Desktop Power in a Console Frame: Check out TheOriginalQ's Awesome Mini-ITX Build

Sometimes the Mini-ITX form factor is forgotten about, especially in the shadows of its bigger brothers. But while some might associate Mini-ITX with low-powered computers for office workers', these days that's anything but true.

Case and point is this build from TheOriginalQ on Reddit's Build a PC subreddit. TheOriginalQ  says that he wanted to move away from gaming laptops, and back to the power of a PC, but at the same time keep a small form factor too. 

Thanks to the GIGABYTE GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 Mini-ITX board he was able to do that. The Z170N Gaming 5 Mini-ITX board supports Intel's® latest 6th Gen. Core™ processor, DDR 4, and USB 3.1. Combined with a Mini-ITX sized video card (which there are plenty of from Nvidia and AMD), this small form factor PC can push through any game you can throw at it.

Check out these photos, courtesy of TheOriginalQ: 

But as TheOriginalQ mentions in his post, building a PC with such a small form factor is not without its challenges. The small form factor means its tough to fit everything inside, meaning the build took some careful pre-planning. Check out what he has to say about this challenge:

One of the toughest parts of this build was making everything was going to fit before I even purchased any of the parts. There is exactly 83mm of clearance between the top of the CPU and the edge of the case (thats not including the included case fan). This limited the selection of CPU coolers tremendously. There are plenty of heatsinks available, but the performance doesn't warrant the cost over a stock cooler. I ended up with the Noctua NH-L12. The full heatsink assembly when it comes out the box is 93mm tall, however, the neat thing about this heatsink is you can remove the top fan and it will work just fine with just the bottom 92mm fan, and it makes the total assembly only 66mm tall. Additionally, the layout of the case puts a 120mm fan directly over the CPU, so you can mount a slim (15mm thick) fan to the case blowing directly on the heatsink. This heatsink was almost made for this case.

In the end with a little patience TheOriginalQ was able to fit everything in the case. And despite the small form factor, the CPU and GPU coolers were still able to keep their respective components within tolerable ranges. TheOriginalQ reported that during burn testing the CPU was hitting 53°C to 55°C while the GPU was at 73°C to 74°C.

Of course, most importantly, it's able to play through the latest games with ease. Fallout 4 runs smooth as silk at 60fps on Ultra settings.

Here's the breakdown of the parts used for the build:

 You can check out a photo album of the entire build here. The original Reddit thread can be found here.

Star War: Galaxy of Heroes 0.2.110292 APK

Electronic Arts has now made its latest free-to-play RPG, Star War: Galaxy of Heroes, available worldwide for Android in the Google Play Store after the successful release of "Star Wars: Battlefront" on many gaming platforms this year. The game looks to be widely available, but we’ve got the Star War: Galaxy of Heroes apk to download directly on your Android device if you need it.

The new Star War: Galaxy of Heroes game lets you create a large team of 60 characters included in the Star Wars universe. The characters can be utilized to combat and win battles across iconic spots and turn out to the best gamer in whole Star Wars' whole galaxy. Here's a list of its features:

• CREATE YOUR ULTIMATE TEAM
Build powerful light and dark side teams with both Jedi and Sith heroes and other characters from the Star Wars universe. Make strategic choices and pick characters with complimentary abilities to construct squads and engage in RPG combat like never before!

• TRAIN POWERFUL CHAMPIONS
Make tactical decisions and equip your characters, from Darth Vader and Boba Fett – to Lando Calrissian and Leia Organa, with powerful gear to enhance their damage. Unlock special leader abilities to buff your team and unleash moves like Darth Sidious’s Force Lightning, Chewbacca’s Wookiee Rage, and more.

• COLLECT ICONIC HEROES
Collect characters from the original trilogy and prequel films, plus animated TV shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels – and more. True to the RPG genre, each new hero has multiple powerful attacks and abilities!

• FIGHT IN LEGENDARY LOCATIONS
Complete epic missions on Hoth, Bespin, Tatooine, Coruscant, and beyond. Unlock special characters to play through in light and dark side campaigns

While the game is free to play, it does contain in-app purchases. You can check it now on the Google Play Store or download the latest Star War: Galaxy of Heroes apk from the source link given below.

Mali Is So Totally Unsafe To Visit-- Don't Even Think About It

When I worked at Warner Bros, I visited our French company as often as I could and I usually would go see a band at the now infamous Bataclan Theatre. I saw some of our French bands play there-- like Les Negresses Vertes-- but once to see the Queens of the Stone Age, who were the progenitor of the Eagles of Death Metal. I wanted to see them play live because they covered a Romeo Void song I had an interest in (above).

Even when I went to Mali a few years ago there was a music component-- a trip out to Quizambougou to watch Bassekou Kouyate finish recording his second album. We were staying in Bamako, where I saw Bassekou play a live show at the French Cultural Center, and where, most recently a group of Daesh-related terrorists shot up the Radisson Blu Hotel and took over 100 guests hostage, killing 18 of them as well as a security guard.

The attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in the Malian capital Bamako, which killed 19 people, is the latest terrorist act on an African continent now stricken daily by fundamentalist horror and obscurantism.

