Delightfully Tacky: tomato basil parmesan soup


Okay, I promise that the next recipe I end up posting will not be soup. ?It's getting a little ridiculous. ?We eat things that aren't soup... really, we do. ?In fact, I made orange chicken stir fry?and bbq pulled pork just last week. ?I'm sure we'll be eating a ton of leftovers this week, which is pretty much the best part about Thanksgiving. ?I remember I used to eat so many leftover mashed potatoes as midnight snacks when I was a kid. ?Also: candied yams. ?Yum! ?What's your favorite Thanksgiving leftovers snack?

I'm trying to resist getting stressed out about moving next week. ?We're supposed to get the keys to our new place on the 28th and we have to be totally moved out by the 30th because a new couple will be moving into our little house on December 1st. ?Ack! ?We have to get all our stuff out, fix any little holes in the wall from hung artwork, clean the carpet and everything else all in a very small window of time. ?Thankfully we have lots of friends who will help out in exchange for beer and pizza (the universal wages for helping a friend move). ?I'm sure everything will go smoothly, and we've got a few days before we actually do any moving to pack everything up. ?Plus we've got a storage unit on wheels, aka the Winne, to put boxes in! ?I'm trying to get ahead on stuff and get some posts scheduled for next week when I'm sure I'll have zero time (and probably zero internet, yikes!).


Ingredients:
2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced carrots
1 cup finely diced onions
1 tsp dried oregano or 1 T fresh oregano
1 T dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh basil
4 cups chicken broth
? bay leaf
? cup flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese
? cup butter
2 cups half and half, warmed (or skim milk if you?re trying to cut some calories)
1 tsp salt
? tsp black pepper

1. ?Grab your slow cooker and throw in the tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, oregano, basil, and bay leaf.
2. Cover and cook on the low setting for 5-7 hours, until flavors are blended and veggies are soft.
3. About 30 minutes before serving, prepare a roux: Melt butter over low heat in a skillet and add the flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 5-7 minutes. Slowly stir in 1 cup of the hot soup from the slow cooker and then add another 3 cups and stir until smooth. Pour everything back into the slow cooker, stir, and add the Parmesan cheese, warmed half and half, salt and pepper. If you'd like, you can add more basil and oregano, since sometimes a slow cooker can dull the flavor of spices.
4. Cover and cook on low for another 30 minutes or so until ready to serve. ?Makes about 2 quarts (appx. 8 servings).

This soup is seriously so creamy and delicious. ?If you don't have a crock pot, don't worry! ?You can find instructions for how to make this soup over the stove here!



People frequently ask where I got this bowl, and unfortunately for anyone looking to buy it, it was handcrafted by one of my friends from college. ?You may be able to find something similar on etsy? ?This is the only bowl I own that isn't a cheap $2 plastic bowl from Fred Meyer, which is why it's so popular here on the blog.

Source: http://www.delightfully-tacky.com/2012/11/tomato-basil-parmesan-soup.html

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Owl feathers inspire quieter change

12 hrs.

An owl glides by on silent wings. Many holiday travelers probably wish airplanes could do the same.?

"On airplanes, the back edge of the wing is where you get most of the noise," Justin Jaworski, a mathematician at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, told TechNewsDaily. "My work is looking at developing theoretical models to explain trailing-edge noise."

Most recently, he and his colleague Nigel Peake showed, mathematically, that the noise from airplane wings could be reduced tenfold if their designers took a few cues from the feathers that fringe the trailing edge of an owl's wings.?

In their latest research, Jaworski and Peake found that owl wings are especially quiet in part because their trailing-edge feathers are flexible and porous, allowing some air through. Plane wings, of course, are hard and solid. But the pair found that if the edge of a plane's wings were perforated in a particular way, "the theory says you should be able to reduce noise as if there were not an edge there at all," Jaworski said.

Makers of real planes might have a difficult time taking that suggestion. Holes in the wings might reduce a plane's aerodynamics too much for the companies' liking, Jaworski said. Also, flexible trailing edges might flap in the wind, which would also reduce aerodynamics. These are issues that other engineers would work out in later stages of research, Jaworski said. He collaborates with experimental researchers to uncover the engineering trade-offs in his ideas.

In any case, the findings are still in their earliest stages, and it might take two or three years before the ideas for a quieter airplane wing are tested with a small model in a wind tunnel, Jaworski said. After? wind tunnel tests, even more research would go into seeing whether the ideas would be cost-effective in real planes.

Meanwhile, the Cambridge researchers continue to refine their model and study owl wings for further secrets into their quiet flight, Jaworski said.?

