#Lag Shot Driver Review | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sodone-withlife · 4 years

Text

glass is fragile

Criminal Minds Fic Part One

| PART 1 | PART 2 |

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: implied character death

Notes: cross-posted on Ao3. this is the result of a random idea I had because while I love Hotchniss, I love the idea of the two meeting in college and keeping in contact with Hotch being an overprotective brother

fortuna vitrea est; tum cum splendet frangitur (fortune is glass; just when it gleams brightest it shatters) - Publilius Syrus

“Agent Hotchner?”

Hotch looked up and did a double-take. “Emily?” he stood up, sending a surprised look at the smiling woman carrying a file box standing in front of his desk. He walked around his desk and closed his office door before giving her a half hug. “It’s been a while hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Emily let out a brief laugh, placing the box down on one of the chairs. “Last we talked was what, two years ago?”

“Must have been,” Hotch walked back around the desk and sat down, gesturing for Emily to do the same. “How’ve you been doing?”

Her expression dimmed a bit, shadows encroaching on the brightness of their reunion. “Well, he is still locked away, so it’s old history,” she shrugged. “Joined the bureau about a year ago, and I’ve been stuck in a desk job over at White Collar.”

Hotch held her gaze, knowing what was going unsaid, then nodded and changed the subject. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what’s brought you here? Last I heard you were doing pretty well over in the DC office.”

Emily’s expression gave way to confusion as she sat up straight. “I’m transferring to your team,” she said slowly.

Hotch paused. “I didn’t receive any paperwork nor did I authorize any transfer,” he told her awkwardly.

She reached into the box and pulled out a file, giving it to him. “I’m not sure what to tell you,” she said and indicated the file, “but that’s what I have.” Hotch flipped through, lips compressed in thought.

“I’m going to have to look into this,” he looked up at her seriously and forestalled any protests with a placating hand. “There’s no doubt that you’re qualified to join this team. However, normally, all applications for this unit go directly to me, and your transfer happens to come just as there have been some inquiries regarding this unit.”

A look of mutual understanding passed between them, their experience with bureaucratic and office politics filling in all the blanks. “Well,” Hotch broke that silence that had fallen and stood up, “you’ve luckily caught us when we’re on stand down, so I’ll introduce you to the team and you can get set up.”

Emily nodded and stood up as he picked up the box for her, both slightly put off-balance in the new boss-employee dynamic between them after they had worked together on equal footing for a few years. Hotch nudged her arm, stopping her just before they walked out of the office.

When she looked up at him, a small but genuine smile had broken through the darker affect he had gained since the last time they had seen each other.

“It really is good to see you again.”

~~~

“Any idea why Sean, just out of the blue, asked to meet with us?”

Emily shook her head. “No idea,” she answered, looking at the suited man in the driver’s seat of the black Mercedes. “It’s been six years since I last talked to him. You?”

“Same as you, about six,” Hotch replied. “I remained in contact with him for a bit after I returned to the BAU, but our exchanges were usually brief.”

The two lapsed into an easy silence until Hotch pulled up in front of a jazz bar. They got out of the car and easily fell into an old rhythm developed over twenty years ago in New Haven, one that they often took advantage of during cases because of its apparently intimate nature.

“Emily Prentiss,” a burly Scottish man stood up from a booth towards the back of the bar and opened his arms invitingly. “Aaron Hotchner.”

Emily let out a delighted laugh and went in for the hug while a Hotch lagged behind with a faint smile.

“Sean,” Hotch sent the man a nod of greeting and shook his hand, “how are you?”

“Good,” Sean answered, gesturing towards the booth and sitting down.

“Sorry we weren’t able to get back to you sooner,” Emily said, scooting inward to make room for Hotch. “We got caught up chasing a spree killer couple out to the Pacific Northwest.”

“I had to be in DC anyway,” Sean responded. The delight the two FBI agents felt at seeing the man quickly faded and made way for feelings of foreboding when Sean’s demeanor and tone turned serious and almost fearful. He took a breath. “Ian Doyle vanished from prison, and Interpol can’t find him.”

His insides turning cold, Hotch immediately looked at Emily, who had gone pale. “What—” she swallowed, “what are you saying?”

Sean leaned in, a grim look in his eyes as he looked between the two. “He’s off the grid,” he said gravely.

“Do you think he’s headed here?” Hotch asked quietly, thoughts straying towards Emily and his son. Sean’s gaze only turned grimmer as he didn’t answer.

Emily’s shaky voice broke the tense silence—only interrupted by the ambiance of the bar—that had fallen. “Am I in danger?”

The Scotsman looked down, taking a moment to gather himself before looking back up, a chilling answer on his lips.

“We all are.”

~~~

“He sent freesias to your apartment?”

“No, don’t tell me, not even over this line. I’m going on a run tomorrow morning around National Mall and planning to eat at Dupont Circle afterward. I’ll send you the address if you’d like to join me?”

“Yeah, the moment I got home after Sean told us I checked and reset everything, did my rounds. You know how I can be, especially after… yeah.”

“If I didn’t know better I’d say I might be the least at risk, given that I was only involved half the time you guys were. But you are in significantly more danger than any of us.”

“Leave worrying about what I have to lose to me. You—for once in your life, just think about yourself and be careful.”

~~~

“You’ve got to get out of there.”

Hotch approached Emily out in the hallway, picking out fear from the urgency in her tone. “Get a flight. Leave France, get back to America,” she continued, unable to fully hide her fearful worry as she met his gaze with her own. “Cash transactions from here on out, am I clear?”

He watched as Emily listened to the other caller, a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Toss that cell phone and get home safely,” she finally said firmly, hanging up without waiting for a response.

“Who?” Hotch asked simply, having suspicions as to what this was about. Emily turned to glance through the window, seeing Reid watching the two carefully—Hotch followed her gaze just in time to catch Reid quickly looking back down.

He shook his head, looking back at Emily. “My office, as soon as we can.”

~~~

Hotch opened the next report in his stack and quickly flipped through only to see a ripped sheet of paper in between a crime scene photo and the autopsy report. Recognizing the handwriting, he pulled it out, only to freeze when he read the note.

I received a text last night. He’s in the country.

He ripped up the paper as he looked out into the bullpen, eyes landing on Emily, who was hunched over at her desk looking through a report. He took in a stabilizing breath as he felt yet another headache coming on in addition to the ever-present worry over his son’s safety, despite all the precautions he had put in place all those weeks ago in a fit of med-noncompliance-induced obsessive anxiety.

Digging out a sticky note from under the piles of paperwork on his desk and quickly writing a note, Hotch grabbed a fresh stack of papers and went out to distribute them. He surreptitiously slipped the sticky note onto Emily’s desk before moving onto the others and heading back into his office, closing the door behind him.

His personal phone buzzed.

>>T and C here in 48. 1300 rendezvous over phone (S): I’ll go out, you stay in the building

Hotch looked back into the bullpen at Emily, who was putting her phone away. He looked back at his phone and began to enter in a number when his gaze drifted over to the two pictures of Jack he kept on his desk. He sighed and deleted the number he just inputted, completing yet another round of the indecisive compulsion that started ever since that meeting in the jazz bar.

~~~

“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,” Tsia’s voice came over the phone and faintly from a few meters away. “After what happened to Jeremy, I was afraid.”

Emily sighed, shifting the newspaper in her lap. “Tsia, I’m sorry you can’t be at his funeral. It’s today, isn’t it?”

“Well, that’s the problem with marrying a member from your own team,” the other woman responded resignedly. “One of you is a target, so is the other. I get it.”

“Hello, darling,” a new voice came over the call—Emily couldn’t help but mentally sigh at the nickname from Clyde.

“Alright,” Hotch interjected. “Emily and I took a late lunch, and I’m currently reviewing a potential field case, so let’s make this quick.”

“How many times do I have to tell you?” Clyde asked rhetorically. “I’m not quick about anything.”

Emily rolled her eyes in exasperation and faint amusement, practically able to feel Hotch’s glare over the phone. “I don’t know,” she drawled. “What about that time I blew my cover in Prague? You took out that sentry before I could even draw my weapon. You saved my ass, Clyde.”

“I’m surprised you remember the little people from your Interpol days, now that you’re a posh FBI profiler,” Clyde shot back.

Hotch pointedly cleared his throat and changed the subject. “What’s being done to locate Doyle?”

“Only every agency in the northern hemisphere is looking for him.”

“What are we doing to find him?” Emily emphasized.

“My contact at DCRI tracked one of Doyle’s aliases leaving France the day after Jeremy’s murder,” Tsia reported. “He took a commercial flight to Beijing, then doubled back on a train bound for Berlin.”

“But when GSG 9 intercepted it, he was already gone,” Clyde finished.

“He sent me flowers, so I think it’s safe to assume he’s coming here,” Emily wryly added.

“Why is he doing this?” Tsia asked.

“Why do you think?” Hotch threw back. “We put him away. Hold on—” he cut himself off just as Emily’s other phone beeped.

“Duty calls?” Emily didn’t answer, feeling Clyde’s eyes on her back. “I know what you’re thinking—absolutely not,” he said firmly. “Your team isn’t under oath—”

“They could help,” she interrupted.

“How?” Tsia questioned. “We don’t even know where Doyle is. Involving them at this point would be premature.”

“Hotch?”

“Emily,” Hotch started quietly. “They’re highly capable, yes, but they don’t have clearance, and I rather doubt Strauss would be willing to help plead our case.”

“It would also be highly reckless,” Clyde interjected. “Leave it to Tsia and I, and you two stay with your team.”

“Even in hiding Doyle can’t resist extravagance,” Emily suggested, relenting to the others. “Track the money.”

“I will find him, darling. Trust me.”

Hotch scoffed at the plea request over the phone. “I don’t trust anyone, anymore,” Emily threw back, her tone conveying how both she and Hotch feel about that appeal.

~~~

>>T and C tracked V to DC. Chuck Murray.

<<Isn’t that the name of V’s dog?

>> Yep.

>>I’m playing fish food tonight. Alone.

<<Are you sure?

>>Like you said: you’re in as much danger as the rest of us are. I also happen to be his main target and he’ll kill anyone in his way. You happen to have the most to lose, and you can bet that he’s already got eyes on you.

<<Don’t worry about me, I’ve gotten that handled quite a bit ago. Location.

>>Seriously?

<<I trust you. I just want to know where to start if you don’t show up tomorrow morning.

>>Fine. Hirshhorn Museum.

<<Don’t do anything stupid.

>>Awwww, is that emotion I detect from no-smile Iceman?

<<I can neither confirm nor deny.

<<Be careful, Blackbird.

~~~

“Ian Doyle is here in DC.”

“How can you be so sure?” Clyde asked skeptically.

“I sat next to him last night,” Emily deadpanned. “He said if I warned my team or told anyone, he’d kill them.”

“Does Aaron know about this?” Tsia was incredulous. Clyde snorted, rolling his eyes.

“Of course he does, he’s the protective big brother. Why didn’t Doyle kill you, and more to the point, why didn’t you kill him?”

“He’s not working alone,” Emily answered, staring at Clyde.

Tsia tried to reassure her. “Then he’s just playing with you—”

“No, no,” Clyde interrupted, disagreeing, “he’s a power-assertive psychopath. He doesn’t play games.”

“He’s meticulous, he plans everything down to the last detail—” Emily was cut off by a voice coming from her phone.

“Yeah, that last detail being you.”

“Finally decided to join us, Aaron?” Tsia turned to Emily. “Maybe you should tell your team,” she suggested.

“No, no way,” Emily shut it down. “This isn’t their fight.”

“Emily,” Hotch said over the phone. “He’s in DC, and he’s working with others. There is a high chance that the team is going to get pulled into something, you know that.”

“But—”

“I’m not saying we tell them now, but if the team does get pulled into this, we are going to have to tell them. You need to be prepared for that.”

Emily scoffed. “Are you?”

“We stay together, we can get him,” Tsia insisted.

“We already tried,” Emily retorted. “And look where that got us.”

“Wait, wait,” Clyde broke in, looking at her imploringly. “When you went undercover, I promised no one would harm you.”

“I’m not undercover anymore.”

“DC isn’t his comfort zone, it’s ours,” Hotch’s voice was firm. “This ends here.”

~~~

“Reid, you got anything?” Morgan asked, walking up behind the genius.

“The damage is pretty extensive, but luckily some of the tattoo remains,” Reid commented, focusing largely on the sketch.

“Seaver,” Hotch turned to the probationary agent, “get the victim’s photo out to the press.”

“I think I know who dug the hole.” Garcia’s voice rang out from behind them as she approached the group with a notebook in hand. The others turned. “The journo told me to follow the money, like straight up, that’s what he told me, so I did.” She moved to face the others. “It turns out ‘The Gazette’ is owned by a multinational global conglomerate—oil, new technologies, shipping, air and ground transportation—all of which employ the services of one company,” the analyst looked up from her notebook, “CWS.”

“Clearwater Securities?” Hotch asked, hiding the foreboding feelings starting to creep upon him.

Rossi looked at him in surprise. “You know them?”

“I’ve come across them,” Hotch confirmed, not looking at Emily. “They’re a private counterintelligence group out of Geneva.”

“Ron Cosenza, Byron Delaney, Kerry Fagan all worked for CWS,” Garcia told them.

“How long ago?” Emily asked.

“Seven years.”

“Seaver, hang up,” Hotch said, hiding the days-old conflict going strong in his head as she did as ordered.

Still looking towards Hotch, Rossi asked, “Do we have a problem?”

“No, CWS does.”

“Got it,” Reid leaned back in his chair, showing everyone the sketched reconstruction of the tattoo. Hotch froze, mind overlaying an old memory over the familiar design, and glanced at Emily, who had also gone pale. They made eye contact, and Hotch nodded to her unasked question.

As she slipped out of the bullpen, he turned to the others. “SCIF,” he ordered, bringing out his phone and scrolling through his contacts.

~~~

>>Are we…?

<<If V doesn’t already, he will know soon. There’s no reason not to tell them.

>>But like you said, they don’t have clearance.

<<Discuss this after the corporate roadblocks, see what the team needs to know and what they can know.

~~~

“Exactly why did you bring us here?” a portly man asked as the team walked into the SCIF. “And why is the BAU interested in CWS?”

Hotch handed the men at the end of the table a few folders as Morgan threw the first question. “Why did you pull that story?”

The men gave him a critical look before flipping open the folders to see pictures of the victims and crime scenes.

“That’s how you remember them,” Hotch indicated the headshots, then the crime scene photos. “And that is how they are now.”

“You warned your friend, Byron Delaney,” Morgan stated. “You knew him the longest. It’s too bad you were too late.”

The man looked back impassionately. “If you’re looking for reactions, this is our business.”

“Business?” Rossi questioned the wording.

“Ugly as that sounds,” the man amended diplomatically.

“Kerry Fagan, Ron Cosenza, and Byron Delaney, they all worked for CWS,” Morgan pointed out.

“As do forty thousand other subcontractors do all over the world.”

“So they were subcontracted to you.”

“If you’re looking for answers, take it up with the main contractor,” the man avoided the question.

“And that would be… ?” Rossi asked.

“Your government.”

“Whoever is killing these families holds your company responsible, not the government,” Hotch informed them shortly.

“We run operations from the Middle east to Antarctica,” the man said, “going over them all will take months.”

“So you’ve already started investigations?” The man didn’t answer, but his silence spoke volumes.

“That’s why you pulled the story,” Rossi concluded.

One of the others leaned in, whispering something in the man’s ear. He nodded and turned to the team. “The cases these people were involved in are protected by a multinational official secrets agreement. Even if I wanted to I—”

“These people were killed on US soil,” Morgan interrupted,” by trained suspects who fired on federal agents.”

“As a courtesy,” Hotch said when there was no response, “and out of respect for the predicament your company now faces, everything in this room is off the record. However, outside this room, if you withhold information about the case, you and your company will be held fully accountable.”