Despite billions of dollars pledged to address this scourge, terrorism thrives in Africa due to the failure of states, the plundering of resources, and endemic corruption. Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, and more recently the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have engaged in deadly and constant destabilization in the hope of extending their power.

...The recently released Global Terrorism Index confirms this increase in violence. Boko Haram is ranked the deadliest organization with 6,644 deaths in 2014, compared with 6,073 for ISIS. Even as it loses ground to the Nigerian army, Boko Haram has multiplied its attacks, primarily against markets and public gatherings. Regular attacks in Mali and Kenya suggest that Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab will continue contributing to this violent one-upmanship.

Opening the second Dakar International Forum on Security in Africa on Nov. 9, Senegalese President Macky Sall reiterated his call for more resources. However, addressing terrorism in Africa demands more than financial means. According to him, the framework of intervention based on U.N. peacekeeping operations, to which his country is a major contributor, needs to adapt. The urgency of the situation requires fighting rather than simply maintaining peace.

Above and beyond the State Department's warning to Americans about travel, Mali was singled out even before this latest attack as a place to stay away from, a real shame in light of what an incredibly unique and fascinating place it is for American tourists. (That Radisson Blu, didn't have tourists but business people staying there.)

The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Mali. We especially warn against travel to the northern parts of the country and along the border with Mauritania because of ongoing military operations and threats of attacks and kidnappings targeting westerners. Mali faces significant security challenges because of the presence in northern Mali of extremists and militant factions. The potential for attacks throughout the country, including in Bamako, remains. This Travel Warning replaces the Travel Warning dated January 13, 2015.

Violent extremist and militant elements, including al- Qaeda in the Lands of Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar al-Dine, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad (MUJAO), and al-Murabitun are present in northern Mali. While these extremist elements have been mostly dislodged from the major population centers of Gao and Timbuktu, they continue to conduct attacks targeting security forces in and around these locations.

During the past year, there has been an increase in attacks targeting the United Nations peacekeepers of the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Rocket attacks targeting MINUSMA camps in various northern locations were reported. In addition, separate violent incidents involving suicide bombings, explosives, and land mines have occurred. The majority of these incidents resulted in numerous injuries and casualties.

Terrorist groups have increased their rhetoric calling for additional attacks or kidnapping attempts on westerners and others, particularly those linked to support for international military intervention.

While the security situation in Bamako and southern Mali has been relatively stable, on March 7, there was an armed attack on La Terrasse, a nightclub in the Hippodrome area of Bamako, in which a French citizen, a Belgian citizen, and three Malian citizens were killed. The Government of Mali has increased security in the capital, but the potential for additional attacks targeting Westerners in the capital city and throughout the country remains. Police harassment and violent crime in Bamako persist, including several armed carjacking incidents, one of which resulted in the death of a French citizen.

...The U.S. Embassy reminds U.S. citizens of the potential for terrorist activity throughout Mali. U.S. citizens are urged to exercise caution, be alert to their surroundings, and avoid crowds, demonstrations, or any other form of public gatherings when visiting locations frequented by westerners, in and around Bamako. Periodic public demonstrations occur throughout Mali. While most demonstrations are peaceful, a few have become confrontational. U.S. citizens throughout Mali should develop a personal security plan. We recommend you vary your daily routine, and travel only on main roads to the extent this is possible. Malian security forces regularly update security safeguards, including checkpoints and other movement control measures, without prior notice.

They also warn about unsafe domestic air flights and Ebola.

Bamako doesn't have much to offer, other than a good restaurant-- if it's still open (which I doubt). But the really great things to see in Mali are accessed through Bamako via insecure roads. As much as I loved Djenne, Timbuktu, the Dogon country and experiencing the birthplace of the blues, there's nothing that would get me there at this point. In fact, today there was another terrorist attack, this one up north in Kidal, where UN peacekeepers were targeted and several were killed by mortar shells.

GIGABYTE Leads The Industry in Thunderbolt 3 Support

This year there have been some exciting advances this year in the world of connectivity, particularly the introduction of Thunderbolt™ 3 from Intel®. Thunderbolt™ 3, which uses the reversible USB Type-C connector, brings users a world of revolutionary new features including more bandwidth and support for 4K displays. 

Thunderbolt™ 3 is designed for devices where high-bandwidth is of the utmost importance. Thunderbolt™ 3 is able to push up to 40 Gb/s through the wire, which is twice more than the previous generation. For display connectivity Thunderbolt™ 3 offers DisplayPort 1.2, which is able to drive a 4K resolution display at 60 FPS, power delivery for connected devices at up to 36W, as well as the ability to daisy-chain up to 6 devices per port. 

Thunderbolt™ 3 makes USB Type-C the one port to rule them all. The days of requiring a plethora of different cables to power all of your devices are over. Now your external storage devices, monitor, and tablets/smartphones can all be connected to a hub which connects to your PC via a single USB Type-C connector.

No more of this with USB Type-C

As Thunderbolt™ 3 used the reversible USB Type-C connector, you can also plug in USB devices into the same port. For the billions of older devices that use the Standard-A connectors, adapters are available to ensure that your device will be compatible. 

