the Majoras Mask Remaster, this practice may be a bit more acceptable, as these games can be difficult to play on today’s modern hardware. However, releasing a game twice in under a 3-5 year span simply seems unacceptable to me and, frankly, just plain lazy.

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