The men shifted, uncomfortable, when the spokesperson finally relented. “Alright, what do you know?”

“We’re looking for a European team with considerable training,” Hotch chose his words carefully. “And for one of them, it’s personal.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because they could have spared the child, but they chose not to,” Morgan said.

“The killing of Samuel Cosenza by one of the team was personal,” Hotch agreed.

“One of the attacks shot last night had the remains of a tattoo on his wrist,” Rossi informed them as Hotch passed over another folder.

“On the surface the tattoo may look like a simple four-leaf clover,” Morgan described, “but the stem has a ‘V’ at the end. We believe this is associated with a hidden sect of fallen warriors. It’s also the name of a ship famous for its journeys from Dublin to America, the ‘Valhalla.’”

Rossi eyed the looks on the men’s faces. “Have you seen that before?” he asked.

“We ran an operation to capture the leader of a breakaway IRA faction years ago,” the man said. “He assumed that moniker.”

“What’s his name?” Hotch asked, already knowing the answer. The man was silent for a moment.

“Ian Doyle.”

~~~

“Okay, Ian Doyle’s officially on everyone’s list,” Garcia said, eyes skimming over her computer screen. “His mug is all over the place. He’s not going to be able to get out of the district unless he sprouts wings himself.”

“It’s not that I’m not happy that we have his name,” Seaver interjected, “but how are we supposed to know who’s on his list?”

“We study his life and every single person he’s ever come in contact with,” Morgan answered.

“Look, Doyle’s been away for seven years,” Emily said as Hotch and Rossi entered the room. “But he still managed to figure out who the players were, maybe we should start with how he got out of prison,” she suggested.

“Well, where was he locked up?” Morgan asked.

“Russia, I think.”

“Actually, there are no extradition papers on him,” Seaver informed them.

“Was Doyle on your radar when you were at Interpol?” Hotch’s gaze locked onto Emily’s, putting the ball that had been passed between them over the past week in her court.

“Uh, sure, I had heard of him, but direct contact?” she shook her head. “I’d have to ask around.”

“You do that, I’ll see who I can get from my end,” Hotch said to the others’ surprise as she nodded and walked out. “Not now,” he said to the team, sensing their questions and pulling out his phone.

“Good guys and bad keep files close to them,” Rossi brought their focus back.

“What are in these files?” Garcia asked.

“It’s intel. Insurance. Protection, for times like this,” he explained.

“Maybe I should go to Byron Delaney’s house and see what I can find,” Morgan suggested.

Hotch looked up from his texting at him. “Take Prentiss with you, she might have some insight.”

~~~

“The more players we get on this board, the sooner Erin will get her nose into it,” Rossi remarked.

Hotch didn’t look away from the photos they had pinned on the board. “Strauss already knows,” he said absentmindedly.

“I’m surprised she wasn’t in the SCIF,” Rossi said, surprised.

Hotch finally glanced at him. “She’s on vacation.”

“Oh, great. Now she’ll never take another one,” Rossi quipped. “You know people in Interpol?” he asked.

“Taskforce, joined late 2001 and returned half a year after Morgan joined the team. Did a bit of everything,” Hotch gave him a sardonic look. “Apparently, being a former prosecutor, former tactical agent, and now a profiler was highly desirable.”

Rossi snorted, momentarily giving away to amusement before sobering up. “Is everything about this guy classified?” he asked, staring at the messy case.

“Somebody knows him,” Hotch said. “We just haven’t found them yet.”

~~~

“Here’s the million-dollar question,” Garcia said, pulling up a close up of a foreign road sign. “Anyone know what language that is?”

“Those are villages in North Korea,” Prentiss said warily.

Garcia tilted her head. “I love you. Of course she does.”

“There’s a political prison near Haengyong-ni,” Prentiss continued.

“Camp 22, kwan-li-so,” Hotch said in recognition. “North Korea denies it exists.”

The others stared at him incredulously. “How—?” Morgan began.

“Two years,” Hotch explained shortly. “Met Emily a few times, heard Doyle’s name being tossed around. You think they took Doyle there?” he looked at the woman.

“That would explain why he’s after them,” Seaver suggested.

“Even his prison is off the grid,” Garcia threw in.

“All we know is that he was never married, had multiple residences, and was arrested at his Tuscan villa,” Seaver continued.

“There’s paperwork to back that up?” Emily asked.

“Ans a list of who was there that day,” Seaver confirmed, nodding. “There may be photographs, Reid’s looking into that now.”

“Right, so those people need to be warned that he’s on the warpath,” Hotch noted Emily’s deliberate calm belied by a nervous swallow.

“They have been,” Seaver said. “But here’s a whole different life he’s led, one that isn’t in any file.”

“Prentiss, did you hear from your European associates?” Hotch asked, checking if she had anything, himself having not gotten anything from them as of yet.

“I’m waiting for them to send me a document.”

“We need it now.” call them, now. How did he get to North Korea?

~~~

>>Told T to get out. C isn’t telling us everything.

<<And you trust me and T?

>>Known you since what, ‘89? And we’ve seen each other on the daily for the past five years now, Iceman.

>>Honestly, I don’t know about T or C, no idea what they’ve been up to.

<<Corelli’s?

<<If you want to keep hiding this you need to be more discreet, overheard you walking to my office.

<<Tell me later.

~~~

“What’s holding us up?” Rossi asked.

“We’re waiting for somebody from DC Metro Police,” Hotch said. “Then we can start.”

“Who’s got updates on roadblocks?”

“They will. All parkways and interstates in DC, Maryland, and Virginia have station checkpoints.”

“Doyle has the means to get in and out of the country,” Emily pointed out. “What makes you think he won’t get out of the District?”

Hotch blew out a breath, glancing at Emily and then at the numerous agency reps standing around in the bullpen. “It’s the best we’ve got right now.”

The door opened to reveal Morgan on the other side. “Metro got held up. Double homicide on K and 9th,” he reported. “They want me to take a look.”

An icy feeling trickled down Hotch’s spine when he realized what the location was. “Doyle?” he asked, not looking at Emily.

“Vic’s apartment looks like a black market forger,” Morgan said.

“The other victim?” Emily asked.

“A woman, thirties, no ID, outside his door.”

“I’m coming with you,” her tone brooked no argument.

“Go,” Hotch urged the two, who left as he picked up the landline.

~~~

“It’s not often that we know a subject’s name, and in this case, knowing Ian Doyle’s identity doesn’t give us very much,” Hotch said, standing in front of a room full of members of numerous letter agencies. “He’s known to a select few, and those who know him well either work beside him or they’re on his list.”

“Two or three of his victims worked for CWS and were responsible for his transport to North Korea,” he said, noting Emily and Morgan’s return to the office. “There were seven opeartives on the mission altogether, and the remaining five have been warned. All the federal and international agents responsible for tracking him down are now on his list of targets.”

“We’ll find Doyle the way we find any other offender—by studying his behavior. We’ll dissect his every move since he regained his freedom. When he escaped from North Korea, he killed a man and he used his vehicle to cross the border into Russia…”

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #emily prentiss #bau #fanfic #david rossi #derek morgan #spencer reid #penelope garcia #hurt #sodone glass is fragile

4 notes · View notes

starcrossedyanderes · 4 years

Text

Beauty and The Birds (Part 3)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

The cracking of bones could be heard as you twisted your back in a cat-like movement.

Oh, to be almost home again.

You quickly speed walked over to the restroom to do your business and then continued to walk with a brisk pace across the airport.

You reached a bigger room full of people and after looking around on your tippy-toes you spotted your letter-number combination and walked towards it before taking a seat on the nearby bench.

You watched the baggage carousel like a hawk whist simultaneously typing for get a car to pick you up.

You hopped up from a seat once seeing your luggage and with a quick swing of your arm you were walking towards the door with your suitcase rolling behind you.

You now stood in a line next to others with your phone open as you patiently awaited your car. Your car pulled up and with a quick swing of the door you and your baggage entered before you chirped out an address to your driver.

You drove down the always-so busy interstate before you took an exit that showed your hometown in all its glory.

But, it was all..off.

Not too many people roamed the usually busy streets as your driver slowed down. Almost everywhere birds could be seen.

They sat on fences, power lines, bushes, roofs, and some were even perched on the road. All sorts of species were present but the majority seemed to be corvidae. Cardinals, wrens, blue birds, robins, at one point you thought you spotted a canary in the mix.

You heard your driver curse under his breath as he was forced to slow down due to the mass influx of birds but luckily for him he pulled in your cul-de-sac.

You gave him his tip and a 5-star review before carefully stepping onto the road with your luggage behind you.

Some of the birds seemed to move a bit away from you and the rolling wheels while others simply stayed where they were with their beady eyes staring at you.

As you neared the steps of your porch you heard the creaking of a storm door and saw the head of your mom pop out.

“Oh, hi honey! Come on in, you must be tired from your trip!”

Your pace fastened as a big ol’ smile came on your face as the door swung open and shut. Arms wrapped around you tightly as you let out a laugh before hugging back.

“Oh how we’ve missed you! Now we got lunch ready for ya, it’s one of your favorites~”

You let out another laugh as you placed your carry on down and left your suitcase to stand nearby.

“Sounds yummy already! I have to admit I’ve been missing more American food. Hispanic dishes are great and all, but it’s not quite home.”

Your mom let out a laugh as she placed a hand on your shoulder.

“Haven’t even said what we’re having and you’re already so excited. Well we’re having some marinated duck, so that should satisfy your craving. Your father and brother shot it down themselves. Now let’s go outside and eat some lunch. I’m sure your brother and papa are eagerly awaiting you and I don’t want no bird swooping in and stealing anything. Afterwards you’ll have to tell us everything!”

You were pushed out towards the screened patio where your brother and father were currently seating.

You greeted them in a sing song tone before you were practically tackled in a hug by the two men.

You ruffled your brother’s hair while trying to slightly push the two off of you.

“Yeah, I’ve missed you two. But eat now, talk later!”

The two of them laughed before your father placed a kiss on your cheek before sitting down in his seat right after you sat in yours.

Some chit-chat was made before a series of thumps could be heard inside the house. Before your eyes in a grand display Lilly came running through the front door, her skin and ears afloat.

She trodded up to you and placed her front paws on your leg as you reached down to give her a good pet. She seemed content with this as she sat down right on your foot as you now had to bend down even further to reach her head.

“Oh, Lily, I might’ve missed you the most.”

You continued on with lunch with your family throwing worried glances to the outdoor view where all the birds could be seen. Some of them watching you.

“So, uh, what’s going on? And what happened to cause you not to pick me up?”

Your father cleared his throat.

“Well dear, you see, what neighbors we got don’t like it. For some reason whenever I take a single step outside most of the birds out there start screaming. Loud caws. Neighbors keep complaining about it, well now that I think about it they complain about the birds all the time, and confronted me about it. Can’t really be helped.

But if anyone’s done let’s move to the living room and you can tell us everything that happened on your trip.”

~|~

You plopped onto your bed as the moon flowed in the sky. Oh, the feel of your old mattress. It felt good to be home.

As much as you loved your stay in Costa Rica you had to admit it was a busy one for sure. It was hard work to want to do so much with nature and many nights were spent in tents and not in the hotel.

With the plane and jet lag catching up you practically fell asleep once your head hit the pillow.

~|~

Purple eyes stared into the night as many chirped around him.

He had no idea how long he perched in this tree and watched on with hawk like eyes as he watched a young girl stare at the bird house attached on her house before she eventually fell asleep.

He fluttered his black wings as he turned to one bluejay sitting next to him.

“Is this the newcomer?”

The bird let out its song.

“She doesn’t seem to be a hunter or a huge threat. If anything she seems intrigued by the birds. If she is truly staring at that bird nest from her window.”

His wings fluttered some more as his eyes stared into her resting body as red came into his pale cheeks.

“I must admit, she is very attractive. But she serves no threat. Thank you for alerting me, Skye.”

He spread out his large wings and the black blue shot into the sky.

16 notes · View notes

whateveradjunct · 6 years

Text

When I was heading to France last week, I considered taking my Nikon d750 with me, because I thought, not unreasonably, that France might be a photogenic country and that I might want to get some high quality photos of the place. I decided against it for a number of reasons, but one of the major reasons was that a couple of weeks ago I got myself a Pixel 3 phone, which reviewers have suggested may have the best camera on a phone out there. I’d previously had a Pixel 2, the former “best cell phone camera out there,” so I was curious as to how the Pixel 3 would improve on the camera.

So I left the Nikon at home and used only the Pixel 3 to take shots while I was in France. I ended up taking something around 500 pictures while I was in country (many of the best of which I have collected in this Flickr photo album), and can now tell you what I think about the experience. Here are my notes, in no particular order, with occasional art. Please remember that these thoughts are from someone who loves taking pictures but is not a professional photographer, so I’m not going to go into the weeds with technical issues and jargon. I’m mostly noting the experience of just trying to take pictures.

1. Overall I was very happy with the quality of the photos and the intelligence of the camera — the latter perhaps being a weird thing to say, but the fact is what separates the Pixel line of cell phones as cameras is not the hardware (which is mostly high-end but standard issue for a cell phone), but the processing Google applies to the photo data once the photo is taken. The camera makes choices, basically, about how it interprets the data you give it once you snap the photos.

And those choices are generally very good! There wasn’t a situation where I thought the Pixel 3 wasn’t capable of handling itself. As with nearly all cell phone cameras (and, honestly, nearly every camera, period), the Pixel 3 works best when it has a lot of good, bright, natural light, but it did very well inside and also very well in visually challenging environments with a lot of contrast between bright and dark (like, for example, the interior of the Notre Dame cathedral). Not every picture I took was perfect or even good, but the reason for that had as much to do (and perhaps even more so) with operator error as it did with the camera itself. Which is to say I can’t blame the bad pictures on the cell phone camera; a lot of it was me.

2. What do the photos look like coming out of the camera? Here are five, which I’ve not done any post-processing to (i.e., no tweaking with the various photo editors I have). These pictures were taken with the settings the Pixel 3 has right out of the box, including the HDR+ processing turned on, without zoom, and recording to jpg. Right-click on the pictures to get a larger versions of them (choose the “open image in new tab” option), and see the various details.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Right out of the camera, the Pixel 3 a pretty good job of things. The colors are correct and not overly saturated, and the HDR+ mode does a good job of bringing out details in shadows without making them look overly processed. Note in particular the picture of the musicians in the conference room; the light’s behind them and their faces are shadowed, but the Pixel 3 does a pretty good job of balancing the data so you can see their faces clearly. In the rose picture there’s decent depth of field — not a lot, but the Pixel 3 knows what it’s looking at. There are limits, and you can see some of the choices the Pixel 3 has to make in the photo of the Notre Dame alcove, but those limits mostly show themselves in challenging situations where most any camera would show limitations of some sort.

I personally do a fair amount of photo-editing of my pictures, both to bring up details and for aesthetic effect, and the Pixel 3 gives me a fair amount to work with, even as it records the data into a lossy format like jpg (there is an option to have the camera record in RAW — the lossless format that gives photographers the most information to work with — but I didn’t turn that on and don’t really plan to except on very special occasions, because the files sizes are huge). It’s a fact that for a lot of photos, I don’t really have to do much editing at all — I merely straighten out sightlines or crop for better composition as much as I tweak colors or bring up shadows.

Out of the box, the Pixel 3 takes pictures that are better than “good enough,” and that’s a good thing. For people who like fiddling with photos like me, what comes out of the camera is even better than that.

3. One of the — perfectly reasonable — knocks on the Pixel 3 is that where other high-end cell phone cameras have an optical zoom function, the Pixel 3 doesn’t, Google instead opting to try to deal with zoom through processing (involving the minute unsteadiness of the human hand, or something, to help fill in interpolative gaps). I used the zoom function a lot while walking around and trying to get details that would otherwise be too far away. My verdict on the zoom is: well, it does something, but razor-sharp details isn’t it.