GIGABYTE offers Thunderbolt™ 3 on GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-Gaming G1, GA-Z170X Gaming GT, GA-Z170X Gaming 7, and Z170X-UD5 TH motherboards.

Check Out Our PC Building Guide And Don't Forget About Tomorrow's OC Livestream!

This Monday morning GIGABYTE tech specialists Sam and Janus hosted a livestream tutorial showing users how they can build their own PC. Many users had questions which Sam and Janus answered on the air.

If you missed the livestream you can watch it on YouTube down below:


Don't forget about tomorrow's (Tuesday) livestream where we'll take the system that we built and show you guys how to over how to do some basic overclocking.

Many people have questions about overclocking, and we are going to show you guys how simple, easy and fun it can be. We're going to use the same hardware we used for the PC build.
Here is the link to follow the live OC on Tuesday at 9am (UTC+8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs6tTrI7cVk

We'll also announce the winners from today's Facebook raffle and give you guys another chance to win some great prizes!

Syllabus

TED-ed lessons

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-does-your-smartphone-know-your-location-wilton-l-virgo

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-robots-be-creative-gil-weinberg

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-is-the-world-wide-web-twila-camp

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/inside-your-computer-bettina-bair

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/image-recognition-that-triggers-augmented-reality-matt-mills

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-hard-drives-work-kanawat-senanan

Learn How To Build a PC and Overclock with GIGABYTE

Have you ever wanted to find out how build a PC and learn the basics of overclocking?

GIGABYTE technical specialists are hosting two livestreams to teach new users about PC building and overclocking.

These first livestream, on November 23, will cover the basics of PC building while the November 24 livestream will focus on Overclocking.

The livestreams are interactive so new users can ask any questions they might have.

To watch the livestreams follow this link to our GIGABYTE Motherboards and BRIX YouTube channel or check out the embedded streams below. 

TED-ed lessons

Can robots be creative?

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-robots-be-creative-gil-weinberg

Big data

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/exploration-on-the-big-data-frontier-tim-smith

Facebook wants to read your mind

https://app.box.com/s/2f9gl87j16t62xvvic77uuvooxoh59l6

Technology of the future documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffWCVhOFpDQ

Introducing the BBC micro-bit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4hVG2Br1W1LKCmw8nSm9WnQ/introducing-the-bbc-micro-bit

computers might take over one day

http://www.newsy.com/videos/computers-might-actually-take-over-someday-say-really-smart-people/

How the world came to be run by computer code:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zxsrcdm

https://app.box.com/s/vz431gcw9yplq4fri5fqbqnoopb2x7nu

https://app.box.com/s/6u4su626vixox04g2rlrrwdc8mujxryc

Writing activities

https://app.box.com/s/b460zva5drhochkbumfyajxuu0mg4id0

Amazon launches grocery delivery service

Text: https://app.box.com/s/1oa93p2rebn3891ketnp6d3et0dyfm90

Listen: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1511/151116-grocery-delivery.mp3

TweakTown Gives The GIGABYTE Z170X-UD5 TH a Best Features Award

Thunderbolt 3 is one of the most exciting developments in I/O technology to date.

By pushing 40 Gb/s  through the wire,  Thunderbolt™ 3 provides an unprecedented amount of bandwidth to the end user. But that's not all. With Thunderbolt™ 3 you also get industry-leading features such as DisplayPort 1.2, which is able to drive a 4K resolution display at 60 FPS, power delivery for connected devices at up to 36W, as well as the ability to daisy-chain up to 6 devices per USB Type-C port.

Here at GIGABYTE, we recently released the Z170X-UD5 TH which brings Thunderbolt™ 3 connectivity to the Z170X Ultra Durable 5 motherboard. We sent a sample to TweakTown's Steven Bassiri and he was more than impressed with the board!

Here's what Steven liked about the board:

Thunderbolt 3 with Dual Type-C Ports: The Z170X-UD5 TH released a few weeks ago as the first Thunderbolt 3 certified motherboard. The controller that provides Thunderbolt 3 is also the same one that provides USB 3.1 and is the first USB-IF certified USB 3.1 controller. This Intel chip is very powerful, and when paired with proper USB Power Delivery 2.0 chips from TI can support up to 12 daisy chained devices, dual 4K monitors (or a single 5K monitor), and still provides up to 40Gbps of bandwidth. Needless to say, GIGABYTE implements the chip well and provides a Thunderbolt 3 implementation that is rare.

All Intel without Hubs: The circuit analysis I did on the Z170X-UD5 TH was one of the shortest I have ever done. This is because most everything on this board is powered directly through Intel chipsets. All eight USB 3.0 ports come directly from the PCH (2 more than standard FlexIO configurations). Networking is Intel. Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 also both come from an Intel controller. Compatibility with certified devices should be quite good, and headaches that sometimes arise from hubs should be nonexistent.

Overclocking Features: I was surprised to find voltage read points, a POST code display, and onboard buttons for overclocking. Usually, these features aren't found on motherboards targeted at workstations, but GIGABYTE made sure to include them to make tweaking more simple.

Aesthetics: GIGABYTE's recent gold/black/silver aesthetics has grown on me a little bit. The shade of gold they are using along with the yellow LEDs and gold audio capacitors matches quite well. The shields over the audio codec, NIC, and clock generator and the metal braces for the PCI-E slots create a theme that makes the motherboard look protected and equipped for hard work.

