Friday, June 29, 2012

Thundertoss' Top 200 KOTH (King of the Hill)

Stream: http://ascendtv.com or http://www.twitch.tv/ascendtv (different links to same stream)

When: 10:30 KST/03:30 CEST/Fri 21:30 EDT/Fri 18:30 PDT

CastersAscend & Thundertoss 

Casters on FacebookAscend FB & Thundertoss FB

Replays:  http://top200koth.blogspot.com/ (See Replay Packs on left side of that page)

Format:  Top 200 Players (Grandmaster priority, top Masters permitted)

Prizes:

  • $20 for each 5 wins 
  • $10 for dethroning a 5+ win player 
  • $10 for "Match of the Night"

Players: join the chat channel "top200koth" on the NA server, and send a message to Thundertoss.

Thread: Top 200 KOTH (with prize $$!)

Thursday, June 28, 2012

ChanmanV's Pro Corner Liquid'TLO and Razer Announcement

TLO will be analyzing 3 ZvT replays that will consist of various strategies (ling/infestor/ultra, roach drop against mech, and hopefully muta play). We will take our time through this having him explain his logic and builds. *Q&A session with TLO - This is where you can ask TLO your own questions live via skype and stream chat.

~Teamliquid

Streamhttp://www.twitch.tv/chanmanv

When:  12:00 KST/05:00CEST/Thu 23:00 EDT/Thu 20:00 PDT

Holiday Show Match July 2012 Bling (P) vs qxc (T)

HSM #2:  Holiday Show Match July 2012 Bling (P) vs qxc (T)

Holiday Show Match (HSM) Independence Day 2012: Bling (P) vs qxc (T) in a Bo7

The HSM is the second event of the Holiday SC2 Showmatches sponsored by Cliff's Esports Corner & LXG's NanMan, we plan to have HSM for the holidays every year, we have at least two more planned this year.

[For all my EU, SEA, & Korean viewers going what holiday, 4th of July is a United States Holiday "Independence Day"]

If you missed the first event check out This Thread!

Big Shout Out to Nemesys for the Graphic Design on NanMan's Teamliquid Thread!

When:  July 05 2012 20:00 EDT

Streamhttp://www.twitch.tv/therealnanman

Prizes:
  • Winner $50 
  • Loser $25
VOD's:  VOD's are up at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0EB34E080723BAEE&feature=plcp

You can follow us on Twitter


Nerd Gear: Replacement wall outlet that adds 2 powered USB ports in addition to normal pair of outlets

I really like this, easy to install if you know anything about basic home wiring, same as normal outlet.

The USB ports support up to 2 amps so will charge high powered devices like iPad.

I plan to get pair of these for bedroom, between my 2 Smartphones & Weather Radio; her smartphone & iPad, and her radio, we run out of outlets were we want them.

This should solve that issue easily, plus let us leave the wall adapter in computer bag/luggage so we don't forget them when traveling.

 I heard about them from OWC's Blog and you can buy them here http://www.newertech.com/products/power2u.php

WhiteRa Streaming

http://www.twitch.tv/whitera

Time for Special Tactics :D

Nerd News: Judge rules Warrent for police raid of Kim Dotcom's Megaupload were too broad

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/police-botched-dotcom-raid-papers-judge-20120628-214nk.html

Very interesting turn of events.

Google I/O 2012 Day 2

I will be following Day 2 of Google's I/O

My favorite sources for events like this are:

  • Twit.tv for Video with different bandwidth choices 400 Kbps-1Mbps, or Audio only 58 Kbps
  • The Verge for their Live Blog with Pics (automatically updating Blog, works on my Flashless Smartphone) Verge also has start time listed for various time zones.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

ROOT! Drewbie! Streaming! It has been to long!!!

http://www.twitch.tv/ROOTdrewbie

To be fair he has stream a bit since moving down to join Catz, but never at a time I could watch!  T_T

IDK if he is coming back soon, he awas having lots of problems with lag :(

Nerd Gear: Nexus 7 pen testing tablet?

Think all my security research has me thinking like a hacker, first thing I thought when I saw/heard the specs for Google's new Android Tablet from ASUS the Nexus 7, since it has 12 core GPU!

Some Nexus 7 links:
The Verge
Tech Radar
Google Play (ie offical Google store you can buy here $199 8GB or $249 for 16 GB)


If any hard core computer nerds can tell me, would this be useful for Pen Testing/Password Cracking with the 12 Core GPU?



Android at Google I/O 2012

I am watching via http://live.twit.tv/

PSA: Facebook, you said what?

http://www.weknowwhatyouredoing.com/?action=

Link above is to a site that tracks publicly available infromation from Facebook accounts, an aggregator of sorts, split into four categories:  Who wants to get fired; Who's Hungover; Who's taking Drugs; & Who's got a new phone number.