This is again probably best viewed, so here are four photos at or close to full zoom, three of statutes or architectural details at the Louvre, and one, of that tower they have there in Paris. Again, right-click on the picture for details (or in this case, lack thereof). Again, these pictures are straight out of the camera and otherwise unedited:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My impression of these zoomed in pictures is that they don’t look like photos, they look like pastel drawings, or what happens when you use a very light “oil painting” photo filter from Photoshop or some other photo app. They don’t look bad? But at the same time, this is not what I want when I zoom in. I zoom in because I want a closer look at something, not an artful, detail-smoothed representation of that thing.

I read in a review of the Pixel 3 where a reviewer notes that the zoom works as intended up to about a 1.5x zoom, and after that things start getting overly interpretive. My experience has been that this estimation is largely correct. I have some pictures that are moderately zoomed in that are perfectly good. But too much zoom means you’re getting the AI version of impressionism. My thought on this is that this iteration of AI zoom is only the first, and that Google will probably get better at it as it goes along, because that’s what Google generally does. So two Pixel generations from now, this will likely be a solved issue (or alternately, Google will throw up its hands and just put an optical zoom on future Pixels). Here with the Pixel 3 and today, however, be aware that the zoom works up to a point (1.5x or so), and then it gets kind of wacky.

4. The only other real issue with the Pixel 3 that I’ve noticed is that it feels a bit slower than the Pixel 2; sometimes there seems to be a lag between when I press the button to take the picture and the camera registers the picture being taken. It’s a relatively small issue but it’s been noticeable to me, and I wonder if other people have been experiencing it as well. I’ve not missed any photos because of it, fortunately. But be aware of the possibility of a bit of shutter lag.

5. On the selfie front, the Pixel 3 features a “wide angle selfie” mode — an optical zoom out, if you will, thanks to two cameras on the front of the phone. This actually is very useful for when you’re trying to get a lot of people into frame while taking selfies:

Do be aware the the wide-angle selfie mode has some distortion. But then, selfie cameras have distortion anyway (it’s why your nose always looks big in a selfie), so I guess you pick your poison with selfie distortion. What I do know is that I’ve used the wide-angle selfie function several times already, so this was a smart add-on on Google’s part.

6. This is not meant to be an exhaustive review of the Pixel 3 camera, but one that touches on how I’ve been using it. I’m not covering a lot of the functionality of the thing — I haven’t used the video mode, or the panorama mode or tried the “HDR+ enhanced” mode, or sideloaded the apparently super-cool but not-officially-released “night mode” into the phone to try it out (the night mode apparently makes it possible to take super clear pictures in very low light, and the key as far as I can tell is a long exposure time, which, well, yes, it would be, wouldn’t it). I’m not covering any of those things because, as noted, this is not how I’ve been using the camera. I’ve been using the camera in a pretty straightforward fashion, as I suspect most people will.

And as a “daily driver” camera, the Pixel 3 really works. It takes great pictures and in all sorts of circumstances, and with the exception of the zoom above a certain point, steps up when you need it to (also, as an aside, the fact that the Pixel 3 comes with unlimited storage in Google Photos is a point well in its favor, since you can store your photos there and keep your phone’s memory relatively uncluttered). We’re now well past the point where the average person has to wonder whether they’re missing out on really excellent photos if they only have their cell phone with them. With the Pixel 3, the answer to that is definitively “you’re not missing out.” This phone will get that great shot for you, most of the time.

7. Does this mean I’m ready to ditch my dSLR for the Pixel 3 full time? No; the dSLR still has a better sensor, better lenses, and does specific things much better than the Pixel 3 does or will (like, sorry, Google, zoom). But this isn’t an either/or situation; this is a “this, and” situation. I no longer have one excellent camera and one camera that I just happen to carry around; I have two excellent cameras whose use cases overlap but are not a perfect circle on the Venn diagram. I don’t suspect I’ll ever stop using a dedicated camera for particular things where a high-end, single-use piece of machinery makes sense. But, as noted above, when I have my Pixel 3 with me, I don’t worry that I don’t generally have enough camera with me.

8. Does it make sense for people to upgrade to a Pixel 3? I’m very happy I did, but I also acknowledge I’m a tech geek with a particular interest in photography, and I have enough money to indulge in this sort of thing (my other phone stopped working, which prompted me to get the Pixel 3, but let’s not pretend there wasn’t a good chance I would have gotten one anyway).

If you already have a Pixel 2 (or the first generation Pixel), some of the new capabilities of the Pixel 3 camera are going to be available to you with software upgrades. So unless you’re already at the part of your upgrade cycle where you’re getting a new phone anyway, you can probably sit tight and be fine. If you have the latest generation of “flagship” phone from Apple, Samsung or any other high-end phone manufacturer, you’re also probably just fine. Cameras are the new hotness on phones and every manufacturer will tell you why their iteration of cellphone camera tech is the best. It’s getting a little silly (some upcoming phones will have up to five cameras on the back of a phone, which seems much of a muchness), but on the other hand if you’ve got a high end, recent phone, you probably have a very good cell phone camera no matter what. Finally, if you just don’t care about photos, either from your cell phone or in general, the Pixel 3’s camera capabilities won’t matter regardless.

But if you are looking to upgrade, do like taking pictures and want to have the possibility of taking genuinely good photos with your phone, are fine with Google knowing everything about your digital life, and (not trivially) have between $800 and $1,000 to splash out on a phone (or have Verizon, which will let you slide it into your existing plan for a monthly fee), then I can really very highly recommend the Pixel 3. Aside from (yes) taking some of the best photos possible on a cell phone, it is also otherwise a very solid high-end phone, with some features (call screening, I’m looking at you) that are amazing differentiators, and an operating system upgrade cycle that means you always have the best, most recent version of Android first.

For me, in any event, it’s been well worth the upgrade, and not just for the photos, although the photos probably would have been enough. I really like this camera, and I really like this phone.

Taking Pictures With the Pixel 3: Some Thoughts When I was heading to France last week, I considered taking my Nikon d750 with me, because I thought, not unreasonably, that France might be a photogenic country and that I might want to get some high quality photos of the place.

4 notes · View notes

commhunter736 · 3 years

Text

True Crime Pc Game Download

Real Gangster Crime! Immersive Open-world action-adventure shooting game for desktop! Download and play free on PC! Share with and play with friends! Experience fast-paced narrative-driven game straight from your computer!

Download this game from Microsoft Store for Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone 8.1. See screenshots, read the latest customer reviews,.

True Crime: Streets Of L.A. +5 trainer - Download. Gameplay-facilitating trainer for True Crime: Streets Of L.A. This trainer may not necessarily work with your copy of the game. File type Trainer. File size 19 KB. Last update Monday, July 5, 2004. Downloads (7 days) 19.

Here are the top free Detective games for PC for 2020, including Demetrios: The Big Cynical Adventure, The Wisbey Mystery, Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches, and more. Download only unlimited full version fun games online and play offline on your Windows 7/10/8 desktop or laptop computer. Fast and secure game downloads.

True Crime Pc Game Free Download

True Crime New York City Pc Game Download

Luxoflux invites grown-up players back for another game of 'good cop (or) bad cop' in this follow-up to 2003's L.A.-based action-adventure. As in the original True Crime, players take the role of an unorthodox law enforcement officer, and by their actions and in-game choices, determine the character's morality as they play through the story. In True Crime: New York City, the hero is a former gang member named Marcus Reed, who uses his hard-knocks schooling to powerful effect in the gritty underworld of the Big Apple. As in Streets of L.A., New York City missions play out in freely-roamed, GTA3-style environments, stocked with plenty to see and do even when Marcus isn't working towards a specific mission goal. Key characters are voiced by accomplished screen actors, including Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, and Mickey Rourke, with Marcus Reed portrayed by Avery Waddell.

Click the 'Install Game' button to initiate the file download and get compact download launcher. Locate the executable file in your local folder and begin the launcher to install your desired game. View all 52 True Crime Streets of L.A.

True Crime NYC is the sequel to True Crime: Streets of LA. It's also attempting a huge bite out of Grand Theft Auto's target audience. It's gritty, realistic (sort of), and meant to bring you right into the seedy underbelly of a New York crime drama. Does it do all this?

Nope, no, nada, sorry, but I digress. The rendering of New York City is incredible. A lot of detail and painstaking care went into making every street and alley look authentic. From Times Square to the depths of Harlem, everything is VERY close to reality. As a tour program this game excels, but I'm betting you're hoping for a lot more than a tour.

Before I get to what's wrong with this game, let me focus on what's right. It's a much shorter list. The graphics are quality, with features drawing from the latest in pixel shading, high polygon count character models and impressive motion capture, topped off with a gorgeous depiction of the big city that leaves a good taste in your mouth. You can spend a fair amount of time enjoying the scenery and getting lost in the mix. Another point for True Crime: the voice acting. They have spared no expense to obtain talent, Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Walken and many others top the list of grade-A voice acting for this game's gritty plot. When I first heard the voice of a mysterious officer bark out orders and explain my next mission in Christopher Walken's creepy cadence, I was very much caught in the moment. On a further note, the audio in this game is not lacking. Sound effects are crisp and believable for the most part, the soundtrack is as varied as you could ever hope for. Bouncing from White Zombie to De La Soul to The Ramones had me guessing that they wanted to avoid the rap-only crowd, though there is a large share of that too.

The plot, in case you're wondering, is you taking the role of Marcus Reed, a down and dirty gangster thug who has embraced the straight and narrow and become a police officer. Although he can still fight and play dirty, he's out to solve a few mysteries and clean up the town. This is mostly achieved by driving around (or by subway, or walking, but, unlike the real NYC, driving is preferable) and catching calls on the radio for random crimes. There is an interesting amount of variety in the crimes, but you soon reach the end of the cycle and bust your 34th counterfeit syndicate and your 23rd serial rapist and the regular missions soon get old. There is a larger plot to follow, however, and it is slightly more interesting. You follow a series of clues and leads to interrogate increasingly more important thugs. The interrogation mini-game is a fun little past-time to beat, or reason, information out of people. You're soon turned onto a mission that involves a mole from inside the precinct.

Ultimately, this plot has been done to death so many times on so many cop dramas that it's difficult to get engaged. This is just the beginning of where the game goes downhill. Obviously, high production values went into this game, but as is so often the case lately, they missed the mark in some very key areas. The controls for one. Amd display driver whql 8.10. I have rarely seen a more convoluted control system for PC.

I'll be the first to admit that this was originally for console, but it seems that barely a token effort was made to translate the commands to a keyboard layout. My fingers got a workout hopping all over the keyboard for the numerous and poorly constructed commands. If you're thinking that a gamepad might fix all this, nix that idea too. My Logitech PS2 Styled PC gamepad looked like a perfect match for this game, alas it was barely configurable and did not coordinate to the multiple styles of game play, you could set it up for driving, but not running, or vice versa, but its limitations soon had me back on the keyboard.

After I had adapted to the controls somewhat, the physics had me somewhat at a loss. Keeping in mind that this is not a driving simulation, at its core, I don't expect much more than doughy arcade style driving. Labtec speakers drivers download. But nothing handled as I expected, the cars were sloppy, sometimes you lightly skidded off the front end of a fire truck, other times being brushed by a motorcycle had you recoiling and turning 360's while your perpetrator was getting further and further away. The fighting system was convoluted as well, with a light attack, a heavy attack, a grab attack that was also the way to frisk people, which is also the button to arrest people, plus the buttons to put away your gun, pull it back out, fire a warning shot, flash your badge, tackle someone, all while trying to keep the squirrelly camera centered behind you (which it rarely does well).

In the graphics department there were glitches, clipping into walls, as well as criminals falling through solid concrete and waiting in the ether for you to attempt, in vain, to arrest them. At one point I was forced to kill a non-lethal perp by shooting him in the foot, just to end the mission. Top this off with some frame lag and a whack targeting system, and you can sense my mounting frustration. You'll often find yourself tackling air, punching civilians and firing point blank at walls. There were also numerous points where the textures for multiple guns seems to be missing, and your Uzi,s or pistol would appear as a white textureless shape.

True Crime Pc Game Free Download

In a GTA-styled attempt to test the limits of my virtual city, I shot an arsonist, grabbed his flamethrower and took out 30 people before highjacking a public bus and driving over half the residents of the Lower East Side. I finished up with some cop killing. reckless driving and traffic accidents. I was being hunted by every cop in the city and identified as a rogue cop who was 'mentally unstable,' according to the radio. Assured of my own impending death, I ran to and fro waiting for the inevitable. Which never came. I made a break through the park and dived into the bay and swam around for 2-3 minutes. Upon returning to shore my 'criminal' rating had gone back down and I was back to being boy hero. Realism indeed. In another game glitch, I began a mission to follow a motorcycle courier on a bike of my own for an exciting chase, but after trying 20 times to follow him, he wrecked within two blocks almost every time. Finally I just tracked him down on foot after he fell and interrogated him, wondering why I even got on the motorcycle. It's this kind of unfinished and unpolished gameplay that brings this gaming experience to its knees. I couldn't bring myself to care about the characters, the city, the law; nothing in this game draws you in efficiently enough to make you want to finish it.

The controls need work, the engine needs work, the collision detection needs work, the AI needs serious work, all in all I wouldn't be surprised if you told me this was a beta. A brief look at the customer support page for Activision also shows that numerous glitches and problems were had by users of all consoles. Overall, a well-presented, high-budget flop. Advanced systemcare ultimate 7 crack. The world doesn't ever need another World War 2 game but developers keep making them, which I guess is the same reason they keep trying to capitalize on the awesome profits of Grand Theft Auto. But a bigger budget does not make a better game.

True Crime New York City Pc Game Download

People who downloaded True Crime: New York City have also downloaded: True Crime: Streets of LA, Scarface: The World is Yours, Thing, The, Turok: Evolution, Godfather, The: The Game, Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Unreal Gold

0 notes

droneseco · 4 years

Text

The Red Magic 5S Is a Gaming Phone You’ll Actually Want to Use

Red Magic 5S

8.00 / 10

Read Reviews

Read More Reviews

See on amazon

The Red Magic 5S is a powerful Android phone with gaming features like a 144 Hz display and shoulder triggers. It's not for everybody, but that's by design. If you're looking for a phone that can handle any game you throw at it with ease, this will be one of the first options you consider.

Specifications

Brand: Nubia

Storage: 128 GB

CPU: Snapdragon 865

Memory: 8GB

Operating System: Android 10

Battery: 4500 mAh

Ports: USB-C

Camera (Rear, Front): 64MP, 8MP

Display (Size, Resolution): 6.65-inch, 1080x2340

Pros

Buttery smooth display

Shoulder triggers are great in some games

Games run extremely well

Cons

Camera isn't fantastic

Buy This Product

Red Magic 5S amazon

Shop

// Bottom var galleryThumbs1 = new Swiper('.gallery-thumbs-1', { spaceBetween: 10, slidesPerView: 10, freeMode: true, watchSlidesVisibility: true, watchSlidesProgress: true, centerInsufficientSlides: true, allowTouchMove: false, preventClicks: false, breakpoints: { 1024: { slidesPerView: 6, } }, }); // Top var galleryTop1 = new Swiper('.gallery-top-1', { spaceBetween: 10, allowTouchMove: false, loop: true, preventClicks: false, breakpoints: { 1024: { allowTouchMove: true, } }, navigation: { nextEl: '.swiper-button-next', prevEl: '.swiper-button-prev', }, thumbs: { swiper: galleryThumbs1 } });

Phones have gone from something you use for calls, texts, and managing appointments to do-it-all computing devices. Because for many people, phones are quickly replacing PCs, it only makes sense that we'd see the same sort of variety: casual phones, business phones, and yes, gaming phones.