All in all, Steven gave the board a 94% with a Best Features award.

You can read the full review here.

Democracy Returns To Myanmar

I was living, briefly, in West Berlin before the Wall came down. There were already holes in the Wall and the border guards weren't generally taking it that seriously any longer, so my German friends used to go over into East Berlin whenever they felt like it. It wasn't as safe for Americans but I had to do it, right? It gave me an eerier feeling than anything I had felt in the more relaxed Communist bloc countries I had spent time in-- basically Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. And the next time I got that same eery feeling-- well actually it was a Stalinist feeling was when I visited Myanmar in 2007-08. I just checked and I was making the comparison between East Berlin and Yangon almost a decade ago! East Berlin, I wrote in 2007, "didn't look free and romantic; the oppression, tyranny and decrepitude were apparent and tangible... and chilling. It scared and repulsed me. I was happy to get back to West Berlin."

A few hours ago, decades later, I just returned from a place like that, a place you read about in books by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley: Myanmar.

Myanmar was Burma when I was a small boy (and avid stamp collector). I remember there were military coups when I was in elementary school. It was one of those closed off places-- exotic, mysterious, impenetrable, vaguely dangerous, like Albania, Mongolia, North Korea... places no one ever went. In the 80s the military junta took the name SLORC (an unfortunate-sounding acronym for State Law and Order Restoration Council). It sounds like something from a James Bond movie. For the people there, I just discovered, it doesn't feel like a movie. It feels like a nightmare that never ends. Paid Republican lobbyists and operatives in DC got the military dictators to ditch the SLORC moniker for SPDC (State Peace and Development Council, which sounds far less ominous-- like Bush's Clear Skies Act).

One of the first things I noticed is that the oppressive, paranoid tyranny in Myanmar exists in a parallel world next to a beautiful traditional Buddhist culture. The gentle people, predisposed to kindness, seem a little nervous-- hundreds of beloved and revered monks were brutally and ruthlessly murdered by the regime a few weeks ago after peaceful demonstrations-- but when you shoot anyone (except some of the soldiers) a mengalaba (hello) their wariness invariably breaks down and they smile. They are friendly and the reserve often vanishes quickly and, at least in Yangon, more of them spoke English than anywhere else in Southeast Asia I've ever been.

The whole city seems to be rotting and breaking down, although it may also be a work in progress of sorts. The city is immense-- but kind of slow and quiet... kind of left behind as the rest of the region rushes headlong into the 21st Century and globalization. Roland says Yangon reminds him of Havana in many ways.

I'm happy to report now that in their first ostensibly free elections in many years, November 8, the Burmese have chosen to go down the path of democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy seems to have won a clear majority-- perhaps as much as 80% of the vote-- and the military-backed politicians failed in an election that picked 168 of the 224 representatives in the upper house of the national parliament (the remaining quarter of seats to be appointed by the military) and 325 of the 440 seats in the lower house (with 110 appointed by the military). The military's party only won 41 of the 478 seats that have been declared so far. Aung San Suu Kyi's party has won 387 of them and the military has said they will abide by the results of the election.

Reuters reported that the dictatorship conceded defeat early Monday "as the opposition led by democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi appeared on course for a landslide victory that would ensure it can form the next government."

"We lost," Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) acting chairman Htay Oo told Reuters in an interview a day after the Southeast Asian country's first free nationwide election in a quarter of a century.

The election commission later began announcing constituency-by-constituency results from Sunday's poll. All of the first 12 announced were won by Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy (NLD).

The NLD said its own tally of results from polling stations around the country showed it on track to win more than 70 percent of the seats being contested in parliament, more than the two-thirds it needs to form Myanmar's first democratically elected government since the early 1960s.

"They must accept the results, even though they don't want to," NLD spokesman Win Htein told Reuters, adding that in the highly populated central region the Nobel peace laureate's party looked set to win more than 90 percent of seats.

Earlier a smiling Suu Kyi appeared on the balcony of the NLD's headquarters in Yangon and in a brief address urged supporters to be patient and wait for the official results.

The election was a landmark in the country's unsteady journey to democracy from the military dictatorship that made it a pariah state for so long. It is also a moment that Suu Kyi will relish after spending years under house arrest.

Although the election appears to have dealt a decisive defeat to the USDP, a period of uncertainty still looms over the country because it is not clear how Suu Kyi will share power with the still-dominant military.

The military-drafted constitution guarantees one-quarter of parliament's seats to unelected members of the armed forces.

Even if the NLD gets the majority it needs, Suu Kyi is barred from taking the presidency herself under the constitution written by the junta to preserve its power. Suu Kyi has said she would be the power behind the new president regardless of a charter she has derided as "very silly."

The military will, however, remain a dominant force. It is guaranteed key ministerial positions, the constitution gives it the right to take over government under certain circumstances, and it also has a grip on the economy through holding companies.

Incomplete vote counts showed some of the most powerful politicians of the USDP trailing in their bids for parliamentary seats, indicating a heavy loss for the party created by the former junta and led by retired military officers.