On the theory side, the next step is to study other features of owl wings that are not common to noisier flapping birds such as pigeons. "We're really excited about looking at this downy material on top," Jaworski said, referring to a unique, soft covering owl wings have. He said the down covering is difficult to model mathematically, no one has studied it before, and it may be especially important to quiet flight.

Jaworski presented his and Peake's research Nov. 18 in San Diego at a conference hosted by the American Physical Society.

You can follow TechNewsDaily staff writer Francie Diep on Twitter @franciediep. Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily, or on Facebook.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/owl-feathers-inspire-quieter-change-1C7226147

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QR Codes ? A Faster Way To Promote Your Website

qr code scan QR Codes   A Faster Way To Promote Your WebsiteIf you have observed there?s a new smart-phone readable barcode with a very different look ? almost like an embroidery pattern ? suddenly started sprouting everywhere.? You can see these codes being printed on magazines, newspapers, packaging, signboards, etc.

This new unusually looking barcode is called QR codes.? The business world is suddenly overtaken by this seemingly new method of barcoding.

While history revealed that QR (Quick Response) codes have been around since 1994 and was first designed by Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota, to trace manufactured vehicles, it?s only recently that QR codes have pervaded outside the auto industry.? It?s now been practiced by almost every business.

The popularity of QR codes is credited to its fast readability and huge storage capacity in comparison to the standard UPC barcodes.? Now that smart-phones are widespread, QR codes found a wider application from the manufacturing plant to smart-phones and the internet to promote websites.

Leverage of QR codes in steering traffic

You can benefit from using QR codes to direct traffic to your website.

qr code package QR Codes   A Faster Way To Promote Your WebsiteWebsites are dependent on search engines to find them.? This creates an intensely competitive environment where all websites in the internet are battling to grab that first page in the search result.? But even if your website ranked in the first page of the search engine result, there?s still doubt as to whether your link will be selected as there are many others in the first page list.

With QR codes you can bypass the search engines and leave behind all your competitors, while directing your customers straight to your website swiftly, easily.? You may also customize your own QR codes that place a link to a particular page of your site where you want your customers to go to find the information they?re searching.

How to generate your very own QR codes

Planning to make your own QR? If you?re thinking this might be one complicated process, well, it?s really not.? As a matter of fact, it?s insanely easy to create your own QR.? All you have to do is type in the search engine box the word ?QR code generator? and?Kabaam! You?ll find surfeit of links to choose from.

Considerations to take when making QR

QR codes are patterned dots that make up the whole QR image.? How many dots there will be depends upon how long the URL of the website is.? This means that if you have a very long URL, then the resulting QR code would also include more dots in the image area.? In effect, individual dots would become tinier as more of them are being squeezed in a small area making it difficult to be scanned by most smart-phones.? It?s a good idea to keep the dots large enough to be perceived by smart-phone devices.? To do that you need to shorten a long URL.? There is a site called ?bit.ly? that caters URL shortening service.? You might want to go to this site and get your URL hacked short in size.

Printing your QR codes to one inch square assures you that all types of smart-phone devices, whether they have high resolution camera or not, are able to scan and process the same codes.

Once you have the print out of your QR codes, always check it by doing live trial scans.? Do it as many times as you can across multiple devices (e.g. smart-phones, tablets, etc.) to make sure that the codes are readable.

Suggested places to best exhibit your QR codes for website promotion

qr code signage QR Codes   A Faster Way To Promote Your WebsiteYou can actually exhibit your QR anywhere, but let your creativity find the perfect spot to display it where it can best impact customer attention.? Suggested below are some of the best spots:

  • On business cards
  • On magazines, newspapers, and billboards
  • On transportation vehicles
  • Direct mail
  • On product tags, packaging, signage, and banners

Summary

The best way to join conventional marketing techniques with the digital environment is through QR codes.? Because smart-phones have been plentiful these days, it follows then that more people have access to the internet all the time.? Applying QR code technique to promote your online website allows your customers to effectively jump to your website when they scan the codes.? Couple this with great customer service and your business will grow in sales.

Source: http://creative-web-designer.com/2012/11/qr-codes-a-faster-way-to-promote-your-website/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=qr-codes-a-faster-way-to-promote-your-website

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Turkey expects NATO Patriot missile decision within week

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey expects NATO to make a decision about deploying surface-to-air Patriot missiles along its southern border with Syria within the next week, Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz said on Saturday.

Turkey asked NATO for the Patriot system, designed to intercept aircraft or missiles, on Wednesday after weeks of talks about how to shore up security on its 900-km (560-mile) border as the conflict in Syria deepens.

NATO said it would discuss the request "without delay" but the move has riled Syria, which called it "provocative", as well its allies, including Russia and Iran, who are hostile to any development that they perceive could be a first step towards implementing a no-fly zone.