While you can play games on any phone, the Nubia Red Magic 5S is built for it, with a powerful chipset, a butter-smooth 144Hz display, and even a built-in cooling fan. The phone looks great on paper, but does it focus too much on gaming-specific features or is it well-rounded enough to be your daily driver?

youtube

Specifications

OS Version: Red Magic OS 3.5 (Android 10)

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 128 GB

Battery: 4,500mAh

Display: 6.65-inch AMOLED 144 Hz, 240 Hz poll rate

Dimensions: 6.63 x 3.07 x 0.38 inches

Front Camera: 8MP, f/2.0

Rear Camera: 64MP Sony IMX686, f/1.8, PDAF

Connectivity: 5G, Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi 6

Features: ICE 4.0 Active Liquid-Cooling with Turbo Fan, 320Hz Shoulder Triggers, In-Display Fingerprint Reader

Design & Build Quality

There are two versions of the Red Magic 5S, each with different specs and a different finish. We're looking at the lower-specced version, which features 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage and comes in the Sonic Silver finish. The higher-spec version comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage, and a flashier if somewhat gaudy two-tone finish called Pulse.

While I'm curious how the even higher-spec phone would perform, I'm glad I received the review unit I did, because I prefer the look of it by a wide margin. Though it's called Sonic Silver, there is a slight blue tint to the finish that helps it stand out in a sea of drab-looking Android phones.

Partly due to the metal used in the build and partly due to the non-standard components like cooling fans, this is heavier than your average phone. I didn't mind this and while it's certainly a good deal heavier than the iPhone 12 Mini I use on a daily basis, I didn't find the weight annoying even after marathon gaming sessions on the 5S.

Speaking of cooling fans, these necessitate vents on the side of the Red Magic 5S. These are unusual to see on a phone, as you'd imagine, but I like the effect on the aesthetics. They give it the appearance of a powerful phone which, as it turns out, is very much the case.

Display

Somewhat bucking recent trends, there is no slight notch in the display, nor is there a camera placed smack dab in the middle of the upper part of the screen. Instead, you get good old-fashioned bezels. I know these are often frowned on now, but I find the half-centimeter bezels at the top and bottom of the phone lend a nice sense of symmetry.

These bezels also have a practical nature since this is a phone you'll often use in landscape orientation. They give you a spot to actually hold on to the phone without your fingers obscuring part of the screen, which comes in handy in games with significant HUD elements on the sides of the screen.

The display is a 6.65-inch AMOLED panel, which brings some impressive color and brightness to the table. Even more impressive are the supported refresh rates. While you can use the standard 60Hz refresh rate to improve battery life, you also have options for 90Hz and 144Hz.

At 144Hz, the phone uses more battery but feels significantly smoother. This refresh rate is mainly meant for games, but I liked its overall effect on the feel of the phone so much that I left it on this setting at nearly all times.

Gaming Features

One of the first things you'll notice looking over the Red Magic 5S is the bright red slighter on the upper-left side of the phone. Slide this up and the phone enters Compete Mode.

This is a dedicated gaming space that serves as an alternate launcher with several gaming-specific features. Here you can launch games, but also toggle on various options like the 144 Hz refresh rate and block calls and messages to keep you in the zone.

One of these options is the internal fan, which helps keep the phone from heating up during intense gaming. It's strange to hear the slight whir of a fan coming out of a phone, but with this on I never noticed the phone heating up significantly, even in the most demanding games.

My review unit of the Red Magic 5S also came with the company's Ice Dock. This is an optional add-on that brings an external fan to help keep the Red Magic 5S even cooler. Just slide it on, plug the built-in USB-C cable into the port on the bottom of the phone, and you've got even more cooling power.

This isn't where the gaming features end. The Red Magic 5S features dual Shoulder Triggers, touch-sensitive areas on the right side of the phone that becomes the top when you turn it on its side for landscape-oriented games.

You configure the left and right shoulder triggers to virtually tap any area of the screen when you tap them. This means that they're compatible with any game without games needing to specifically support them. These lended such an advantage in games like Call of Duty that it almost felt like cheating.

The 4D Shock feature is nice, but isn't as impressive. This is only available in certain games like Asphalt 9, and adds a "rumble" effect that feels similar to the HD Rumble in the Nintendo Switch. If it was available in more games, the feature would be more impressive. Maybe someday.

Software

The Red Magic 5S arrived running Android 10 and, as of the writing of this review, hasn't seen an update to Android 11. I've seen one major update during that time, but no sign that the phone will see an update to Android 11 anytime soon.

On top of Android, you get the Red Magic OS, which is essentially a pair of launchers and some various software. We've already gone over most of the significant elements here in talking about Compete Mode, but the look and feel of the phone isn't something you'd see on a Google Pixel device.

I only encountered one bug while using the phone, but it was a major one. After launching the Calendar app, the phone hard crashed to the point that the first thing I saw after the screen went black was the boot-up animation. This only happened once.

Performance

The Red Magic 5S features a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 with support for 5G, assuming you can get it wherever you're located. While it isn't quite as powerful as the Plus version of the same chipset, it's still among the fastest chipsets available in an Android phone right now.

This, combined with the 144Hz refresh rate, results in a phone that feels smooth no matter what you're doing. The 8GB RAM is plenty, though the bump up to 12GB is the top-spec version likely has app switching feeling even more responsive.

For benchmarks, we turned to Geekbench 5. Scores averaged 900 for single-core performance and 3,200 for multi-core. For the Compute benchmark, the Red Magic 5S averaged around 3,200 for the OpenCL score.

For gaming, I tested using a handful of the most popular games right now, including Call of Duty Mobile, Asphalt 9, Madden NFL 21, and PUBG. Even with plenty of complaints about Madden NFL 21 in the Play Store reviews, I didn't find the game to struggle even a bit on the Red Magic 5S, even at max settings.

The games I spent the most time with were Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt 9, the former thanks to the shoulder buttons and the latter because of the support for the 4D shock feature. Even after long sessions, neither game ever lagged, and with the internal fan turned on (I never found the Ice Dock to be necessary) the phone stayed plenty cool.

Cameras

The Red Magic features a 64MP rear-facing lens with a Sony IMX686 sensor, but the camera isn't very impressive. It's not bad in most cases, taking serviceable shots, but it's not going to take pictures that make you gasp when you view the results.

The front-facing camera is more of the same, but limited to 8MP. If you need to take a quick selfie, it will do the job, but again, this isn't a phone you'd buy just for the camera. It's possible future software updates may improve the photos that come out of the Red Magic 5S, but I wouldn't count on it.

Battery

The battery has a capacity of 4,500 mAh, which is nice since gaming on a phone is relatively battery intensive. When it comes time to charge, the phone doesn't feature support for wireless charging, but it does feature Quick Charge up to 55W to help get the battery back up to max quickly.

Even with the capacity, I was surprised at how long the battery lasted. Maybe it's the optimizations you get from Compete Mode / Game Space, but even with the display in 144Hz mode, a near-full day of gaming, benchmarks, and other tests didn't drain the battery.

If you were to use this as you would use a "normal" phone, you could easily go a few days without charging. I can't imagine a situation where you'd need to plug this in during the day after an overnight charge.

Should You Buy The Red Magic 5S?

If you spend the vast majority of the time you're on your phone gaming, you're the exact person the Red Magic 5S is built for. While you can also harness that power for editing videos or similar power-user activities on the 5S, it's clear that this isn't what it was built for. Still, the latest update to the Red Magic 5S has ironed out enough of the bugs that it's a phone you can use for anything.

One of my personal problems with gaming phones has always been that they looked like the phone equivalents of Alienware PCs, over-designed and largely goofy. While the more powerful version of the phone in the Pulse finish suffers from this, the Sonic Silver version I had for this review doesn't have the same problem. You could carry this into a business meeting and nobody would bat an eyelash.

The Red Magic 5S isn't for everybody, but that is by design. If you're looking for a phone that can handle any game you throw at it with ease, this will be one of the first options you consider.

The Red Magic 5S Is a Gaming Phone You’ll Actually Want to Use published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

1 note · View note

wiredleaks · 6 years

Text

Hands-on Review of the Meizu M6S: This is a device worth buying!

It took the international mail way too long, but finally the Meizu M6S has found its way to my home. That was a week ago. Since then I have been using the Meizu M6S as my daily driver. In this full review I will walk you through the experience. Sure there are budget phones out there that might be two or three tenners cheaper. Sure there are phones out there with dual camera lenses. Some have bigger battery capacity or even a bigger screen, but are they better? In this hands-on Review of the Meizu M6S we'll try to answer the question if the price of the M6S is justified and if this is a device worth buying. DESIGN & SCREEN The first difference between the Meizu M6S and a lot of other budget devices is no doubt the building quality. Also the materials used by Meizu are premium class and that gives the phone a great feel. The M6S has a light metal body that's slightly brushed, so the phone is not slippery to hold. It also doesn't attract half as much fingerprint stains and smudges than its plastic or glass competition. Everything is round and smooth and the U shaped antenna lines blends in seamlessly. The 5.7 inch display feels completely integrated since its covered in a slighty curved 2.5D glass layer. The screen itself is a 1440 x 720p. HD+ screen that reproduces great colours and deep blacks. Sure we could argue why thay didn't put in a 1080p. resolution, but considering that we're dealing with a budget phone here the 720p is just fine.

With a only 8mm body thickness and a weight under 160 grams the Meizu M6S doesn't feel cheap at all. In fact the overall feel reminds me most of the iPhone 6 or 7 Plus. So I think it's safe to say the M6S is definitely a looker and the last week many people have asked what this phone is I'm using. But looks aren't everything now are they? So let's see what the Meizu M6S has to offer under the hood.

HARDWARE Most budget devices of today will offer you a MediaTek MT6750 or MT6753 Chipset clocked anywhere between 1.3Ghz to 1.5Ghz (Cortex A53 based). These processors will sign off on the AnTuTu Benchmark with a score anywhere between 40 an 55K. Not the Meizu M6S! The M6S is featuring the brandnew Samsung Exynos 7872 chipset. This processor runs on six cores clocked at 2 x 2.0Ghz (Cortex A73) and 4 x 1.6Ghz (Cortex A53). Translated into an AnTuTu Benchmark score that means the Meizu M6S will easily get a score aroudn the 92K! And with that Meizu does not only leave the competition behind, but also scores better than devices that are around 150 tot 200 euro's more expensive! The 3 GB of RAM are quite sufficient to multitask and the phone comes with either 32Gb or 64 GB ROM. For graphical support the GPU is provided by the rather advanced Mali G71 chipset. This means the Meizu M6S performs way above average in gaming than a lot of other smartphones of the same price range. But it doesn't stop there! Let's talk about another great piece of hardware in the Meizu M6s: The fingerprint scanner. The M6S is the first Meizu device that said goodbye to the fingerprint scanner/ mBack button

on the front. That doesn't mean you have to give up on the fantastic "one button for everything" concept though! The M6S sports a side mounted fingerprint scanner that unlocks the phone in 0.2 seconds. Of course I have tested it for you and I can tell you it had a 100/100 succes rate! The great thing about the side mounted fingerprint scanner is basically it's located on the most natural logical spot. It doesn't matter whether you have the phone in your right of left hand. it's easy and natural to unlock this way. SOFTWARE Then there is the absolute easy with which you're able to navigate through your phone! The Meizu M6S runs on Flyme OS, and this means everything can be navigated with one button. The mBack button, that in the M6S is replaced by a virual, pressure sensitive halo button. This can be used to go back by simply tapping it. If you press it it will take you home straight away. But there's more. Press it twice and the camera application pops up and a long press and hold will turn off the screen. Now, let's talk multitasking. Never did I own a device that could switch between open apps this easy. Just swipe left or right on the mBack button and you will move through your opened apps! Personally I was always a fan of a physical home button, but this is the next best thing.

This easy navigation thing is just one of the many perks that come with the Flyme OS (Meizu's own UI). The Meizu M6s is packed with Android 7.1 in combination with the latest Flyme OS. Basically what that means is no stutter, no lags and no freezes. Just a very smooth running interface. No doubt this OS will give you the best user experience possible. The phone comes with many customization options and themes that will let you choose your own look. And you won't need to download shady launchers from the Play Store that are packed with agressive advertising. The hundreds of available themes are all optimised for Meizu and run perfectly. So far it seems we have found some distinct differences between the Meizu M6S and other budget phones. Now what about the camera? CAMERA'S The Meizu M6S comes with a 16 megapixel camera made by Samsung on its rear. The 8 megapixel front camera is absolutely sufficient to provide you with great looking selfies. Now let's talk about the rear camera for a while. It gives you the choice between 4:3 pictures in 16 megapixel or 16:9 ratio in 12 megapixel. There's also an 18:9 ratio, but this will scale down to 10 megapixel. The first thing that surprised me when the M6S was announced was the fact it had "only" one rear camera. This while other brands advertise their phones to have 3 or even 4 camera lenses. However having tested many of them in the past year I think its fair to say about 80% of those lenses do nothing or close to nothing. Some are even downright fakes and do nothing at all except looking cool and trendy ;)

So I appreciate Meizu's honesty and their respect for the customer by not lying and faking extra lenses. However having tested the rear camera on the Meizu M6S it became clear. The macro shots, and the focus in general is so on spot that foto's turn up having a natural bokeh effect that is simply stunning! The camera comes with many options like for example there is a slow motion option and the possibillity to record time lapse video. But instead of talking about the camera: Take a look at the video review I made about the Meizu M6S. And as usual, at the end of this review I will post several different picture samples I have shot on the M6S. What's maybe interesting to emphasize is the fact that Meizu Camera's come with ArcSoft algorithm especially designed for Meizu. This leads to things like a fantastic low light performance. The camera is also very capable of freezing fast moving objects without any blur. Other settings like HDR, defog and dehaze are available with just one click. The photo editing options in the Flyme OS and the M6S in specific are so complete that it won't be nescessary to download a third party editing tool. In other words, this is a camera interface that belongs on midrangers and high end devices and you won't find this many options on any other budget phone (including Xiaomi). AUTONOMY How about the battery life? Because, granted, a 3000 mAh battery doesn't seem that spectacular on paper, especially combined with a 5.7 inch screen. Agreed, 3000 mAh seems average. Especially when other brands advertise phones with 5000+ mAh batteries. However 1. None of those phones comes with the camera quality, weight and performance of the Meizu M6S and 2. None of them comes with the very energy concious Samsung Exynos 7872 processor! Even with rather heavy use the battery will make it through most days. And if you had a game-day or a chat-day you might need to recharge. Since Meizu decided to stock the M6S with Meizu's mCharge fast charging system (18W!!!!) the battery will be fully charged from 0 to 100% in give or take ONE HOUR! I can honestly say this is the fastest charging smartphone I have ever seen. Ultimate freedom!

CONCLUSION So in conclusion, the Meizu M6S has everything that you usual find in higher end devices for a budget price tag below the 200 euro marker! Sure it might be a couple of tenners more expensive than the very cheapest of budget models but it return it won't remind you for a second you're using a budget phone. From the processor speed, multi tasking experience down to the camera sensors, everything is running smoother than smooth and looking like a milion dollars. In fact, when I first looked at the M6S I couldn't help thinking, THIS is what the new iPhone should've looked like. But fortunately they didn't come up with it and Meizu did! So even though it's only April I do declare the Meizu M6S to be the best budget phone of 2018. I will therefore rate the M6S 9.4/10. And I definitely recommend it! To order your own Meizu M6S you can follow this link. PICTURE SAMPLES

Read the full article

#Android #budgetsmartphone #CameraSamples #Hands-onReview #Meizu #MeizuM6S #SamsungExynos7872

1 note · View note

dipulb3 · 4 years

Text

Attorney: This is why Kenosha officer shot Jacob Blake

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/attorney-this-is-why-kenosha-officer-shot-jacob-blake/

Attorney: This is why Kenosha officer shot Jacob Blake

“He’s got my kid. He’s got my keys,” Sheskey heard a woman say, according to attorney Brendan Matthews, who is representing the officer. If Sheskey had allowed Blake to drive away and something happened to the child “the question would have been ‘why didn’t you do something?'” Matthews said.