Among the losers was USDP chief Htay Oo, who told Reuters from the rural delta heartlands that are a bastion of support for his party he was "surprised" by his own defeat.

Gangstar Vegas 2.2.0d APK

Gangstar Vegas, the free to play action game developed by Gameloft released some time ago on the Google Play Store, has recently received an update which introduces plenty of new features, changes and tweaks which improve the experience considerably. As always, we provide you to download the latest Gangstar Vegas apk file.

Like GTA San Andreas, Gangstar Vegas is a great open world action-adventure game. The game lets you play as a rising MMA champion. Framed by the mafia, you are supposed to throw your bout at the fighting event of the year. But when your opponent beats you to the punch and goes down first, famous crime lord Frank Veliano’s perfect plan goes down too. You have just become the most wanted man in the city. In a place where crime is everywhere, you will have to hold your gun tightly and take part in the wildest mafia wars ever!

Here are the full details of the Gangstar Vegas 2.2.0d update:
• VEHICLES: Smash the freaks with the Pumpkin Carver. Chase citizens of the City of Sin while flying through the night sky on the Jack-o'-Jetpack or the Witch's Weapon.
• WEAPONS: Blast your enemies with the powerful Cornucopia, or give them a dressing down with the Desiccated Destruction!
• CLOTHES: Cool ceremonial clothing fit for an exorcism: Pilgrim Set, Witch Hat and Jack-o'-Lantern Grimace.

Gangstar Vegas is available for free download and play on Android 2.3 and above. You can grab the update on Play Store or download the latest Gangstar Vegas apk from the link given below.

Vive La France! Nov. 13, 2015

UPDATE: What Is That?

A lot of people have asked me where I found the graphic posted above and who did it. I found it online, on Twitter, I think and I had no idea who had done it when I posted it right after the terrorist attacks in Paris. Think Progress had the whole story a few days later.

It looks like something he made in a rush. Like something he scribbled on a cocktail napkin. Something he could have drawn in four strokes. Circle, upside-down V, cross. Black ink on a white background. The image-- the marriage of the peace sign and the Eiffel tower-- is the product of French graphic designer Jean Jullien. He posted his work, titled “Peace for Paris,” on Twitter and Instagram near midnight on November 13, just hours after the massive terrorist attacks on six separate locations in the city left hundreds wounded and over 120 dead.

Jullien created the image only a minute after learning about the attacks. “It was done on my lap, on a very loose sketchbook, with a brush and ink,” he told Wired. He didn’t think it out beforehand or go to the page with a plan. “It was more an instinctive, human reaction than an illustrator’s reaction.”

The image went viral. Jullien’s original tweet has been retweeted almost 60,000 times; his original Instagram has over 163,000 likes. Earlier today, he posted another image on Instagram thanking his followers “for your messages of support for Paris… I just want to say that I did it in the most spontaneous and sincere way, as a heartfelt reaction to what was happening. It’s a drawing for Paris, for all the victims and their families.” He emphasized that he does not seek any “benefit” from it. “It’s a sign for everybody to share and show their support and solidarity.” (Jullien did not respond to ThinkProgress’ request for comment as of publication.)

The concept seems so simple — the Eiffel tower’s structure so obviously aligned with the innards of the peace sign-- it’s almost amazing that no one has ever thought of it before. The Eiffel tower is a spry 126 years old, and the peace sign has been bopping around the public consciousness since Easter of 1958. Gerald Holtom designed the symbol for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War to plaster on placards for a march from London to Aldermaston, site of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Holtom later described the image as being reflective of his inner state, which was one of “an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalized the drawing into a line and put a circle round it. It was ridiculous at first and such a puny thing.”

So why did Jullien’s image catch on? What makes something so simple so special?

An effective symbol is “something that usually connects to someone’s preexisting knowledge about something,” said John Caserta, head of the graphic design department at the Rhode Island School of Design. “So to combine the Eiffel tower and the peace symbol, it’s a two-for-one.” An image like this “is like a phrase, or a simple piece of text, a title, a catchphrase. It’s a visual version of that. It’s something that is already connecting or resonating with people, so it works immediately. It doesn’t ask them to work very hard.”

“In this context, any messages of peace are especially moving, because they exist in a landscape of so much violence, xenophobic noise,” said Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics. Jullien’s drawing is “so eloquently simple, it also conveys a sense of timelessness and strength,” said McCloud. “You see something like that and it has the ring of truth about it. It feels like something that won’t blow away in the wind. It doesn’t feel ephemeral.”

The fact that it is so obviously drawn by hand adds to its emotional punch, said McCloud, especially considering how it stands out against the usual photoshopped offerings on Instagram. “I think that sometimes, that slightly sloppy, rapidly drawn quality… can strengthen the symbol, because the abstract nature of the symbol shines through despite that imperfect rendering. I think that can often be a lot more persuasive than something done in, say, Adobe Illustrator. This was made by the hand of a human being, you know?”

“That it’s made by hand makes sense, because it’s a tragedy that’s on a very human scale,” said Caserta. “It’s not childlike at all, but I think whenever you have something handmade, there is something kind of naive and pure and simple, and it brings your guard down a bit and makes you realize some of the basics. Peace is one of those. Without it, we don’t have much.”