"We asked for Patriots from NATO taking into account the critical situation that emerged on our border with Syria ... The aim is for the protection of the widest possible area in Turkey," Yilmaz told reporters.

"We expect the NATO Council to make its decision within the week," he said.

Turkey is reluctant to be drawn into a regional conflict but the proximity of Syrian bombing raids to its border is straining nerves. Ankara has repeatedly scrambled fighter jets along the frontier and responded in kind to stray Syrian shells that have crossed into its territory.

Turkish concerns deepened last week after an air assault by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on the rebel-held frontier town of Ras al-Ain, which triggered some of the biggest refugee movements since the 20-month-old conflict began.

Turkey is a major backer of Syria's opposition and of planning for the post-Assad era, but is worried about its neighbor's chemical weapons, the refugee crisis on its border, and what it says is Syrian support for Kurdish militants on its soil.

Syrian rebels have been requesting a no-fly zone to help them hold territory against a government with overwhelming aerial firepower, but most foreign governments are loath to impose one for fear of getting dragged into the conflict.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-expects-nato-patriot-missile-decision-within-week-145815062.html

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Apple Mac mini (Late 2012)

The Apple Mac mini (Late 2012) may look the same?it is, after all identical to the Mac mini (Thunderbolt)?but it has been updated with Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processor, faster USB 3.0 ports, and given a performance boost with Apple's new Fusion drive. It's everything we loved about the Apple Mac mini (Thunderbolt) , just faster, making it an easy pick for Editors' Choice.

Design and Features
The Mac mini is just what you expect from an Apple product. The design is the very picture of minimalist refinement, a CNC-milled aluminum block housing a full desktop-worth of hardware. And, true to form for Apple, it looks exactly like the previous iteration, and very similar to the model before that?the last easily spotted change on the Mac mini was when Apple dropped the optical drive and added a Thunderbolt port.

Measuring 1.4 by 7.7 by 7.7 inches (HWD), the compact Mac mini is small enough to sit unobtrusively on your desk, next to your display and keyboard. The rounded corners and subtle curves will be familiar looking to anyone that's seen an Apple product in the last few years. Unlike other tiny desktops that set up vertically, like the Polywell Poly i1000A-3770T , the Mac mini sticks with the low horizontal design it has used for years. On the top is a glossy black Apple logo; on the bottom is a round black plastic hatch. It can be opened without any tools, giving you a limited view of the internals, only providing real access to a few specific components. RAM modules can be added and swapped, the fan removed for cleaning, though the rest of the components can be accessed, assuming you have the necessary tools and a lot of patience. In such a small, tightly packed package, there's not really room for upgrades.

Apple has beefed up several features in the new Mac mini. The USB ports have all been upgraded to USB 3.0, though the ports aren't labeled as such, nor do they have the blue port connectors to indicate as such. Joining the faster USB ports are the same port used before, with a Thunderbolt port (which doubles as a mini-DisplayPort), FireWire 800 connection, HDMI output, an SDXC card slot, and audio line in and line out connections. Gigabit Ethernet is joined by 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. It's a robust selection of features for such a small system; other compact desktops often drop features in the interest of saving space, such as the Shuttle X6100 , which omits Wi-Fi connectivity.

The processor has been upgraded to the latest Ivy Bridge technology, and our review unit was outfitted with a 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core processor and 4GB of 1600MHz DDR3 memory. Last year's $799 mid-tier model had a Core i5 processor in it. There are also 8GB and 16GB configurations available (for an extra $100 and $300, respectively). Graphics processing got a bump with the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000, but this time around there is no configuration available with a discrete GPU. The Mac mini also equipped with Apple's new Fusion drive technology and the latest version of Mac OS X Mountain Lion.

Fusion Drive
The Mac mini's specifications tell us that our model is equipped with a 1.12TB Fusion Drive, but that's not even half of the story. Apple's Fusion Drive combines hard disk and flash storage?Apple's nomenclature for both solid-state drives and custom flash modules?but it's neither a hybrid drive, nor is it a traditional dual drive. Instead of there being two drive volumes to manage (which can be a nuisance for the tech savvy, and downright mystifying for others), the Mac mini presents the two drives as one volume. As far as managing your files and programs, that's all you need to know, because the Fusion Drive software does the rest.

Pull back the curtain a bit, and there's more going on. Every piece of data?be it program, media file, document, and even the operating system?is initially written to the 128GB of Flash storage to provide the faster performance offered by Flash media. As your data is used from day to day, however, the drive shifts the less frequently used data to the 1TB hard drive, which offers slower speed, but more storage capacity. The result is speedy SSD performance for the data you use most frequently, without the cramped storage you'd contend with on a pure SSD.