That explanation, provided in an exclusive interview with Appradab, offers the most detailed rationale to date for Sheskey’s highly scrutinized decision to shoot Blake, who is Black, as he leaned into an SUV with his children inside it on August 23. Cellphone video of the shooting went viral on the internet, sparking days of protests and rioting in the lakeside city of Kenosha. The shooting, which Blake’s family has said resulted in paralysis from his waist down, was widely condemned as yet another unjustified shooting of a Black person by police.

The attorney’s comments to Appradab come as authorities in Wisconsin announced this week that the results of an investigation by the state Department of Justice would soon be turned over to a retired police chief serving as an independent consultant for his review. The consultant is in turn expected to forward the case to local prosecutors along with an analysis intended to help determine whether criminal charges against Sheskey are warranted. The officer remains on paid administrative leave.

Matthews told Appradab he typically does not talk about pending cases but said he felt compelled to provide some additional detail to counter what he described as an “incomplete, inaccurate” narrative that has emerged to date. Matthews directly disputed assertions by Blake’s family and lawyers that he was unarmed and posed no threat to the officers.

At the time Sheskey opened fire, the lawyer said, Blake held a knife in his hand and twisted his body toward the officer. That action is not visible in the video widely circulating on the internet, in which the view of Blake’s body is partially obscured by the driver’s side door of the SUV.

Matthews said a second officer at the scene, whom he also represents, provided investigators with a similar account of Blake turning toward Sheskey with a knife in his hand immediately prior to the shooting. That officer said he too would have opened fire but did not have a clear angle, according to the lawyer.

Authorities have said Blake had a knife in his possession and the weapon was found on the floorboard of the vehicle. But they have released few other details of the incident, citing the ongoing investigation.

Appradab reached out to Blake’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, for comment on Matthews’ assertions, but did not receive a response prior to publication. However, Blake’s lawyers have insisted he never posed a threat to the officers at any time during the encounter, and his father has denied his son was armed. “They shot my son seven times. Seven times. Like he didn’t matter,” Jacob Blake Sr., Blake’s father, told reporters. “But my son matters. He’s a human being, and he matters.”

Blake was the aggressor at the scene, attorney says

But Matthews, who represents the Kenosha Professional Police Association, said Blake was the aggressor in the encounter, based on the statements Sheskey and Officer Vincent Arenas gave to state investigators earlier this month. The officers, he said, were simply doing their jobs. Blake has not been charged with any crimes stemming from the events of the day he was shot.

The shooting occurred minutes after Sheskey and fellow officers responded to a call of “family trouble” in a neighborhood a couple of miles northwest of downtown Kenosha. According to a dispatch log, a woman reported to police that Blake had taken her keys and would not give them back. Blake’s family members later said he’d been attending a birthday party for one of his kids.

Once at the scene, Sheskey watched Blake put one child in the car as he arrived but was unaware that two more children were already in the vehicle, Matthews said. Another officer heard a woman yelling that Blake had her children, he said, but did not see the kids in the car.

Some of what officers say happened next was described in a press release issued by the police association last month.

According to the release, Blake was non-cooperative from the outset and quickly became combative. When the officers attempted to physically take control of him, Blake “actively resisted.”

An officer fired a Taser at him, but it did not stop him, the release states. When officers tried to take Blake into custody a second time, he forcefully fought with them and was able to momentarily place an officer in a headlock, the release said. Matthews said that officer was Sheskey.

Police then Tased Blake a second time and he again appeared unfazed, according to the police association statement.

At that point, Matthews said, officers noticed that Blake was holding a knife. Guns drawn, they demanded that he drop the weapon.

Blake, according to the police association statement, did not drop the weapon and began making his way around the front of the vehicle toward the driver’s side door. Video of the incident shows Blake holding the knife in his left hand as he rounds the front of the car, the statement says. While it appears that Blake is holding an object in his hand, it is unclear what that object is, according to a Appradab review of the video.

Shortly after the release of the statement, Blake’s lawyer disputed the police account as “overblown” and characterized the officers as the aggressors.

Raysean White, who shot video of the encounter, told Appradab’s Erin Burnett he twice heard police tell Blake to “drop the knife,” but that he did not see a knife in Blake’s hand. White disputed other aspects of the police account, but said it was possible some things occurred before he began witnessing the incident unfold.

The police version of events leading up to the shooting bore some similarity to an encounter allegedly involving Blake at the same address three months earlier.

In that case, a woman who described Blake as her ex-boyfriend said he took her car and debit card without her permission and made $1,000 in fraudulent withdrawals, according to court records. She told police at the time that Blake did not have a car and that he would not tell her where he was living, the court records state.

Blake was not charged with taking the car or money, but was charged with sexual assault and other offenses in connection with the incident. He was wanted in connection with those charges at the time of the shooting. Sheskey was aware that Blake was wanted, Matthews said, but did not know the details of the past incident prior to the shooting. Blake entered a not guilty plea to those charges earlier this month.

Matthews said while seven shots may seem excessive to some people, that number of shots is not out of line with other police shootings in Wisconsin and elsewhere that were later deemed justified. He also pointed to studies showing a lag time between an officer’s decision to stop firing and actually doing so.

The lawyer said Sheskey ceased firing when he determined Blake “no longer posed an imminent threat.”

Matthews questioned early reports that Blake was shot seven times in the back. He said Sheskey and fellow officers administered first aid at the scene and did not see any gunshot wounds to Blake’s back. Rather, he said, the officers reported seeing injuries to Blake’s arms, side and abdomen.

The precise location of the gunshot wounds Blake sustained have not been made public. A news release from The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation initially said Sheskey fired his weapon seven times “into Mr. Blake’s back.” The agency later changed the language to say Sheskey fired “towards Mr. Blake’s back.”

Sheskey ‘absolutely did not want this to happen’

For Sheskey, the fallout from the highly publicized shooting has been devastating, his lawyer said.

He had to move out of his house and get rid of his phone because he’s been hounded by reporters and depicted as a racist and brutal cop on the internet, Matthews said.

Matthews said his client has never pulled the trigger in the line of duty before now, and has no history of abusing suspects in his 10 years as a police officer, the last seven with Kenosha PD.

Rather, the lawyer described his client as a lifelong do-gooder, who as a young man served as a mentor on a cycling team for at-risk youth and worked as a lifeguard. He wanted to become a cop to continue helping people.

Matthews said Sheskey immediately dropped to the ground in the moments after the shooting and began rendering first aid to Blake and comforted him when he expressed fear that he was going to die.

“He didn’t go to work wanting to shoot anybody. He went to work trying to help people. That’s what he does every day,” Matthews said of Sheskey. “He absolutely did not want this to happen.”

Appradab’s Sara Sidner contributed to this report.

0 notes

shiftgolf · 28 days

Text

Mastering Your Drive: A Comprehensive Review of the Lag Shot Driver

Introduction: Every golfer dreams of consistently hitting long, straight drives down the fairway. However, achieving this dream can often feel elusive, particularly if you struggle with tempo, timing, and consistent contact. Enter the Lag Shot Driver—a training aid designed to address these common issues and transform your driving game. In this detailed review, I’ll share my experience with the Lag Shot Driver, highlight its unique features and benefits, and explore why it could be the game-changer your swing needs.

Why Consider the Lag Shot Driver?

Many golfers face challenges with their driver, whether it’s poor tempo, inconsistent timing, or difficulty making solid contact. These issues can turn a potentially great round into a frustrating experience. The Lag Shot Driver is designed to address these problems by helping golfers develop a smoother, more consistent swing. By improving your swing mechanics, the Lag Shot Driver can lead to more accurate and powerful drives.

Common Driving Challenges:

Tempo and Timing: Struggling to find the right rhythm in your swing can result in mishits and inconsistent ball flight.

Inconsistent Contact: Making solid contact with the ball is crucial for distance and accuracy, but it can be difficult to achieve without the right mechanics.

Over-the-Top Swings: Many golfers battle an over-the-top swing, leading to slices and loss of distance.

The Lag Shot Solution:

The Lag Shot Driver addresses these challenges by forcing you to take the club back slowly, in one piece, and on the correct plane. This promotes a smooth transition from the backswing to the downswing, helping you find your unique swing tempo and rhythm. With the Lag Shot, you’ll develop a better feel for the clubhead and improve your timing, resulting in more consistent, powerful drives.

Features & Benefits of the Lag Shot Driver:

The Lag Shot Driver is packed with features designed to help you build a better swing. Here’s a closer look at what makes this training aid so effective.

1. Heavy, Whippy Blue Shaft:

The standout feature of the Lag Shot Driver is its heavy, whippy blue shaft. This unique design forces you to develop better tempo and timing, as you need to coordinate your body and arms to keep the shaft under control. The flexible shaft also enhances your awareness of the clubhead, helping you build lag and stay on the correct swing plane.

Benefits:

Improved Tempo: The shaft’s weight and flexibility encourage a smoother, more rhythmic swing.

Better Lag: Developing lag is essential for generating power, and the Lag Shot Driver helps you achieve it naturally.

Clubhead Awareness: Feeling the clubhead throughout your swing helps you make solid contact more consistently.

2. High-Quality Mid-Size Grip:

The Lag Shot Driver features a high-quality, mid-size grip designed to be comfortable and long-lasting. The grip’s design also helps reduce tension in your hands, which is crucial for maintaining a smooth swing and generating speed.

Benefits:

Durability: The grip is built to withstand regular use, making it a reliable training aid.

Reduced Tension: A relaxed grip promotes better swing mechanics and increased speed.

3. Comprehensive Training Videos:

While the Lag Shot Driver is intuitive to use, it also comes with training videos that provide detailed guidance on how to get the most out of your practice sessions. These videos cover everything from basic swing mechanics to advanced techniques, helping you improve faster.

Benefits:

Faster Improvement: The training videos provide expert tips and drills to help you progress more quickly.

Tailored Instruction: Videos specific to the driver ensure you’re getting targeted advice for this crucial part of your game.

Testing the Lag Shot Driver: My Experience

I spent about a month testing the Lag Shot Driver both at home and on the range. My goal was simple: to develop better swing sequence, rhythm, tempo, and timing. Here’s how it went.

Initial Impressions:

When I first started using the Lag Shot Driver, I made sure to warm up thoroughly, swinging the Lag Shot 7-iron to get a feel for the concept. Once I moved to the driver, I focused on taking the club back in one piece, keeping the clubhead outside my hands as much as possible during the backswing. I also made it a point to stay in my posture until momentum carried me into the follow-through.

Early Results:

My initial results were mixed—solid contact, but with a few flares to the right, some smother-hooks, and a lot of low drives down the middle. However, I could feel the improvement with each swing. The Lag Shot Driver forced me to swing on a better plane, and I noticed I was no longer coming over the top as often—a major breakthrough for me.

Continued Improvement:

As I continued using the Lag Shot Driver, I began to see more consistent results. My drives started landing in areas that would have been fairways on a course, and I even managed to hit a few medium-height draws—a significant achievement for me. When I took my regular driver out on the course, I found that my tempo and timing had improved, leading to more effortless swings and better drives.

Who Is the Lag Shot Driver For?

The Lag Shot Driver is ideal for any golfer looking to improve their swing, particularly with their driver. Whether you struggle with generating power, making consistent contact, or simply keeping the ball in the fairway, the Lag Shot Driver can help you find your unique tempo, rhythm, and timing. It’s especially beneficial for golfers who tend to come over the top or swing on an incorrect plane.

Is the Lag Shot Driver Worth It?

In my experience, the Lag Shot Driver is absolutely worth it. It’s a high-quality, durable training aid that does exactly what it promises. By forcing you to swing on a better plane and with better timing, it helps you develop the skills necessary to hit long, accurate drives. If you’re serious about improving your driving game, the Lag Shot Driver is an investment you won’t regret.

Key Takeaways:

Improves Tempo and Timing: The heavy, whippy shaft encourages a smoother, more rhythmic swing.

Enhances Lag and Clubhead Awareness: Develops lag naturally and helps you feel the clubhead throughout your swing.

Reduces Over-the-Top Swings: Helps correct common swing faults like coming over the top.

Comes with Expert Training: Comprehensive videos provide guidance to accelerate your improvement.

Conclusion:

The Lag Shot Driver is a game-changer for golfers struggling with their driver. By helping you develop better tempo, timing, and swing mechanics, it leads to more consistent, powerful drives. After just a few weeks of practice, I noticed significant improvements in my swing and overall driving performance. If you’re looking to take your driving game to the next level, the Lag Shot Driver is a must-have tool in your golf bag.

#golf #shiftgolf #golf equipment #golf training #golf swing training aid #golf tips #golf helth #golf lag #golfers #lag shot driver #lag shot #golf swing trainer #Golf Swing Training Aid #Golf Swing Trainer