“It doesn’t feel mass produced,” McCloud said. “But it feels like it’s for the masses, nevertheless.”

Caserta agreed. “Just looking a it, it feels immediate, and when something happens of this sort, it makes sense that it wouldn’t be highly polished or corporate. That it is someone there responding right away.”

Content Strategy: Think Utility Before Customization

For a company with dozens of product lines, numerous possible personas, and a global presence, developing content can be a daunting venture. The number of permutations for information types and distribution sources can be overwhelming. But before going crazy, you might be surprised to know that customers may not need as much personalization as you think – what they really want from content is utility.

IDC's 2015 IT Buyer Experience Survey examined the content requirements and preferences of various types of technology buyers. We compared buyers who work in the IT function with those in various business functions. We compared buyers of cloud solutions with traditional on-premise technology solutions. What we found surprised us.

IDC does recommend tailoring content for specific audiences. It is helpful for ease of consumption, for relevancy, and attractiveness. However, the buyer research told us that covering some basics was even more important.

• Highest priority – make sure content is complete. Buyer groups are much more similar than they are different. Buyers have one primary commonality – they are all human. Humans follow the same type of a decision-journey. All audience groups generally need the same kinds of information and mostly prefer similar sources to get that information.  The highest priority task should be to make sure the core information is available. Clearly and simply answer the buyers' questions for all stages of their decision-journey. Lack of critical information at a point when a buyer needs it will slow or stop journey progress.

• Make core buying information easily accessible through at least four communication channels. Those four channels are your website, your sales team, search, and some number of third party publications - preferably voiced by objective people. Your website is the buyer's default location for all information. Buyer's talk to sales people at the point when they really need detailed answers. If sales people don't have the answers, everyone loses. (Hint: a humble Q&A fact sheet for sales is super helpful).  Discovery is the name of game in the earliest stage of the decision-journey. Search is by far the number one tool for discovery and buyers also like to find ideas for improvement perusing both general business and special interest sites.

These content tasks may be more challenging than marketers expect.  Many of the buyer's questions are not answered by even the best thought leadership pieces or the most well-messaged product data sheet. For example, Product Service Reviews was the second most desired type of content at the earliest stage of the decision-journey – not something most marketers have at the tips of their fingers.

Before going through the (worthwhile) effort to customize content for different audiences, make sure you are covering the basics and serving your customers' the most important information needs.

More information is available in the IDC report, Categorizing the Content Needs of Different Buyer Types: IDC's 2015 2015 IT Buyer Experience Study (#258780) (Subscription required)

 

Don't Miss Dinos22 on The Next OC Show!

Next week's OC TV episode is sure to be a special one. GIGABYTE's very own Dino 'Dinos22' Strkljevic, our Australian Marketing Manager, will be on the show for an in-depth discussion on our overclocking-focused Z170X-SOC motherboard.

We build the Z170X-SOC motherboard with overclockers in mind, and there's no better venue to discuss in than on OC TV. You can watch the episode on November 15th at 9PM EST on Twitch. Watch live video from OverClockingTV on www.twitch.tv

Is The World's Foremost Egyptologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass, Laughing At GOP Crackpot Ben Carson?

The first I remember hearing about the pyramids was when I was just 10. "You Belong To Me," the song with the lyrics, "See the pyramids along the Nile," was first released in 1952 by Sue Thompson, Patti Page, Jo Stafford and Dean Martin. It's been covered by Patsy Cline, Bing Crosby, Gene Vincent and even Bob Dylan, but the 1958 version by The Duprees was the one that stuck in my mind and made me dream about the pyramids. I finally got to see them in 1997. A few years later I wrote about the experience for my travel blog.

In Cairo the biggest deal is, of course, the Pyramids. And were we in luck on that score! You know the guy always on CNN whenever they do a story on mummies or anything old in Egypt-- Dr. Zahi Hawass? Well, one of the musicians, Andy Paley, in a band on Sire Records, where I used to work, was friends with some well-known American Egyptologist, a Rockefeller no less, and through this guy we had an introduction to Dr. Hawass, then Governor of the Pyramids (now Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities). This turned out to be a golden key to the most amazing visit to the Pyramids imaginable.

Dr. Hawass treated us to a tour usually reserved for heads of state. He literally closed down the Great Pyramid and made everyone else wait while we had it to ourselves! It's pretty awesome. Most things don't live up to expectations; that one did. He said we could sleep in it if we wanted to. We didn't at the time but now I'm sorry we didn't take him up on it. We didn't climb any pyramids... We didn't because a U.S. marine climbed up and fell off and died; so it's forbidden now. Afterwards he showed us a small, locked up pyramid that no one is allowed in except Charles De Gaulle and other people they wanted to impress. They don't want general traffic in there because of breathing. Next door they had a little museum with an ancient ship with a bunch of mummified pharaoh's servants on it. The Sphinx, on the other hand, was covered in scaffolding and seemed to be crumbling into the sand. Roland claims they were injecting silicon into it.

Well, thanks to Republican crank Ben Carson the pyramids have been in the news this week... and so has Doctor Hawass, explaining how Carson is "completely wrong" about his crackpot theory that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain (which, of course, Carson is standing by). Todd Zwillich of PRI called Dr. Hawass yesterday and interviewed him

Dr. Hawass, have you heard the statements about the pyramids being used to store grain and the controversy here in the United States?