What makes this set up different from hybrid drives, however, is that the Flash storage is not acting as a cache, mirroring data from the drive. Also, the evaluation process is ongoing, continuously evaluating each piece of data as it is accessed by the user, shifting it back and forth to maximize performance. Once your Mac mini gets into a routine and is optimized, this setup can save wear and tear on the spinning hard drive, since oft-used programs and files will eventually reside on Flash storage. All of this work happens in the background, with data evaluated in real time, and shifted to and from the Flash storage during idle times so as not to slow down performance during data intensive actions. From the algorithmic evaluation of data use to the shifting of data, it all happens seamlessly in the background, and offers optimal performance without the need for constant tweaking.

Mac OS X and Software
Like the other members of the current Mac family, the Mac mini comes preinstalled with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8.2 on our review unit), along with programs from iLife 2011, like iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand. The programs themselves are top-rated, and Mountain Lion itself was picked as one of the best tech products of 2012. It also features all of the same gesture support seen in the MacBook Pro line-up, so you might consider getting an Apple Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad to take advantage of the intuitive controls.

In addition to the operating system and programs, Apple covers the Mac mini with a one-year warranty, and offers free tech support for the first 90 days after purchase. For extra protection and longer coverage, you can also purchase AppleCare ($149 per year).

Performance
Apple Mac mini (Late 2012) With the new processing hardware, and the bump from dual-core Core i5 to quad-core Core i7, the Mac mini (Late 2012) more than doubled the processing performance over the previous iteration, scoring 5.95 points where the Mac mini (Thunderbolt) scored 2.69 points. It's necessarily a fair comparison, however, because the hardware is so different. Alternatively, the Polywell Poly i1000A-3770T, which has a 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-3770T processor, scored 6.30 points.

Apple Mac mini (Late 2012)

The Mac mini also made quick work of our current multimedia tests, finishing Handbrake (version 0.9.8) in 37 seconds, and Photoshop CS6 in 3 minutes 58 seconds. While the Polywell Poly i1000A-3770T has slightly faster raw performance, the Mac mini's Core i7 still offers enough processing power to continue to feel speedy even after a few years of use.

Though the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 is more than sufficient for most day-to-day tasks, it isn't enough to support high-end 3D gaming. When tested with Heaven at both medium and high settings, it failed to produce playable results, rendering 19 frames per second (fps) and 12 fps, respectively. The Intel HD Graphics 4000 are certainly enough to play games with lighter requirements, such as Torchlight or one of the World of Warcraft titles.

While this configuration may not be the most inexpensive member of the Mac family?the starting configuration sells for a more affordable $599?the Apple Mac mini (Late 2012) compact desktop offers top features and performance to spare. While the previous Editors' Choice Polywell Poly i1000A-3770T does boast a slightly beefier processor, it doesn't offer the highly polished refinement offered by Mac mini. The seamless 1.12TB Fusion Drive is superb, and the array of display outputs and connectivity options is far larger than most compact desktops can muster. Add in the beautiful design and industry-leading operating system, and the Mac mini is an easy pick for our Editors' Choice.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Apple Mac mini (Late 2012) with several other desktops side by side.

More desktops reviews:
??? Apple Mac mini (Late 2012)
??? Asus ET2300INTI-B022K
??? Lenovo H520s
??? Sony VAIO Tap 20 (SVJ20215CXW)
??? Lenovo ThinkCentre M92z
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/cE5J-KG8Fsc/0,2817,2412365,00.asp

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Hamilton wins pole position for Brazilian GP

SAO PAULO (AP) ? Lewis Hamilton won the pole position for the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday, while Formula One leader Sebastian Vettel will start fourth and title challenger Fernando Alonso eighth.

Hamilton set a lap of 1 minute, 12.458 seconds with his McLaren at Interlagos, just .055 in front of teammate Jenson Button.

Vettel's Red Bull teammate Mark Webber will start third after a lap of 1:12.581, with Vettel behind him following a run of 1:12.760.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was fifth after clocking 1:12.987, while teammate Alonso only managed a lap of 1:13.253, hurting his chances of overtaking Vettel for the championship.

Vettel needs to finish fourth or better on Sunday to become F1's youngest three-time champion at age 25. Alonso, also seeking his third title, needs at least a podium finish to have any chance of overcoming a 13-point deficit in the standings.

Vettel said a mistake at the end of the qualifying session cost him a chance to start closer to the front, but he didn't think the result was "a disaster."

"Maybe it's not the best position that we could've gotten, but still we can be quite happy" he said. "I think there are more people behind us than in front of us. If we were 24th, than that would be disappointing, but I'm happy with fourth and there's plenty of opportunities for tomorrow in terms of tactics."