0 notes

megamichaelbthings · 7 years

Text

Midwinter Mystery - The Town of No Return - Chapter ELeven

The drive up into the hills proved to be a particularly painful experience - in more ways than one - which was not entirely unexpected, after all a hearse isn't generally associated with off road pursuits, and John was close to swearing to the fact that it was sorely lacking where it counted most. Over the roar of the Austin's old engine, straining under the cross-country assault, John battled to find something, anything, that he could hang onto in order to stop himself from flailing about. As his struggle continued he hardly had time to take in the rolling scenery, with it's succession of tall dark trees lining the way, descending into the skies their high boughs obscured from sight by a thick low hanging mist while their lower branches hung under the burden of heavy snow. George continued to handle the unwieldy 'people carrier' with all the skill and panache of a stock car racer in a china shop, and seemed determined to set them on a collision course with every pot hole in their path. “ So, how did you manage to...ughh.. end up with this... arghh..poor excuse of a vehicle, then ?” John managed to ask as he was being thrown around in the cab. “ Oh, right... well you see, ha, ha, that's kind of a funny story, really, I guess !”George answered nervously, staring intently straight ahead, his mind racing faster than they were – while his knuckles began turning white as he gripped the steering wheel ever tighter. John wondered about his drivers demeanor and if he might be preparing for some last ditch attempt or about to jump ship, so prudently kept a free hand near the door catch – just to be on the safe side. “ Go on. I could do with a laugh,” he taunted, raising an eyebrow at him. “ 'That's the one !” George exclaimed, abruptly wrenching the steering wheel hard over sending them careening off the road. John was caught off guard by this unexpected manouevre and left helpless as he suddenly felt the rear of the motor swing out from under them. George fought feverishly, but ineptly, for control turning the whell this way and that, unfortunately his actions merely resulted in sending John slamming into the side of the cab then up out of the seat, smacking his head on the roof. While the four wheeled 'death machine' rocked and rolled, kicked and bucked, before eventually grinding to a shuddering lopsided halt on a snowy verge. “ Uuuhh, what the hell happened ?” queried John slightly dazed from a sprawled position on the floor. Regaining his seat and composure he began to gingerly feel his aching skull, wincing every now and again when he touched upon a tender area. “ There you go !” proclaimed George laying pressed against his door, a condition brought about by the car now resting on a raised stretch of bank. “ This where we almost crashed into a tree,” he explained. “ How can you be so sure of that ?” asked John incredulously, peering out the front windscreen. “ 'Cos we almost clobbered it again, comin' the other way !” revealed George pointing to a large tree right in front of them. “ See, that's me tread marks over there,” George confirmed, once more directing John's attention to the road ahead. “ YOU BLITHERING IDIOT ! I just wanted to SEE the scene of the crime, NOT RECREATE IT !” John shouted angrily back as he tried to loosen the passenger door open with his shoulder. Finally succeeding, he grabbed the sides of the door and catapulted himself up and clear of the vehicle, “ Just for the record, I like a little notice when I'm about to be involved in a murder/suicide attempt, thank you very much !” John continued, unable to hide his annoyance. “ And why did the back end swing out like that ?” he followed up. “ I dunno, it's not like it's light or anythin'...” George replied honestly, “ .. I mean we're carrying close to a full load back there, right now.” “ A 'full load' of what, exactly ?” John asked apprehensively, staring down at the bottom of his snow drenched trousers and shoes, both of which he wondered would ever be the same again. “ King Edwards, 'course ! What else ?” George illuminated, matter of factly. “Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question ?” replied John, as he made his way carefully around the motor, hands crawling along it's side for support as his feet slipped from under him on the icy ground. “ Never mind, just explain to me what possible reason there is for us to be carting a hearseful of potatoes around ?” “ Breakfast,” George answered loudly through the open door, while struggling to free himself from behind the steering wheel. “ WHAT ! You can't tell me that you actually intend eating that lot by yourself, do you ? It'll take you months, man !” “ No, their not for me, they belong to farmer Williams ! I'm just shifting 'em down to the store for him,” confessed George, finally managing to extricate himself from motor, by falling to the ground. “ Hmm, I take it that this is one of those 'public services' that you were telling me about,” said John looking down hopelessly at his ejected assistant, then turning his back on him he started to walk away stamping his feet hard on their ground trying to dislodge any remaining snow from them. “ Yeah, that's right !” George confirmed enthusiastically as he caught up by John's side. “ And in return he lets us 'ave a coupla rashers of bacon, give or take, and a handful of eggs a week.” “ My, the wages of sin are certainly cheap around here aren't they ?” John surmised sarcastically. “ I take it that I have one such 'enterprise' of yours to thank for my breakfast this morning,” he concluded philosophically. “ Yeah, you could say that,” George replied warily. “ Well, once I get in touch with the bank and free up your wages that thing will have to stop, do you hear ?” John warned gently, as he was hardly in any position now to chastise the young P.C after benefiting from the ill-gotten gains himself. “ Yeah, sure,” George agreed all to easily. “ All right, well let's get a move on shall we ? Where did this mysterious stranger of yours appear from then ?” “ I.. er... guess it was sort of... roundabout there... I think,” George waved an arm in a general direction kind of way, not inspiring John with much confidence. Turning away he studied the stretch of road before them for a moment before concluding, “ IS THAT IT ?” he said standing with his hands on his hips, shaking his head in disbelief. “ Can't you at least tell me WHICH side of the road he sprang from ?” he pressed frustrate. “ NO ! I looked up and there he was, just standing in the middle of the road... right in front of us !” clarified George slightly perturbed. “ I see, well in that case, I think we'd be better off starting the search where the skid-marks actually begin, then work our way back to the car from there. That way we'll be less likely to miss anything,” John reasoned. “ You take that side of the road and I'll take this one,” he ran with the old adage that ' a job shared is a job halved' and hoped that the division of labour would lessen his time in 'the field', so to speak, and save what was left of his footwear – before they were beyond salvation. As he steadily scoured the undergrowth for tracks, broken branches or any other signs of recent disturbance John proceeded to mentally review the facts of the case as presented to him so far, or rather the absence of them, and weigh them against the tower of superstition, folklore and fear which had been served up to him ever since he had arrived in this peculiar village. Infact such was the overwhelming level, John was concerned that if things remained unchanged then it could threaten to impede, possibly corrupt the entire course of the investigation. As to their present excursion he considered the whole affair nothing more than a wild goose chase, a fanciful tale inspired by an excess of 'B' movies and an over excitable imagination. But he acknowledged that he had played more than his fair share of 'long shots' in his time – admittedly with mixed results – and as he had been assured that there was an 'independent' witness to the occurrence then he felt duty bound to follow it up. “ We're in luck,” said John studying the ground, “ it doesn't look like there's been too much new snow recently. And see how the surface has frozen over – that should have preserved the integrity of the site.” “ Cor, that's proper detecting that is ! You're like that fella... wot's 'is name.. Sherlock Holmes !” expressed George with a growing sense of respect. “ Er, thanks ! But it's just your basic common sense and general observation, really,” John dismissed his constable's favourable comparison but privately was rather flattered by the remark. The two men worked their respective sides in concert with each other, heads bowed, eyes down and an intense air of concentration writthen across their brows. Every now and again one of them would disappear into a dense thicket to examine it more closely, only to return a short time later without anything to show for their efforts except a handful of scratches. One of these mystery rambles had led John to stray further into the woods than usual, by which time his spirits were lagging and his flesh was weak as he lost all resistance and feeling in his feet to the freezing wet snow that saturated his shoes and socks. But as he was about to abandon all hope John noticed a section of bracken that had been heavily trampled over recently, by the look of it either by some large animal or …. a man. From there he followed a short trail of snapped twigs and broken or bent back branches to a small clearing covered in footprints, standing there for a while John tried to make sense of the scene when he spied something suspicious just breaking through the surface of the snow. “ GEORGE ! GEORGE, COME OVER HERE ! I THINK I'VE FOUND SOMETHING !” he shouted, the noise scattering a murder of crows from their high eyrie. He went over and bent down to pick it up when suddenly there was a whisper sound from behind him, he twisted round - too late - a blinding pain exploded in his brain and the world turned black. Not even the pure white snow that received his limp body as it collapsed face down offered any resolution. He lay there, still, silent, a light flurry of snow swept across the ground depositing a thin blanket over him, while all that could be heard was the raucous cawing of crows as they circled above.

lifeandfunnies.blogspot.com

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107528496066989305279

#midwinter mystery #fiction #thriller #mystery #supernatural #new author #nostalgia #storytelling #the sixties #cult

3 notes · View notes

dovesandsparrows · 7 years

Text

Kidnapped: Part 4

( first entry - previous entry - next entry )

The gentle hum of the hover-truck does nothing to calm Angela’s nerves. The arcade is not far down the Hyperlane, but with the van embroidered with the Overwatch symbol, it lags across the tracks, and the road stretches on and on, the end just too far to grasp. She sighs, bowing her head, to picture Genji looking up from behind one of the ancient game machines upon their arrival, beaming as the team had elected to join him after all.

That was the best possible outcome of this trip. Suited in her Valkyrie, however, with a silent Lúcio in deep contemplation beside her, and Hana steel-lipped at the wheel, it feels more like an official mission than worried friends in pursuit. Genji is not a mission, nor is he simply just an agent. His rescue should be their priority until he is home safe in her medbay, for a thorough checking and care.

Home safe with her, and his friends, whose usually bubbly-selves are so withdrawn with the worrying news of his disappearance. It nags at her too, like an ache in her chest she cannot soothe. Her face must display it at this point, because as Hana directs them off the Hyperlane, Lúcio pats her knee, then leans forward to say to the driver, “Are we close, Song? I’ll chuck on my gear, get a scope of the place from the outside. See what I can find.”

She hums in approval, then glances in the rearview mirror at Angela. “You and me for the good cop, bad cop, Doctor Z?”

Speaking with the patrons and staff at the Arcade, Hana intends to ask, when Angela simply would prefer to chase straight after him. Track down this Sombra article, cipher her last known sightings from Talon-monitoring satellites, find her before something bad finds Genji. (Winston had already told her Sombra is far too elusive for the imagery to detect, but it was worth asking, and still lamenting about now.)

Short of Hana’s joke, she replies, “I’ll speak with the owner, yes. You can join Lúcio if you want, I will be fine.”

The stunted answer makes Hana blink, to stare back out to the road. The Arcade is at the end of the street, all bright colors and taunting. “Oh, okay. Uh, Lú?”

“Nah, two people on deck would be good. Maybe you could mingle, there’d be a fan or a hundred.” He hangs over the front seat, fingers framing an imaginary Hollywood sign: “the famous D.Va, in the flesh, on world-saving business! Her prime informant: the arcade dweller.”

Hana giggles, slapping his hands away as the car cruises to a stop besides the decorated building. The display is enough for Angela, who slides out of the car, and treks straight into the Arcade. It’s smaller inside, but the levels climb up higher than she allows her eyes to follow, instead her gaze is set on the counter immediately in front, and the attending with a name badge that says “Jason”. He’s staring googly-eyed at her, whether it’s at the suit or simply her, she cannot tell.

“Ohhhh, hey,” he croons, as she approaches. “The big bosses rang, told us you were coming. Overwatch. I never thought I’d even see you guys in action, let alone meet you. It’s Mercy, right? You’re Mercy, the angel, you’re so coooooool-”

“Yes, I’m Doctor Ziegler. I need information regarding-”

“And D.Va?” The attendee’s attention is stolen as Hana strides in, only in a loose version of her MEKA suit, but still in-gear all the same. She beams at Jason, moving to give him a high-five.

“Hey dude! You can call me Hana, and Doctor Z here, she’s cool too.” She leans on the counter, and Angela tries to relax, reminding herself they are all here to help. “They told you what happened to our agent?”

“Shit, yeah, scary stuff. Talon was here. I could have died, y’know, was texting my boyfriend about it. Then I told him: Overwatch is here, so I really got nothing to worry about, huh.”

“We will try our best to find him, and to secure the grounds,” assures Angela after a deep breath, complete with a patient-brand warm smile. “One of our agents is currently scoping the exterior, we’ll go over the inside.”

“For sure, Doctor. We’ve got everyone on the ground floor, cleared out where it happened so it was clean for when you guys got here.”

Sure enough, the floor is packed with gamers of all shapes and sizes, some with eyes glued to screens, others watching them with mixed expressions of confusion, awe, disbelief and suspicion. It is only small down here, it seems tables and machines have been mashed together like a jigsaw to make room. The capacity of the room means all of the game advertisements - some posters of Hana, too, she realises - cannot be seen among all the people. There is a low murmur from all the patrons, talk of their games, their characters, the goings on, or simply the passing of their lives. Angela hadn’t noticed any of it on her march up to the bench. That, or she chose to ignore it, thinking during such a dire situation as this they would have at least closed the building to the public.

Apparently not. Many things had changed during the war. The refusal to cave to fear was one of them, but it called into question where to draw the line at “stupid”. Allowing people to remain here, with possible Talon activity confirmed in the area, was definitely stupid. Yet she couldn’t dwell on it now, what’s done is done, and unfortunately not her business. Genji is her business. Finding him, making sure he is safe and well.

“Thank you,” she says, shaking the tension from her voice. Genji’s status could worsen if she’s clammy like this, and regardless, it’s unprofessional of her. Better status should be expected of an agent of Overwatch, and a doctor, to not let the situation get to her.

“I’m gonna go make some friends,” Hana announces proudly, giving Jason some finger guns, then disappearing off between the machines, like she’s a part of the scenery, colors and all.

The attendant takes her into the staff area, introduces her to the other staff, and the manager. They are kind, and make her a coffee as she peruses the video footage (erased), reviews the entries to the arcade today (clean), examines the grounds (bare) and checks in with Hana for witnesses (nothing). It turns out, to her utter dismay, Talon may have just committed the perfect kidnapping.

It tortures her, so she reviews where he was taken again: an upturned stool on the third floor behind a machine entitled “Omnic Kong 3”, a nearby open window with nothing but sky in its wake, and the absence of Genji. It’s also when Lúcio chooses to appear in said window, making her jump so much he begins spewing apologies.

“But hey, uh, Doc Z. You’re gonna want to come up and look at this.” Her heart leaps: he’s found something, finally, a lead. Something to grasp, to confirm to herself Genji isn’t entirely out of their reach. “You got your Valkyrie activated? Follow me up here.”

The window is only small, but so is she, climbing out of it with ease. She sits three floors up, legs dangling over the edge, to give a weak smile at Lúcio across the way. He’s perched on the wall next to her, skates grinding in a whoosh sound against the bricks. He glances above his head, where the gutter of the roof begins, something heavy in his eyes.

Her heart leaps, even more than when she activates the Valkyrie suit, pushing herself out of the window. The suit catches her, a quiet pulsing as the wings strain to keep her afloat above the ground. Once the slow descent starts, Lúcio climbs the rest of the way to the roof, so she beckons the suit to follow him.

He’s hunched over a tray, only about the size of her hand, but it is more than they had a second ago.

“Took me a while to find, but hey. Here it is.” He toes the tray, disgusted. Angela crouches down to examine it. “Looks to me like the dart they used to sleep him, they probably shoot him through the window. Hung down, one shot: bam!” He reloads an imaginary finger gun. “Then nabbed him back up here with the translocator, and took off.”

“I’ve seen this technology before,” Angela confirms, with a sigh. “It’s stolen from Overwatch, Ana Amari used the same technology. Almost had it perfected before she was killed.”

“You think it can lead us to him?”

She considers. “Perhaps.” The headache nabs her suddenly, pulling at her temple, beckoning towards the sleep dart debris in the tray. She massages it away with her hand, the other lifting the head of the dart with a gloved finger. “Talon likely finished the technology. If we find out how, we can track down the chemicals they used to do it. It’s a unique serum, it…. Shouldn’t be too hard.” The glimmer of hope she allows herself is minimal, but there. Lúcio is beaming, at least.

“That’s great news! I’ll get onto the others right away, I’ll find Hana! I’ll meet you down in the foyer!” He’s disappeared over the edge of the roof before she can say another word.

Hi all and welcome to the second D&S Fab Collab event!

Season two is centered around the prompt: Kidnapped. The fourth addition is authored by @talizorahs !

♚ For illustration continuations, please limit these works to 8 panels. For prose continuations, please limit these fics to 1k words. These are not benchmark figures, just the maximum amount for a submission.

♚ Submission from the next participating member is due on the 15th of November, either submitted to the blog or DMed to any staff member on the Discord server.

♚ Applications to participate for this season or “arc” are still open! To join, sign up here !

♚ If you want to join our server to be in the loop for more events like this one, join here !

#gency #emergenji #genji #mercy #overwatch #d&s fab collab

24 notes · View notes

wallpapernifty · 4 years

Text

Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens

Hot-pink angular cardi, atramentous covering skirt, noir applique stockings, flamenco shoes in jet black, and jet lag–Edie Orenstein, aloof aback from Spain, wears them all actual well. Oddly, her arch is bare– abnormally , because for the accomplished 17 years, Edie’s Hats, her boutique in the Net Loft on Granville Island, has been Vancouver’s epicentre of air-conditioned headgear. Transitioning from the sunshine alfresco to the beyond abundance she confused into three years ago is like jump-cutting from a beer bartering to a arena from a atypical by Colette. Antique lamps adhere from a beam draped and swagged with fabric. Crystals twinkle. A huge amber covering armchair and Persian rugs arm-twist a gentlemen’s club atmosphere (in the gentlemen’s hat section), while the ambiance against the rear of the store, breadth headwear becomes progressively beneath practical, is undiluted glamour.

In her mind, Orenstein, who is additionally a flamenco dancer, is still in Spain. Hundreds of photos from her cruise will anon go up on Flickr, forth with belief in her abutting newsletter. (You can assurance up for it at www.edieshats.com/ ) What’s interesting, she affairs to write, is the improvement of dress hats in added acceptable Seville and of artery hats in Madrid and Barcelona. She’s additionally beginning abundant off the even to be able to animadversion on the sartorial differences amid Western Canada and Spain. “Here, women are timid,” she says. “The Europeans dress . It isn’t a aberrant affair or a appropriate thing; it’s life. They don’t accede it frivolous. The afternoon comes. They go home, accept a siesta, but in the aboriginal atramentous they get dressed, absolutely nicely, and they all go out walking.”