Yes I have.

What Ben Carson said is completely wrong. There is plenty of evidence that it is wrong, and it is wrong for the following reasons:

1. The Canaanites did not come to Egypt until the Middle Kingdom. They have nothing… not one thing… to do with the Old Kingdom.

2. We as Egyptologists and archaeologists have all the evidence that the pyramids were made as tombs, simply because there are pieces of the bodies of the dynastic Kings named Zoser (Djoser) and Menkaure, the builder of the first pyramids, at Giza. The pieces from their bodies-- from their mummies-- were found in those pyramids.

3. If you look at the Valley of the Kings and you look at the tombs of pyramids from the New Kingdoms, you find extensive, exhaustive writing that says plainly what they were for. They were tombs.

If the pyramids were made to store grain, why do we have in Egypt 123 pyramids for kings and queens? If they were used for grain, Egyptologists and archaeologists would have excavated this at least once. They have not.

What about claims that the pyramid builders were Canaanite or Hebrew slaves?

I discovered the tombs of the pyramid builders at Giza that showed that the builders were Egyptians. The builders were not slaves. They were buried near the pyramids themselves, and of all the many names of builders that were found inside the tombs of the builders, there is not one name of a Canaanite, not one at all.

Have you heard Dr. Carson’s theory before?

The theory from this man is not new it has been said before. Almost every time I walk through the pyramids I meet a visitor who wants to talk about this theory. A Canadian director came once to make a film to prove the grain theory.

There are hundreds of theories about the function of the pyramids in America. Some people believe aliens. Some people believe Atlantis. All of these are completely wrong. We have excavated around the sites and in the sites and it proves that what this man says is completely wrong. I want to say: There is not one piece of evidence to show that it is correct.

The pyramids were solely to represent the power and the dignity of the Pharaohs. And there is every piece of evidence to prove it.

Does it frustrate you when you hear theories like this from well known people?

No. I’ve written hundreds of books. I hear theories like this all the time. When I hear them, I just laugh. This man wants to use it for publicity in his campaign because it references the Bible and people will believe it. But what happens in the Bible and in the Old Testament happened in the Middle Kingdom. It had nothing at all to do with the Old Kingdom and nothing to do with the pyramids.

Pocket MapleStory 1.0.1 APK

A new interesting role playing game has been released a few days ago on the Google Play Store, a game that fans of MMORPG fans games will surely enjoy.

The new game is called Pocket MapleStory and it’s been developed by Korean team Nexon, who has developed several other free Android games. In Pocket MapleStory, players choose to become one of three heroes: Demon Slayer, Dual Blade or Angelic Buster. Each has its own skills and fighting style, and more characters will be added going forward.

MapleStory is one of the most beloved online PC games of all time. The game lets you explore environments using a virtual joystick for movement and buttons for jumping, attacking and hot bar items, like potions. You can join parties with other gamers to complete dungeons in real-time, and can also join guilds with others users.

Here's a quick look at the features of the game, which is based on PC game franchise:
• Battle ferocious monsters and beasts with your party!
Combine forces with your party and defeat mighty boss monsters!
Prepare your weapons to strike and deliver the final blow with astonishing skills!

• Create and discover unknown items
Awaken your skills as an artisan through sub-classes!
Experience the joy of collecting rare materials and recipes throughout the world.
Test out your abilities to create items and obtain unusual items with your very own hands.

• Unlimited character customization
Show off your own sense of fashion through unique customization.
Stand out from the rest with different combinations of outfits, pets and mount items.
Complete the look of your hero by changing facial expressions and hairstyles!

• Build strong friendships with your guild members!
Join guilds and strengthen your relationship with your friends.
Challenge new obstacles and dungeons as a team!

Pocket MapleStory is now available for download on the Play Store. As always, we provide you to download the Pocket MapleStory apk from the source given below.

No human drivers in 20 years

Link to article: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2999991/car-tech/there-will-be-no-human-drivers-in-20-years-says-steve-wozniak.html

$43 Million Gas Station In A Remote Part Of Afghanistan-- Paid For With American Tax Dollars

I'm not in the least bit mechanically inclined. I came to terms with it before I even went to high school. Not too many years after high school, though, I was driving a brand new VW van down the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to Katmandu. A few days ago I mentioned how when my friends checked into the Kabul InterContinental just outside town-- I slept in the van nearby-- they were among the very first guests at the largely empty, just-completed, first luxury hotel in Afghanistan. Before we got there, though, there was, basically, the whole country to cross. There are no railroads in Afghanistan, with the exception of about 10 miles built in the early 1980s, connecting Mazar-i-Sharif to the small Uzbek city of Termez, last heard from when it was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329 BC. Before the Russians built a 2 lane paved highway from Kabul to Mazar to Herat (the northern part of the "ring road") and the U.S. built a 2 lane paved highway from Herat to Kandahar to Kabul (the southern part of the "ring road"), the only way people went to Afghanistan was on horseback, usually as part of an army. I was driving my nice new VW van along that just-built highway.