Hamilton, who won the 2008 championship at Interlagos, will be driving his last race with McLaren before joining Mercedes next season. He is coming off a victory at the United States GP last week.

"I think we put ourselves in a really good position and we are just going to do the best that we can from here, working together as a team," Hamilton said.

McLaren has been strong all weekend and seems set to play a role at the title showdown between Vettel and Alonso. Hamilton led the practice times on Friday and Button did the same earlier on Saturday. Vettel was always close behind the McLarens, while Alonso was well behind the pace.

Drivers had faced very warm temperatures during practice but it dropped significantly for qualifying. It started raining about half an hour before the timed session but it stopped by the time the cars hit the track. The top teams waited several minutes to avoid the slippery conditions at the tricky 2.8-mile track in South America's biggest city.

Michael Schumacher, preparing for his final race before retiring for a second time, couldn't do much with his Mercedes and will start 14th.

Mexican Sergio Perez, taking over Hamilton's seat at McLaren, will start 13th with his Sauber.

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean didn't make it past the first qualifying session after running into the back of Pedro de la Rosa while trying to make a pass at the front straight. He got off the throttle to avoid running into the slower HRT but it was not enough, forcing him to return to the pits for a new front wing.

Vettel enters the deciding race in a comfortable position to win his third title. He has been dominant recently, finishing on the podium in the last six races and winning four of them.

A fourth-place finish will be enough on Sunday even if Alonso wins the race. And if the Ferrari driver is second, Vettel can clinch the title by crossing the line seventh or better. The German driver holds the tiebreaker because he has more wins than Alonso ? five to three.

Vettel has a chance to become the first driver to win three titles in a row since Schumacher won five straight from 2000-04. The only other driver to win at least three consecutive titles was Juan Manuel Fangio from 1954-57.

Alonso hasn't won a race since the German GP in July, but he finished on the podium in six of the final seven races, including the last four.

It will be the sixth time since 2005 that the F1 season will be decided at the Brazilian GP. Alonso won both of his titles at Interlagos in 2005 and '06.

Red Bull has won the last three races at the track, with Vettel second to teammate Webber last year.

Schumacher, F1's most successful driver, retired for the first time in 2006 after winning seven world titles. He returned in 2010 with Mercedes, but struggled and managed only one podium finish, at the European GP in July.

___

Follow Tales Azzoni at http://twitter.com/tazzoni

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hamilton-wins-pole-position-brazilian-gp-190013151--spt.html

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Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo

The Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo ($849.99 list) is one of the largest capacity drives you can buy. Dual 4TB drives together in a RAID 0 array means that you can hold up to 8TB on one logical volume. While this technically means you can store files larger than 4TB (like raw video or a massive database), it also means you can store a mind-boggling large number of smaller files (say every photo a professional photographer has taken since 1997, in native RAW format). It's a prime choice if you need all that space, but there are faster drives out there that take better advantage of the next generation Thunderbolt port. Think of it as a future-proofed bucket for all your files.

Design and Features
The My Book Thunderbolt Duo comes in a silver colored 6.5 by 4 by 6.25 inch (HWD) desktop drive enclosure. It looks very much like the still available Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II 6TB ($499.99 list, 4 stars), aside from the fact that the WD Studio Edition II has a capacity gauge its front panel. Instead, the Thunderbolt Duo has a simpler power/drive use LED. In the back are two 10Gbps dual-channel Thunderbolt ports, the jack for the AC adapter, and a Kensington lock port. Unfortunately, the Thunderbolt Duo lacks a USB 3.0 port or FireWire 800 port, both of which would be helpful if you ever needed to transfer files with a PC or Mac that lacks a Thunderbolt port. Make sure to transfer files from your old drive over the network or using a Mac with both types of ports.

The My Book Thunderbolt Duo comes with two capacious 4TB Hitachi hard drives pre-installed, and configured for RAID 0 (striping). This isn't as odd as it sounds, since Hitachi and Western Digital are now corporate cousins. This gives you 8TB of storage, which is one of the largest capacities available in a desktop drive enclosure. You can use the included WD Drive utilities to reconfigure the Thunderbolt Duo as a RAID 1 array (protected 4TB drive) or as a pair of individual 4TB drives (JBOD). You can pop the top panel open with a touch, exposing the drive cage. After undoing a thumbscrew and lifting out another panel, you can access the My Book Thunderbolt Duo's two drives. This is handy for the sorts of folks who burn out hard drive mechanisms often, like video editors. You can ask Western Digital for replacements during the drives' three-year warranty. The drives come pre-equipped with slide in pegs and easy to use handles, so you can replace them a few minutes without using a screwdriver.