The fizz is that this is a division for the acknowledgment of the hat. (Cloches and turbans are on the border for fall.) What’s walking out of her abundance appropriate now, says Orenstein, are fedoras, accurately the simple atramentous fedora that apparel “all ages, both es, and all demographics. It’s angled into artery fashion.” She indicates a hat angle bristling with the archetypal hat interpreted, to aces two at random, in stripes or a retro-looking checkerboard in brown, red, and cream. Big, too, are caps of all sorts, admitting not beyond the added class-conscious Atlantic, breadth the cap is advised the workingman’s hat. Here, the driver’s cap connotes funkiness rather than a career as a chauffeur, abnormally back it’s seamed from two fabrics, such as, for instance, one amber with white embroidery, the added a metallic-threaded check.

So why don’t added bodies abrasion hats? Fear, for the best part. “We [at Edie’s Hats] absorb a lot of time walking bodies through their affecting barriers. We advice bodies accretion self-confidence,” says Orenstein. She and her colleagues additionally act as examples. Agents affiliate Sarah Evans

Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens – black fedora hat womens | Encouraged to help my personal blog site, in this period I’m going to explain to you with regards to keyword. And now, this is the first impression:

Mostyleo Womens Fedora Hat 11% Wool Felt Hats Winter Trilby Cap .. | black fedora hat womens

Why not consider graphic above? is usually in which amazing???. if you’re more dedicated therefore, I’l d teach you many picture once more down below:

So, if you’d like to acquire all of these great photos regarding (Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens), just click save icon to store the shots to your computer. They are available for save, if you like and wish to obtain it, simply click save badge on the web page, and it’ll be immediately downloaded in your pc.} Finally if you’d like to gain unique and recent picture related to (Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens), please follow us on google plus or save this website, we attempt our best to provide regular up grade with all new and fresh shots. We do hope you like staying here. For many updates and recent information about (Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens) photos, please kindly follow us on tweets, path, Instagram and google plus, or you mark this page on bookmark section, We attempt to offer you up-date periodically with fresh and new graphics, enjoy your exploring, and find the best for you.

Here you are at our site, contentabove (Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens) published . Today we are pleased to announce that we have found an extremelyinteresting contentto be reviewed, namely (Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens) Most people attempting to find specifics of(Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens) and definitely one of them is you, is not it?

Dress fashion trend black short brimmed fedora hat black band .. | black fedora hat womens

US $11.11 |Vintage Winter Hat 11% Wool Women’s Black Fedora hats Trilby felted Panama Ladies Cap Size 11 11CM adjusted IN Stock|hat cap|caphat ny – .. | black fedora hat womens

Mechaly Women’s Madison Black Fedora Vegan Hat – black fedora hat womens | black fedora hat womens

Lack Of Color Women Midnight Muse Wool Fedora Hat (11,1175 MXN .. | black fedora hat womens

Gardener Fedora Hat – Black – black fedora hat womens | black fedora hat womens

Jasmine Men & Women’s Winter Thick Wool Blend Manhattan Fedora Hat – black fedora hat womens | black fedora hat womens

US $11 | black fedora hat womens

Women’s Felt Wide Brim Fedora Hat – Universal Thread™ Black – black fedora hat womens | black fedora hat womens

Lanzom Women Wide Brim Warm Wool Fedora Hat Retro Style Belt Panama Hat – black fedora hat womens | black fedora hat womens

Accessoryo Women’s 11% Wool Black Fedora Hat – black fedora hat womens | black fedora hat womens

The post Five Disadvantages Of Black Fedora Hat Womens And How You Can Workaround It | Black Fedora Hat Womens appeared first on Wallpaper Nifty.

from Wallpaper Nifty https://www.flowernifty.com/five-disadvantages-of-black-fedora-hat-womens-and-how-you-can-workaround-it-black-fedora-hat-womens/

#Wallpaper #black fedora hat ladies #black fedora hat womens #black felt fedora hat womens #black lea

0 notes

chicagoindiecritics · 5 years

Text

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: MOVIE REVIEW: The Irishman

(Image courtesy of Netflix via EPK.tv)

Gala Selection of the 55th Chicago International Film Festival

THE IRISHMAN— 3 STARS

Within the first minute of the 210 that constitute The Irishman, it is readily apparent that you are watching a Martin Scorsese film. The beginning chords and doo-wop chorus of “In the Still of the Night” by The Five Satins announce the nostalgic, mise-en-scène fingerprints. The gritty giddiness to witness another swanky Scorsese crime saga akin to Goodfellas and Casino provides enveloping fervor. The ebb of tracking shots and voiceover storytelling is well-worn and unmistakable. We are introduced to Robert De Niro’s Frank Sheeran through a closeup of a massive gold retirement ring on his finger that begs to be symbolically kissed as a gesture of our own respect for who is present making this movie. The camera zooms out to show the man confined to a wheelchair and soul-shielding transition lenses in a nursing home.

By the time the exhalation of the final minute of those 210 is reached, Frank remains in that same setting. Age has done its job on him and us in the audience. The sizzle has been squelched and the thrill is gone. The exquisite ruminations on display for over three hours build The Irishman into what feels like a conclusive coda for all of the veteran artists involved. Yet, the meandering pace of what all transpires reverberates with a slender essence no better than a hospice bedtime story.

Based on the Charles Brandt’s disputed account “I Heard You Paint Houses” adapted by Oscar-winning Schindler’s List screenwriter Steve Zaillian, The Irishman chronicles the long road of a Northeastern Pennsylvania union driver who, to match the vague job description, colors walls with the crimson spray of his gunshot kills. Over the course of several decades, Frank Sheeran ascends from moonlighting as a hitman for Russell Bafalino (Joe Pesci) to daylighting as the close confidant and protective sounding board for the speechifying historical firebrand that was Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Abrupt is his default setting. Frank metes out his assertiveness in deadly methods if necessary.

LESSON #1: HOW TO “PAINT HOUSES” — The expository voiceover of Robert De Niro swings between braggadocious and mournful. Through him, we learn what dark social graces make these men tick and isn’t only the table wine and bread. Observing these alpha male killers choose the right gun for their assassination occasion, creative name-call, stare at each other over plates of steak, and size each other up by their punctuality and fashion sense is quite an immersive underworld to sulk through.

The Irishman traverses for two-thirds of its length alongside a Detroit road trip shared by Frank, Russell, and their smoke-break blind eye wives. Flashbacks present Frank’s formative past climbing the Bufalino ladder of trust through scores, bodycounts, and achievements. The ever-loyal iceberg of a man eventually hitches his wagon to Jimmy Hoffa’s quest to climb back to the top of the national union post he held before a post-Kennedy prison sentence gave his rivals the window to replace him. The enigmatic labor leader allows Pacino to rise fully in his verbose element, just in time for his eventual fall.

LESSON #2: THE LEVELS OF “CONCERN” — True to a Scorsese gangster flick, The Irishman is thick with the euphemisms and lingo. One dour primer in particular is the wealth of difference between the seriousness of being “a little concerned” and the desperate certain doom of being “very concerned.” The conversational challenge is being Frank trying to relate levels of concern on which ‘friend” (especially if it’s him) gets to be the messenger hoping to figuratively (and literally) not get shot.

Rumored to be the costliest line item of a nine-figure budget, the de-aging visual effects are ambitious, but only somewhat sufficient. They stand as a minor improvement against previous attempts with the technology in other films, including Ang Lee’s recent Gemini Man. It’s the lack of nuance and the inflexibility of Father Time within the performers under the pixelated facelifts.

You cannot add full youth back to voices, eyes, or bodies beneath the face. No matter the era, and like the geriatric maturity of an 88-year-old James Earl Jones still playing Mufasa or Darth Vader in the 21st century, the core three actors being modified tonally speak and move with their same old crustiness. Everyone looks perpetually withdrawn and tired as the animators of the mouths do their best to keep up without slurring while the analog bodies lag in their own natural speed of slump.

No matter how warped their faces and frames shift, the actors underneath aim to be the stuff of legend from a roster of exactly those. It has been a long 24 years since Robert De Niro and Al Pacino shared screen time together in Michael Mann’s Heat. While these men are slower now and playing on the same side (for the most part), their dramatic symbiotic dynamics are scintillating, akin to old dancers who know every step.

The unretired Joe Pesci, playing the steady sage and not the violent volcano, exudes clout with the best performance of the entire ensemble. Other than a flourish or two here and there from actors like Stephen Graham, Ray Romano, and Sebastian Maniscalco, the stock roster of Italian heavies and underlings, including an underused Harvey Keitel, and the pining periphery of beleaguered family members, like Anna Paquin’s observant daughter, are underwritten and underutilized. The core trio steals most of the oxygen and lens attention.

Like the talent of the top-shelf actors, the same can be complimented for the masters behind the camera. As aforementioned, Martin Scorsese puts the needle on the cinematic turntable to play all of his old standard chops. The long tracking shots, the slow pans, fourth wall moments, and the brew of rapid fire mob lingo and high profanity are distilled, as always, through editor Thelma Schoonmaker. The endless layers of period detail, practically sponsored by domestic automobile manufacturers and Canada Dry ginger ale, radiate for the most expensive looking movie antique show in quite some time. Gaudy as it all is, it drapes this movie appropriately with regality.

The trouble is the regality becomes the smoke in your eyes. There is delight to be had in these details, time capsule performances, and in the pointed plodding through dramatized history, but we have seen so much of this before from Scorsese and in better concentrations. Furthermore, different temperaments and tastes are going to project their own inflated values all over this morose movie.

LESSON #3: “IT IS WHAT IT IS” — Processing the finality of The Irishman matches that of this lesson’s old saying and frequent conversation finisher from the movie. The closing segments of The Irishman go to a more senior place of reflection than Scorsese has ever attempted with his brand of tough guy characters. Be that as it may, the impact of this film’s musings on religion, sin, and mortality are going to greatly vary. One person is going to see a wellspring of male meditation and another is going to see dissonance and apathy. For this writer, the ruthlessness and remorselessness have their limits of gravitas and presumed importance.

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#837)

Permalink

from REVIEW BLOG – Every Movie Has a Lesson https://ift.tt/2Q5kTeH via IFTTT

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2K6r3b0 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress #CIFCC #film critics #movies #film #Chicago

0 notes

magzoso-tech · 5 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/redmi-note-8-pro-review/

Redmi Note 8 Pro Review

The Redmi Note series has been very important for Xiaomi. The Redmi Note 4 (Review) was the first model that sold in huge numbers, helping the Chinese smartphone giant cement its position in the Indian market. Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 7 Pro is another highlight of the series, according to the company. Launched in February earlier this year, the Redmi Note 7 Pro offered impressive performance and good cameras at an aggressive price. Naturally, this puts a lot of pressure on its successor, the Redmi Note 8 Pro. While this new smartphone has been launched nine months after its predecessor, it claims to be better in every measurable way. Will the Redmi Note 8 Pro become the new yardstick for its segment? We put it to the test to answer that.

Redmi Note 8 Pro design

Xiaomi has changed the design of the Redmi 8 series of smartphones, and the Redmi Note 8 Pro also benefits from this. The new smartphone packs in a bigger display measuring 6.53 inches compared to the 6.3-inch display on the Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review). It has a waterdrop notch at the top which houses the selfie camera. The earpiece sits just above the display and is finished in black, which camouflages it well with the black bezel at the top. There is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection.

Xiaomi has managed to reduce the thickness of the bottom bezel on the Redmi Note 8 Pro by opting for a flexible chip-on-film display driver that bends downwards. The power and volume buttons are on the right side of the device. We found the power button to be well positioned while the volume rocker needed a bit of a stretch to reach.

The left side of the Redmi Note 8 Pro sports two trays: one has only a Nano-SIM slot while the other has the second Nano-SIM slot and a dedicated microSD card slot. Xiaomi has specifically added the microSD card slot for the Indian market, as the Chinese version of this phone lacks this feature.

If you absolutely need a microSD card slot, Redmi has got you covered

The back of the phone is made out of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and is curved on the sides to make it easy to grip. The camera module is positioned in the centre and is slightly raised. Xiaomi has also moved the fingerprint scanner into the raised camera module, which feels a little weird at first. We usually have fingerprint scanners recessed into the bodies of smartphones, and this one is quite the opposite. However, it isn’t a huge issue and it didn’t take us long to get used to. We also found that the fingerprint scanner is slightly higher than ideal. Next to the camera module is the LED flash along with a separate macro camera positioned under it.

At the bottom, the Redmi Note 8 Pro sports a USB Type-C port, loudspeaker, and primary microphone while the IR emitter and secondary microphone are on the top. Xiaomi ships a clear plastic case in the box along with an 18W fast charger.

Redmi Note 8 Pro specifications and software

The Redmi Note 8 Pro sports a big 6.53-inch display with a full-HD+ (1080×2340 pixels) resolution and HDR support. It has a vivid output, and gets bright enough when outdoors with a maximum brightness of 500 nits.

Xiaomi has opted for the MediaTek Helio G90T SoC which has apparently been specifically designed for gaming. This processor competes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G SoC which is expected to power the Realme XT 730G. The Helio G90T is an octa-core processor with two performance ARM Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.05GHz and six efficiency Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. For graphics, it has an ARM Mali-G76 MC4 integrated GPU clocked at 800MHz.

To maintain operating temperatures on this processor, Xiaomi has implemented what it calls liquid cooling along with dual pyrolytic sheets. Xiaomi told Gadgets 360 that it uses a bigger vapour cooling chamber than the one in the Poco F1 (Review).

Xiaomi has launched three variants of the Redmi Note 8 Pro with the base variant sporting 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage priced at Rs. 14,999. The second variant sports 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and is priced at Rs. 15,999. The top variant of the Redmi Note 8 Pro gets 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and is priced at Rs. 17,999.

Xiaomi offers the Redmi Note 8 Pro with UFS 2.1 storage instead of EMMC 5.1 which is common at these price points. Storage is expandable using a microSD card of up to 512GB.

Corning Gorilla Glass 5 at the back helps give this smartphone a premium feel

Connectivity options on the Redmi Note 8 Pro include Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, dual 4G VoLTE, and four navigation systems. The phone packs in a 4,500mAh battery. Xiaomi also mentions that the Redmi Note 8 Pro has a self-cleaning speaker which plays a low-frequency tone to try to eject dust.

Xiaomi ships the Redmi Note 8 Pro with MIUI 10 running on top of Android 9 Pie. Our unit was running the September security patch. Like most other Xiaomi smartphones, the Redmi Note 8 Pro comes with a quite a few apps preinstalled. Along with a few Google apps, the Redmi Note 8 Pro has Amazon, Facebook, WPS Office, Netflix, Dailyhunt, Gaana, and Opera Mini, among others. Xiaomi also preinstalled games such as Ludo Master, Block Puzzle Guardian, Pop Shooter Blast, and Dust Settle.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro has a GetApps app store that suggests new apps for you to try. Xiaomi’s own apps such as Mi community, Mi Pay, Mi Store, and Mi Credit are also preinstalled on the device. You need to pay attention while setting up the device to disable the personalised ad recommendations and wallpaper carousal. The smartphone still shows ads when installing new apps, which can get annoying. Apps like Music and Mi Video push spammy notifications throughout the day.

Xiaomi lets you switch from the traditional three-button navigation layout to swipe-based navigation. Since the MediaTek Helio G90T supports dual-wake, Xiaomi has added support for Amazon’s Alexa along with Google Assistant. That’s right, there are two assistants on the device that are ready to listen to their respective wake phrases and spring into action.

While both the Google Assistant and Alexa worked as expected, we found at first that Alexa would take over the screen causing it to be unresponsive. We had to hit the back button to use the smartphone again. An Alexa app update that we received during the course of our review fixed this issue. The advantage of the dual wake feature is that you can summon either assistant at any time including when the device is locked.