More information about this site can be found at http://www.weknowwhatyouredoing.com/?action=about
including link to code to write your own program to do something similar.

I am not a fan of Facebook, mainly because I am security conscious, and I don't think there is any real way to make a social sharing site secure, but many people use Facebook and other social sites, without ever realizing just how exposed their information becomes when posted there.

I would think smart hackers would also use data mining of Social Sites for Phishing attacks.

Stay informed and stay safe,

Cliff

Monday, June 25, 2012

ESEA Winner's Finals Infinity Seven vs CheckSix

Check Six and Infinity Seven face off in four (4) best of three matches with a fifth ace match if necessary.


When:  June 26 2012 21:00 EDT

Streamhttp://www.twitch.tv/therealnanman    |||   VOD's

Caster NanMan



CheckSix Gaming
Website: http://check6gaming.com/news/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/check6gaming


Infinity Seven
Website: http://infinityseven.net/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/infiSeven

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Starcraft 2 Skills: Cross Training

I thought about titling this post "Learning to Learn", so you can certainly consider that an alternate or subtitle.

If you have ever studied Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of the Five Rings" (A book about real sword fighting, the strategy & philosophy of life or death sword fight) you will have read my favorite phrase in that book several times, since it is repeated often:  "From one thing, know ten thousand things."

I have usually thought of that as meaning to find as many ways as possible to use a skill or bit of knowledge.

Not only singly but also by combining skills and knowledge.

I have written several posts about Training, Practice, and Skill development for Starcraft 2 though I try to write each post in a stand alone fashion, many are best read as a collection.

This post ties in closely with these previous posts:
In those Posts linked above, I cover the importance of recovery or rest time that is needed to improve, in a way practice programs our body and mind, while the rest & recovery stage stores it in long term memory with backups, so we can use that program again.

You certainly need some time that is pure rest, like sleep, and some time that is pure relaxation, like watching TV or reading, but you can use much of your recovery time to improve other skills & abilities that are not often used in your main practice.


One skill I strongly urge people to develop and improve is reading.

WTF Cliff!

Yes reading, it develops many of the same parts of your brain that you need to remember little details for Starcraft 2 ever notice how Idra or Artosis are almost like a human wikipedia?

Or Liquidpedia to be more precise ^_^

I saw these article today in my RSS feeds

Which led to this blog post.

The first article talks about how important it is, if you want to improve, to read challenging material.

It is like riding a bike, your never going to be able to do BMX racing or extreme/technical Mountain Biking if you never took the training wheels off your bike.

All of us are limited more by our drive, focus, and knowledge than any fixed limitation.

If you doubt that, you might read this post from one of my other Blogs about Rafe Esquith, http://bookreviews-cliff.blogspot.com/2011/09/there-are-no-shortcuts-by-rafe-esquith.html, Rafe is respected by Gandalf & Magneto (ie in real life:  Sir Ian Mckellen).

Might also think about why Samurai studied things like Calligraphy & Poetry.

GL HF,

Cliff

WhiteRa is Streaming

http://www.twitch.tv/whitera

Go WhiteRa!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

HwangSin is Streaming

http://www.own3d.tv/itsgosu/live/276078

<333

Follow HwangSin on Twitter @GoSuHwangSin or Own3d I do!

TLO vs Salvation

Liquid`TLO(Z) v NSHS.SalvatioN(T) Bo3 cast by Ipp of RageQuitTV

Game 2  ||  Game 3




Spoiler Alert.

I like TLO's game play in Game 1 he was showing off the Creep Spread he likes to do, I have heard Day9 talk about the stories and games from TLO about using Creep, sometimes he can even block Terran add ons with a fast aggressive creep spread.

I also like the Unit Comp towards the end of Game 1, I have thought for some time that Banelings & Ultras should work well together, especially vs Terran, though they probably need a few Roaches or Lings as support units.

Banes with speed upgrade have same speed as Ultras, they both do Splash damage, Banes get Bonus to Light Units and Buildings, while Ultras get Bonus to Armored so they compliment each other with Bonus damage, plus since all buildings are Armored, they both get Bonus damage vs Buildings.



Friday, June 22, 2012

Nerrd Gear: 960 GB SSD

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDEX3G960/

2.5" Serial-ATA 9.5mm Solid State Drive not cheap at $1,269.99 but nearly a Terabyte SSD would be awesome in a high end laptop. 

 I have no use for one personally, I do plan to put a ~120ish GB SSD into my laptop eventually as only practical upgrade for it, since it is already maxed on RAM it will support.

But I have to say, the Nerd in me wants this 960 GB SSD!!!!

Though I don't know what I would really do with it, I don't have a big movie, music, or pic collection.

Books are what I have a lot of, I have a few thousand deadtree books, but have been going mainly ebooks since they really started becoming available.

Ebooks are better in most ways than deadtree books, and they take almost no space by modern data storage standards.