The drive comes with an installer for WD Drive Utilities, which lets you register the drive, set drive security (256-bit encryption), run diagnostics, format the drive, set the RAID level, and set a sleep timer for the drive. The sleep timer is important, since you don't want the drive to run 24/7 and risk burn out unnecessarily. The drive comes formatted for HFS+ (native Mac format), which means you can use it with Time Machine out of the box. The two Thunderbolt ports on the back are interchangeable; you can connect your Mac to one port, then daisy chain other drives or a display to the other port. Thankfully, the 8GB version of the My Book Thunderbolt Duo comes with one Thunderbolt cable, so you don't have to shell out an extra $49 for Apple's cable. Lower capacity versions (4TB and 6TB) do not come with a cable, so you'll have to add one to the cart when you buy the Thunderbolt Duo.

Performance
The Thunderbolt Duo's speed rivals that of a solid-state drive on some operations. The drive took a short six seconds to transfer our 1.2GB test folder, a faster time than the 17 seconds of the SSD-powered LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt (120GB SSD) ($299.99 list, 4.5 stars), equal to the Editors' Choice LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (1TB SSD) ($999 list, 4.5 stars), and about twice as fast as the LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series (6 TB) ($749 list, 4 stars).

The My Book Thunderbolt Duo is also a smidge faster than its faster cousin, the Western Digital My Book VelociRaptor Duo ($899 list, 4 stars) on the drag and drop test (11 seconds). However, the VelociRaptor Duo is a lot faster at the AJA system test, which simulates the sort of drive transfers that are commonplace in the video editing world. The Thunderbolt Duo is capable of good scores: 257MBps read and 263MBps write scores at the AJA system test. The VelociRaptor Duo speeds along with a 374 MBps read speed and 343 MBps write speed, handily beating the 2big drive (320MBps Read, 304MBps Write), but coming in behind the Little Big Disk (620MBps read, 380MBps Write). This means that the Thunderbolt Duo is fast, the Velociraptor Duo is faster, but the Little Big Disk is the fastest. Granted, they all have different capacities and markets, matching their relative speeds.

The My Book Thunderbolt Duo concentrates on capacity. Weighing in at 8GB, It's one of the largest capacity drives we've tested short of a multi-disk NAS array. It's larger and faster than older FireWire 800 drives by a long shot. It's also much larger (but slower) than its speedy sibling the Western Digital My Book VelociRaptor Duo (2TB), and all are significantly slower than the Editor's Choice for external drives, the La Cie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (1TB). If you absolutely, positively need 8TB for your large database, scientific, or graphics files in a single volume and are looking to keep your drive future-proofed, then the My Book Thunderbolt Duo is a very good choice, but there are faster drives (with much lower capacity) at this price point.

The Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo comes in as a high-speed drive for graphics designer and scientific professionals. While not as capacious as the LaCie 2Big Thunderbolt, it is significantly faster. It's also faster on write operations and has much more capacity than SSD-powered solutions like the LaCie Little Big Disk and Rugged Thunderbolt solutions. The Promise Pegasus R6 ($1,999 list, 3.5 stars) has a larger capacity and greater speed, but my goodness look at the price tag. The current external drive EC, the IoSafe Solo G3 (1TB) ($299 direct, 4.5 stars) holds on to its title thanks to its rugged, fire-proof construction and included data recovery service, but the Thunderbolt Duo is a great choice for Mac professionals and any specialized PC user that needs the speed of Thunderbolt enough to seek out and buy one of the few Thunderbolt-equipped PCs.

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo with several other hard drive side by side.

More hard drive reviews:
??? Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo


??? G-Technology G-Drive Mobile
??? Pioneer DVR-XD10
??? G-Technology G-Drive Slim
??? Western Digital My Passport Edge
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/_l6fvTE7l4k/0,2817,2412406,00.asp

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Cyber Monday: More firms say its OK to shop at work

Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping day of the year, is likely to lure many workers to go online in search of Cyber Monday deals. This year, only a third of companies are blocking access to online shopping sites, according to a recent survey.

By Schuyler Velasco,?Staff writer / November 24, 2012

In this photo taken earlier this month, the Sierra Trading Post Fulfillment Center sits stocked in preparation for Cyber Monday in Cheyenne, Wyo. Businesses are becoming more lenient this year about allowing workers to shop from work.

Kyle Grantham/ Star-Tribune/AP/File

Enlarge

Amanda Rice expects to do some of her holiday shopping at work this year.

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"A lot," says the third-year PhD student in Boston. "Friday, I bought my brother a Boston Bruins bobble-head doll. It was on sale on eBay."