Redmi Note 8 Pro performance and battery life

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro is the first smartphone in India to sport the new MediaTek Helio G90T processor. We’re reviewing the top variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Naturally, we were curious to see how it fares compared to its Snapdragon rivals. We did not notice any lag or stutter on this device when it was subjected to heavy load. It launches apps quickly, and 8GB of RAM ensures that the smartphone can multitask without needing to kill apps in the background.

We found the fingerprint scanner to be quick to unlock the smartphone. Face recognition is also available and needs only a glance to unlock the Redmi Note 8 Pro. The display gets bright enough outdoors, and the speaker is loud enough to enjoy the content you are watching.

The water drop notch houses the 20-megapixel selfie snapper

We ran our standard set of benchmarks on the device to gauge its performance. In AnTuTu, the Redmi Note 8 Pro managed to clock 2,27,626 which is higher than the 2,14,687 scored by the Redmi K20 (Review) with its Snapdragon SoC. The Redmi Note 8 Pro also managed 273 and 943 in Geekbench 5’s single-core and multi-core tests respectively. These scores are higher than those of the Snapdragon 730 SoC, and come very close to those of the Snapdragon 730G. In graphics benchmarks, the Redmi Note 8 Pro managed 58fps and 15fps in GFXBench’s T-Rex and Car Chase tests respectively.

We couldn’t do without testing games on a phone that boasts of a gaming-optimised processor, so we played PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile to gauge performance. PUBG Mobile defaulted to the High preset with graphics set to HD and the frame rate set to High. The smartphone managed to run the game at these settings without any issues. We played the game for 36 minutes and noticed a 12 percent battery drain. The Redmi Note 8 Pro was warm at the end of this gaming session. We bumped the graphics up to HDR and frame rate to Ultra, and the smartphone could run the game at these settings with no protest. However, it got rather hot after playing for 20 minutes at these settings.

Battery life is decent on the Redmi Note 8 Pro if you consider the kind of performance it packs. The 4,500mAh battery in this device went on for about 14 hours in our HD video loop test. With our usage, which consisted of an active WhatsApp account, taking a few camera samples, and playing PUBG Mobile and Call Of Duty Mobile, we were left with around 40 percent left at the end of 24 hours. Xiaomi ships an 18W charger in the box which charged the big battery to 32 percent in 30 minutes and to 62 percent in an hour.

Redmi Note 8 Pro cameras

The Redmi Note 8 Pro has received a significant bump in terms of camera hardware compared to the Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review). Xiaomi has effectively doubled the number of cameras compared to its predecessor. The Redmi Note 8 Pro packs a 64-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.79 aperture and 0.8-micron pixels. This sensor takes 16-megapixel shots in the default mode as is does 4-in-1 pixel binning.

The second sensor in the array is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 120-degree field of view. Xiaomi has also added a 2-megapixel macro camera. The fourth sensor is a 2-megapixel depth sensor. At the front, this phone has a 20-megapixel selfie shooter.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro packs in four cameras!

Xiaomi hasn’t made any radical changes to the camera app on the Redmi Note 8 Pro, and it is similar to what we have seen on many other Xiaomi phones. It has a button that lets you switch between the primary camera and the wide-angle one. This control also offers 2X zoom which is achieved digitally. The toggle to switch to the Macro camera is at the top alongside the AI button. This could be easy to miss and we would’ve preferred it to be grouped with the other similar control.

At the top, there are icons for HDR, AI, the flash, and filters. The smartphone has Portrait, Night, Panorama, Pro, Short video, Slow motion, and 64MP shooting modes, apart from the standard Photo and Video modes.

Photos shot with the Redmi Note 8 Pro in daylight were sharp and had good detail, which was evident on zooming in. The camera enables HDR automatically for bright scenes and does a good job at getting the exposure right. Shots taken with the wide-angle camera offered a wider field of view but lacked detail compared to the primary sensor. However, they did not have barrel distortion.

Daylight shot taken using the Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size camera sample)

Photo shot using primary camera on Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size camera sample)

Daylight sample shot using wide-angle camera on the Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size camera sample)

In low light, the AI was quick to recognise scenes and set the camera accordingly. The phone captured decent levels of detail with its primary camera at night. Text at a distance was legible, but we did notice fine grain on zooming in. With Night mode enabled, the smartphone was able to capture brighter images with slightly better details, but we had to be perfectly still to get a usable shot.

Low-light shot captured on the Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size camera samples)

Shot with Night mode enabled on the Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size camera sample)

Close-up photos taken using the primary camera had good background separation and a natural bokeh effect. We noticed that the AI wasn’t consistent when shooting closeups, boosting colours aggressively in a few scenes causing them to look artificial. The primary camera was quick to focus even in low light, and managed good shots with good detail.

Close-up shot captured using Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size image)

Shots taken using the Macro camera had good detail, but the resolution is 2 megapixels only. Xiaomi told Gadgets 360 that the macro camera has been positioned just below the flash in order to use the flash as an illuminator to avoid shadows when taking macros with the phone really close to your subject. We would have liked the option to set the intensity of the flash.

Macro shot captured with the Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size camera sample)

In portrait mode, the Redmi Note 8 Pro does give you the option to set the level of blur before taking a shot. The phone managed good separation between the subject and background. Colours were also accurate when shooting portraits.

Portrait shot on Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size camera sample)

The single selfie camera returns sharp shots during the day but we found the contrast to be slightly boosted. You do have the option to take selfie portraits, and these showed good separation as well. Selfies taken in low light had slightly lower detail but were worthy of going on social media directly.

Selfie shot on the Redmi Note 8 Pro (Tap to see full-size camera sample)

Video recording is capped at 4K 30fps for the primary camera and 1080p 30fps for the selfie shooter. You can also shoot video using the wide-angle camera or macro camera. Videos shot during the day were stabilised and the phone could meter light properly. 4K footage had boosted colours and the output wasn’t stabilised, which is acceptable for the price. Video shot in low light had a visible shimmer effect in the output and could do with some improvement.

Verdict

The Redmi Note 8 Pro has iding on it considering how popular its predecessor, the Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review), was. To give it a fighting chance, Xiaomi has equipped it with powerful hardware previously unseen in this price segment. The MediaTek Helio G90T can easily take care of your gaming needs. It beats the Snapdragon 712 as well as the Snapdragon 730 SoC in terms of performance, making it an easy pick for someone looking at just that. However, there seems to be a bit of a tradeoff, as we found that this processor wasn’t as power efficient as the Snapdragon 675 that powers the Redmi Note 7 Pro, and this was evident in our battery tests.

Xiaomi has beefed up the camera hardware to compete with other smartphones, most notably the Realme 5 Pro (Review) and Realme XT (Review) which offer good camera performance with a similar variety of sensors in the same price range. But we feel that the Redmi Note 8 Pro could do with a few camera tweaks to extract the best out of it.

As a whole package, the Redmi Note 8 Pro qualifies as a suitable successor to the Redmi Note 7 Pro. Xiaomi has sweetened the deal by pricing it aggressively and undercutting the Realme XT (Review). For those looking for a gaming device, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is an easy pick, but you might also want to look at the Poco F1 (Review) which costs the same and offers the same amounts of RAM and storage now that its price has been reduced so many times.

Is Realme XT the reason behind Redmi Note 8 Pro’s killer pricing? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

#Uncategorized

0 notes

usvisahelp-blog1 · 6 years

Text

Ditch The Bad Vacations With These Travel Tips

There is a definite appeal to travel. Everyone wants to see new places, meet different cultures and witness unspeakable wonders. A dream trip is easier to achieve when deliberate planning occurs in advance. The tips located below will help you enjoy your time spent traveling.

Don't use public computers for looking at sensitive information. Keyloggers can steal this information from you.

When you are traveling in unfamiliar locations, be sure to watch for scammers posing as government officials trying to take advantage of you. Don't give anyone your original passport; you will probably never see it again. If you are asked to travel to any offices, insist on walking. In order to stay safe, never ride in a car with someone you don't know.

When you are planning for a trip, consider the nature of your trip before choosing a digital camera. For example, a camera with a rechargeable battery might not be suited for backpacking. In any case, take a digital camera that is quick to turn on and focus so you won't miss the shot you want.

When traveling, you must constantly stay alert as to the location of your valuable belongings. Carry your handbag tucked securely under your arm. Avoid choosing bags that have zippered pockets on the outside. These are easily accessible in crowded areas, so if your bag does have one, it is best to leave it empty. Keep these things in mind when you choose a bag for your trip.

Although you should try and avoid it, you could possible wind up in an inferior hotel. If the surroundings make you nervous, bring along a rubber doorstop. Use it and the lock on your door. An intruder might be able to get past the chain and the lock, but the rubber doorstop won't be so easy to dislodge.

While some car rental companies ask that drivers be at least 18, others require that their drivers be 25 years old. If you aren't 25, the rate you pay may be higher, and you may be required to use a credit card. Some cities do not allow senior citizens to rent cars. Always ask when you call about any special restrictions.

Jet lag typically occurs if travel includes crossing time zones. This is almost impossible to avoid, but the effects can be lessened if you sleep more a few days prior to the flight. Also, you should try to sleep during your flight as much as possible.

If you are planning a trip that involves getting a rental car, be sure to review your vehicle insurance policy before you leave home. You don't want to have to pay for items you don't need, such as extra rental insurance, and you might not need this costly add-on. Car insurance policies typically incorporate some coverage in terms of third-party liability. Check your policy in advance to save extra money.

To enjoy traveling, you need to anticipate all the fun and that starts with planning. Advice given by other travelers about their experiences could keep you from making bad decisions and help you avoid obstacles that may arise. These tips have you well on your way, so start planning today.

#travel tips #travel ideas #travel advice

0 notes

savetopnow · 7 years

Text

2018-03-17 00 TECH now

TECH

Ars Techica

Why the first state with a net neutrality law isn’t scared of lawsuits

Congress debates allowing tens of thousands of cars with no steering wheel

How a Norwegian comment section turned chaos into order—with a simple quiz

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music review: The high price of tunes on a runner’s tool

Galaxy S9+ review—Faster specs, better biometrics in a familiar package

Buzzfeed Tech

Uber Is Being Challenged For Trying To Send a Sexual Assault Lawsuit to Arbitration

The Trump Administration Is Accusing Russia Of Trying To Hack The US Power Grid

After Parkland, Companies Are Selling Uncertified Bulletproof Backpacks

What It's Like To Work At Theranos After The Fall, According To Glassdoor Reviews

The Seven Biggest Lies Theranos Told

CNet

'Avengers: Infinity War' trailer arrives, tickets go on sale - CNET

Ram recalls 270,000 trucks for fuel tank separation - Roadshow

Facebook sorry for suggesting child sex videos in search - CNET

iPhone users can finally give Google Lens a try - CNET

Apple's March 27 event in Chicago takes place at school - CNET

Clean Technica

Larry Page Self-Flying Air Taxi Cora Takes To The Air In New Zealand

A Bold Plan For The World’s Tallest Wooden Skyscraper In Tokyo

FlixBus + FlixTrain + FlixMobility = Integrated Green Transport

Despite Lagging, German Automakers Are The Biggest Spenders In Electric Car Technology

Tesla Model S & Model X Production Efficiency Has Improved Greatly

Hacker News

Google Cloud Platform’s new interactive CLI

This City Just Passed the First Bitcoin Mining Ban in the US

Dark Web Map

Surprising Creativity: Anecdotes from Evolutionary Computation

LiDAR scans are finding hidden Roman roads and cutting crime

Mashable

Plattsburgh, New York is the first city in the U.S. to ban cryptocurrency mining

Cleaning this roof is an absolute nightmare—but at least it looks cool

New aggregator CherryPicks will highlight female reviewers and women in film

Apple is holding a mysterious 'education' event in Chicago

Miley Cyrus encourages fans to support new charity single by Parkland survivors

Motherboard

‘Surviving Mars’ Taught Me I Would Not Survive on Mars

'Star Wars Battlefront II' Officially Ditches Paid Loot Boxes

Four Alleged Associates of Sinaloa Cartel-Linked Encrypted Phone Company Are On the Run

Facebook's Search Bar Briefly Autocompleted to 'Video of Girl Sucking Dick Under Water'

This City Just Passed the First Bitcoin Mining Ban in the US

New York Times Technology

Pentagon Wants Silicon Valley’s Help on A.I.

Kelp Farms and Mammoth Windmills Are Just Two of the Government’s Long-Shot Energy Bets

Rihanna Protests Ad on Snapchat That Mocks Domestic Violence

Tech Tip: How to Format Documents While Barely Lifting a Finger

Bits: Kevin’s Week in Tech: Theranos, Fraud and the Failure to Fail

Recode

Author Claire Evans wants you to know about the women who helped found the internet

Recode Daily: With a subpoena, special counsel Robert Mueller brings the Russia investigation closer to President Trump

The $10 billion opportunity at Reuters

How is the internet changing March Madness?

Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake is coming to the Code conference

Reddit Technology

How a Norwegian comment section turned chaos into order—with a simple quiz: "Readers had to prove they read a story before they were able to comment on it."

Ride-hail apps like Uber and Lyft generated 65 percent more rides than taxis did in New York in 2017 - Ride-hail drivers now pick up more passengers in a month than taxi drivers ever have in a month.

This City Just Passed the First Bitcoin Mining Ban in the US - Plattsburgh, New York has imposed an 18-month moratorium on Bitcoin mining to prevent miners from using all the city’s cheap electricity.

Uber accused of silencing women who claim sexual assault by drivers

US Sounds Alarms Over Chinese Tech, IP Thefts & Espionage

Reuters Technology

French food retailer Leclerc takes on rivals to crack Paris

Bike-sharing companies face an uphill ride in U.S.

JD.com's finance unit aims to raise $1.9 billion, valuation set to double: sources

UK city Birmingham wants further details from Uber before license decision

Trading in Samsung Electronics to be halted April 30-May 3 for stock split

Slashdot

Chinese Hackers Hit US Firms Linked To South China Sea Dispute

US Utilities Have Finally Realized Electric Cars May Save Them

Microplastics Found In 93 Percent of Bottled Water Tested In Global Study

Microsoft Launches Bounty Program For Speculative Execution Side Channel Vulnerabilities

No, Space Did Not Permanently Alter 7 Percent of Scott Kelly's DNA

TechCrunch

Watch Thanos explain his simple plan in new ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ trailer

Alexa’s new ‘Brief Mode’ replaces verbal confirmations with chimes

Apple is holding an education event March 27

Reverie Labs uses new machine learning algorithms to fix drug development bottlenecks

Equity podcast: Theranos’s reckoning, BroadQualm’s stunning conclusion and Lyft’s platform ambitions

The Next Web

Accelerate your career with coveted Six Sigma project management certifications

The McFly project wants to launch flying taxis on the blockchain in Nairobi

The Dutch Data Protection Authority accidentally leaked its employees’ data

HTC’s U12 Plus flagship leaks ahead of May launch

What’s the next big thing in IoT? 14 experts share their predictions.

The Verge

Krypton’s showrunner on the show’s complex politics and alien design

Google Pay for Wear OS devices comes to Canada, Spain, and Australia

Vergecast: explaining a Spotify trial, Siri, and a whole bunch of gadgets

Plattsburgh has become the first city in the US to ban cryptocurrency mining

Nintendo’s new Kirby is the rare co-op game that’s fun to play with kids

WSJ Tech

PwC Has an Answer for the Blockchain: Audit It

Do You Own Bitcoin? The IRS Is Coming for You

World's Largest Economies Can't Agree on How to Tax Digital Companies

LinkedIn's $27 Billion Challenge: Get People to Use It More

Pricier Than Apple? Xiaomi's Hot Again, and Investors Could Get Burned

Wired

Don’t Do Drugs and Watch ‘Annihilation’

‘Dr. Strangelove’ Is Basically a Documentary

Total Clips

Aliens Would Probably Like It If You Gave them Flowers

All About HomePod

#tech

0 notes