I had befriended a U.S. consul in Tehran-- a relatively lonely outpost-- and he gave me all kinds of useful tips about the trip east to Afghanistan, the two most important being that all water had it be boiled twice if one hopes to survive and that under no circumstances could a motor vehicle be on the road at night if one hopes to survive. The water thing is probably clear enough; the night-driving had to do with bandits, a quaint term that would be called "terrorists" in modern parlance. The gas stations in Afghanistan at the time were few and far between-- how far? Basically they were spaced so that you were just about to run out of gas as you pulled into one. Long story short, I didn't run out of gas between the station in Herat and the station in Kandahar... but my van broke down. I'm the mechanically dis-inclined American, but none the European or Canadian passengers knew any more about fixing a car than I did. An hour went by and no other vehicle passed. I could tell it would be dark soon. Dark = bandits = car-stripping murderers. So I taught myself how to fix the car, at least fix it enough to get to the next gas station as we were running out of gas. (The 1969 VW engine was incredibly simple and trial and error worked incredibly well in this instance.)

Eventually the decades of war destroyed the roads and they were rebuilt a few times, the most recent by the U.S.... or the U.S. taxpayers to be more precise. And that includes gas stations, one of which has come to the attention of the public as a huge waste of money. Short version: this gas station in Sheberghan, capital of Jowzjan province way up north in the Russian sphere of influence, west of Mazar-i-Sharif and Balkh, cost $43 million to build. NBC reported that the The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is flipping out because the Department of Defense can't or won't explain why it cost that much.

"Even considering security costs associated with construction and operation in Afghanistan, this level of expenditure appears gratuitous and extreme," SIGAR said in a report issued Monday.

The agency's top official went further.

"It's an outrageous waste of money that raises suspicions that there is something more there than just stupidity," John Sopko, the special inspector general, told NBC News. "There may be fraud. There may be corruption. But I cannot currently find out more about this because of the lack of cooperation."

...[A] contract for just under $3 million was awarded to a company called Central Asian Engineering in 2011. According to SIGAR, an economic impact assessment found the task force spent well beyond that-- $42,718,730-- between 2011 and 2014 to fund the station's construction and supervise its initial operation.

A CNG filling station "would have cost no more than $500,000 in neighboring Pakistan," the report noted, calculating the "exorbitant cost to U.S. taxpayers" at 140 times higher than it should have been.

Sopko told NBC News it appeared that "nobody was minding the store."

"This is one of the worst examples of poor planning and just sheer stupidity," Sopko told NBC News. "It's outrageous."

He called the cost "indicative of a real serious mismanagement" but said perhaps the "more serious" issue was how the Department of Defense had failed to offer documentation or records on the project.

"I'm suspicious when I see something that cost 140 times more than it did and I find people trying to withhold or not cooperate with me," Sopko said. "It raises my suspicions."

Thank God someone is suspicious. This is certainly part of the so-called "fog of war" and it may be inevitable, another reason to pull all U.S. forces out of that hellhole and to completely oppose expanding the U.S. Middle East wars into Syria. I asked Alan Grayson what he thought about it today and he replied that he never knew Shelley meant that those “vast and trunkless legs of stone” actually were a gas station. You a Breaking Bad fan?

Trailblazers: Sudha Murthy

                 Sudha Murthy is an Indian social worker and author. She was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in Northern Karnataka. She is the daughter of a famous surgeon Dr. R.H. Kulkarni. She began her professional career as a computer scientist and engineer. Sudha and her siblings were raised by her parents and maternal grandparents. These childhood experiences form the historical basis for her first notable work entitled ‘How I Taught My Grandmother to Read & Other Stories’.

                She is the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and a member of public health care initiatives of the Gates Foundation. She has founded several orphanages, participated in rural development activities, supported the movement to provide computers and library facilities to all Karnataka government schools and established 'The Murthy Classical Library of India' at Harvard University. 

                    She completed B.E. in Electrical Engineering from the B.V.B. College of Engineering & Technology. As she stood first in her class, she received a gold medal from the then Chief Minister of Karnataka. She completed M.E. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science and received a gold medal from the Indian Institute of Engineers.

             After graduation, Murthy had applied to the company and was told that only men were eligible to apply. Then , she  had written a postcard to the Chairman J R D Tata, complaining about the gender bias at TELCO. As a result, she was granted a special interview and hired immediately when found eligible. Murthy became the first female engineer hired at India's largest auto manufacturer, TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company or TELCO. She met  Narayana Murthy at TELCO, and the they got married. Murthy is recognized as the seed investor of the Infosys. She teaches computer science and composes fiction.

                    In 2004, Murthy was presented “The Raja Lakshmi Award" by Sri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation in Chennai, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to social work. In 2006, Murthy was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest-ranking civilian award from the Government of India, and received an honorary doctorate for her contribution in the spheres of social work, philanthropy and education. In 2011, Murthy was conferred honorary LL.D (Doctor of Laws) degree for her contribution in promoting formal legal education and scholarship in India.

                     She is a prolific fiction writer in Kannada and English. She has published several books that spell out her philosophical views on charity, hospitality and self-realization through fictional narratives. She was the recipient of the R.K. NarayanaAward for Literature.