It may sound as though Ms. Rice is slacking off by buying hockey memorabilia when she's supposed to be doing muscle research at her Boston University biology lab. But increasingly, businesses are starting to see online shopping as a boon to productivity, rather than a drain. As employees return to work on Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, they may well take advantage of the new leniency.

US companies are becoming much more tolerant when it comes to their employees shopping online at work. Last year, 60 percent of companies blocked employee access to online shopping sites, according to a blind survey of 1,400 chief information officers from a wide range of US firms. This year, only 33 percent of them blocked access.

"It's way down from last year," says John Reed, of Robert Half Technology, a technology firm based in Menlo Park, Calif., which conducted the survey. "Companies are allowing a little more freedom, but making sure people aren't abusing [the privilege]."

Why the shift? For one thing, online shopping is becoming the norm, especially during the busy holiday months. Online spending during November and December is expected to increase 12 percent over 2011, to an estimated $96 billion total, according to the National Retail Federation. Last year, more than half of shoppers who had online access at work shopped online during their lunch breaks or after hours, according to the federation.

Employers "are looking at it from a realistic perspective," Mr. Reed says. "Even if we have a policy saying we don't want you to do this, employees will find a way. Let's at least acknowledge it and put some parameters in place."

What's more, he says, businesses are starting to see online shopping, which takes a fraction of the time it takes to go to a store, as a way to improve efficiency. "Because it's a busy time of year, enabling people to do a little shopping on a break allows them to not waste time by going to a mall, finding a parking place, [and] coming back."

"With my staff, if they need to take a break for 10 or 15 minutes online shopping I have no problem with that," says Susan Roche, an applications development manager at Watson Realty's office in Jacksonville, Fla. "I trust their integrity and professionalism."

Much of that shopping may take place Cyber Monday.?According?to a survey of 600 consumers by online deal website?FatWallet,?62 percent of consumers?expect to find the best holiday season deals on Cyber Monday

"It's usually pretty quick" to buy online, says Rice, who has never spent more than half an hour shopping at one time.?"We have a lot of lag time when you're waiting for experiments to run, and that's usually when I do most of it,"

If you want your online purchases delivered at work, check with your supervisor or the mail room first.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/S7XLHfK8u-k/Cyber-Monday-More-firms-say-its-OK-to-shop-at-work

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Wal-Mart India suspends CFO and legal team in corruption probe ...

Wal-Mart?s woes in India just got a whole lot worse.

Both houses of the country?s Parliament were to meet yesterday, the start of the winter session and the first meeting since the government in September announced a plan to allow foreign firms to take majority stakes in retail stores. But parties opposing the reform disrupted the session and forced an adjournment. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, trying to hang onto India?s once-miraculous growth story (and his own reputation), invited the opposition over for dinner to talk things out?but that, too, ended inconclusively.

Meanwhile, the retail giant, which in India operates under a joint venture known as Bharti Wal-Mart, suspended chief financial officer Pankaj Madan and four members of its legal team following an internal investigation into corrupt business practices. The Economic Times first reported the development but several people with knowledge of the matter confirmed the suspensions to Quartz.

Internal investigations revealed that government agencies were being paid bribes in order to get clearances for licenses and building approvals for its stores, according to these people, who requested anonymity. A company spokeswoman did not respond to email and text messages for comment, nor did Madan and other suspended staff members. Their suspensions are pending investigation.

MarketWatch reported that the company confirmed the suspensions, quoting a Bharti Wal-Mart spokeswoman?s email: ?We are committed to conducting a complete and thorough investigation. Walmart and Bharti have suspended a few associates pending the outcome of the investigation.?

This week, Wal-Mart Asia CEO Scott Price addressed employees after the suspensions and reiterated that the company will operate only on the right side of the law, no matter how difficult it is. ?He said the company will have zero tolerance to any violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the company is making significant investments in ensuring this.

?We will not tolerate non-compliance anywhere or at any level of the company. We are working diligently to strengthen our compliance programmes and dedicating considerable resources to this effort. In fact, the company has spent more than USD35 million on its global FCPA compliance review efforts over the past 18 months,? the company said in a statement last week.

India is ranked 95th out of 175 countries in the corruption perception index, and it is widely held that running a business without bribing government officials is nearly impossible here.

This is the second country in which Wal-Mart has faced allegations of corruption. After a scandal in Mexico that found payments were made to local officials as the retailer aggressively expanded, Wal-Mart initiated internal investigations in Brazil, China and India. Investigations in the Indian arm have been going on for a couple of months, and escalated last week, when the Hong Kong-based Price arrived.

The suspensions are just the latest in a string of problems Bharti Wal-Mart has been facing in India. Investments by foreign companies in multi-brand retail stores in India had been limited to wholesale outlets as a protectionist measure to save small shop owners from big retail. Then in September, the government announced retail would be open to 51% equity investment from foreign companies.

Bharti Wal-Mart is a 50-50 joint venture established in 2007 between Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart. Currently, Wal-Mart operates two cash- and-carry outlets, which are essentially wholesale stores, in India. It also provides back-end support in merchandising and logistics to multi-brand retail stores. These retail stores themselves are run by Bharti under the brand name Easy Day.

However, the company is now being investigated for violating the regulation and investing over $100 million in a unit owned by Bharti Enterprises. This was done through a complex mechanism involving debentures which could later be converted to equity. ?The allegation is that this money was invested in 2010 when FDI was disallowed in the sector.

The suspension of the CFO and the investigation into bribery, however, is unrelated to that probe.

The government has called for an all-party meeting on Monday to assuage the concerns of the opposition. The uncertainty about foreign retail and therefore Wal-Mart?s investments in India continue. Other large retailers including Tesco, Ikea and Carrefore are also awaiting Parliament support of the bill before committing to invest in India.

Source: http://qz.com/30440/wal-mart-india-suspends-cfo-and-legal-team-in-corruption-probe/

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Tax increases could factor in MLB negotiations

Team executives and agents wandered into the Agave Sunset lounge at the resort where the general managers' meetings were held in Indian Wells, Calif. Four of the six flat-screen televisions were showing election coverage, with the other two turned to sports.

President Barack Obama's victory over Mitt Romney was of as much interest to baseball's money men as the game scores, given the millions of dollars routinely guaranteed in player contracts these days.

As free agents negotiate deals this offseason, tax policy is an area that comes up along with the usual issues. Some players are wrangling for as much money as they can get before the end of the year to avoid a take hike in 2013.

"Front-loading would make sense if at all possible as tax rates will definitely go up on January 1st on all high-income taxpayers," agent Greg Genske said in an email. "The only question is HOW MUCH will the rates increase????"

This much is known for now: Starting Jan. 1, there is an additional 0.9 percent Medicare tax on wages above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly under the federal Affordable Care Act, a rise to 2.35 percent.

In addition, the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, which could raise the highest marginal federal tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent ? although a deal between Obama and Congress could change that.

Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane figures agents will be on top of the changes ? but the results of negotiations about the so-called fiscal cliff are unpredictable.

"I think if you're hopping around the potential of tax reform, you're probably chasing your tail," Beane said. "If they can predict when something's going to happen, then they're much further ahead than the lawmakers."

With baseball contracts worth as much as $275 million (Alex Rodriguez) and the major league minimum $480,000, tax policy affects every player who spends most of the season in the big leagues.

All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes, who has a $10 million salary next year, was traded from the Miami Marlins to the Toronto Blue Jays. While Florida has no state income tax, Reyes remains a New York resident from his days with the Mets and had high taxes to begin with. Ontario's provincial tax rises to 11.16 percent ? on top of a Canadian federal level as high as 29 percent.

Among states with big league teams, income tax rates go as high as 10.3 percent in California and 8.82 percent in New York. At the other end, Florida, Texas and Washington have no state income tax. The top rate in the District of Columbia is 8.95 percent.

"I like ours; we're a no-tax state," Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zdurienck said. "When we sit down with players, that's a huge benefit. I think any player out there that has an opportunity to play in a no-tax state gets benefits, enormous benefits. We hope that weighs in our favor."

According to an analysis done by a tax lawyer on the staff of agent Scott Boras, a player with a $10 million salary and average deductions who plays in Florida and is a resident of that state will see his taxes rise from $3.45 million this year to $4.09 million next year under current law. If traded to the Blue Jays, that player's 2013 tax would rise to $4.27 million. And if dealt to a California team, the tax would go up to $4.4 million.

By moving money from salary into signing bonuses, players can sometimes lower their state tax bills. Shifting money into December this year could reduce federal taxes.

"Tax measures are going to be discussed, but change most likely carries compromise on both sides," Boras said. "One thing is clear based on the nation's ballot totals: Many Americans are split on this subject."

In the end, most free agents choose teams based on where they want to play, not on lowering the tax cut on their income.

"It's a factor, maybe even a small factor," agent Craig Landis said. "If there's 50 variables, you can now make it a 51st. It's not usually going to be the drive, but it's something to consider."

And for teams, only the big spenders need worry.

Beane's Athletics, for instance, had the lowest payroll in the majors last season.

"It's probably not a situation I'll have to face in Oakland too much," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tax-increases-could-factor-mlb-negotiations-191155403--mlb.html

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