On a side note, if anyone has good recommendation(s) for non Fiction Ebook reader please post them below, I still buy some text books in deadtree format, because I find it easier and faster to find information in them than I do on Kindle, Blackberry, or Kindle for PC.

I do have one a buddy that is a computer geek, that uses iPad for PDF tech manuals & etc, but I have tried my gf's iPad for that and not really impressed, it is certainly better for diagrams and schematics, and I recommend iPad 3 for that kind of Ebook use, but for me I just want to be able to navigate quickly through a sea of text.

I often need to go to a chapter or section somewhere in the middle of textbook, and I can do that easier and faster with deadtree, I also often need several books all open at once, and that just seems to work better with deadtree.

Now Fiction I totally enjoy on Ebook reader, but then I read those from start to finish, I don't need to jump to page 372, unless there was some phrase or something I liked, in which case Kindle highlight works fine.

WhiteRa is Streaming ^_^

http://www.twitch.tv/whitera

Go WhiteRa!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

HwangSin Steaming

http://www.own3d.tv/itsgosu/live/276078

Haven't been able to see HwangSin stream for a while, glad my schedule is matching his streaming schedule again!

<333

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

It's Gosu vs Team ALT Bo9

What:  It's Gosu -vs- Team ALT

When:  Wednesday, June 20th, 7:00 pm EST


Stream:   http://www.twitch.tv/altstarcraft

Prize: $100 to Winner

More information at http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=343798 

Looking forward to this, I have friends on It's Gosu, and they are certainly one of my favorite teams.

I'll admit I have trouble knowing who to root for when It's Gosu faces off vs Root though ^_^

GL HF

Cool Story about Diablo 3 Malware

http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/06/hacker-uses-malware-built-in-chat-to-toy-with-researchers/

Interesting story, plus it gives an insight to how complex Malware can be, and how easy it is to get infested without doing anything that seems like high risk behavior.

Security Now streaming

http://live.twit.tv/

Been listening to podcasts of Security now for a while, but happened to be free to catch stream live today.

They have multiple stream feed levels available as well as audio only if your trying to keep data usage down on a mobile device.

Well worth listening to for Computer Nerds and/or people wanting to learn more about computer security.

Steve Gibson is very good at explaining complex computer stuff so non Computer Nerds like me can understand it, without dumbing the content down.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Forbes "Shopping For Zero-Days: A Price List For Hackers' Secret Software Exploits"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/03/23/shopping-for-zero-days-an-price-list-for-hackers-secret-software-exploits/

I heard about this Forbes article a while ago, but finally got around to looking it up, seems like Hackers can make a lot of money by selling exploits to the top bidder.

Of more interest to me, is the price chart for hacks, that provides a very good picture of the relative security of the respective software.

Note that iOS is the most secure, while Mac OS is just a little better than Adobe, and Adobe is the least secure, based on those prices.

And Android is just as bad as Mac OS.

Some food for thought, specially if you do online banking IMO.




Sunday, June 17, 2012

Dreamhack

Watching Dreamhack Day 2, great games, SaSe looking better than ever.

Interesting Software

http://portableapps.com/

Heard this mentioned on recent Security Now podcast, a listener emailed them that he runs "portable Firefox from PortableApps.com in my Dropbox" so all his Tabs are synced, said he has being doing that for years.

Just thought that was such a neat idea, that I had to blog it, figured people might build on it and think of some more creative solutions to problems.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Nerd News: Gaming Coming to Linux?

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/06/linux-gaming-on-the-rise-ea-arrives-on-ubuntu-and-valve-plans-steam-port/

Interesting.

Root News: TT1 joins Root

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=345274

See Catz TL post above, with words from TT1 as well.

Root 2.0 is looking even better than 1.0  ^_^

Great time to be a Root fanboy!


Reminder no Thundertoss Top 200 KOTH tonight, because of GESL

Thundertoss is casting & etc at GESL this weekend, so no Top 200 tonight :(

Should be back next week AFAIK.

Good news is Ascend did update the Top 200 King of the Hill replays recently, you can find them here http://ascendtv.com/top200koth/replays.php

So you can watch Top 200 replays tonight, and everyone should follow GESL!!!!

Also Dreamhack Summer Open Sat-Mon this weekend, so much awesome SC2 this weekend, giving me Nerd Chills.

Four Days!!!!!  Wish I had my new computer allready, I can only watch 1 or 2 Streams at a time right now, have to make some real touch choices at times.  T_T



Stephano Replay Pack from Redbull

http://www.mediafire.com/?otf7hl2bpplz3w9

For previous Stephano replay pack on my SC2 Blog http://cliffsesportcorner.blogspot.com/2012/03/stephano-replay-pack-march-5-2012.html


For more click replays Label, more Labels can be found in the Label Cloud at left side of Blog, or at bottom left of every post.

I am also adding playlist from Stephano, TLO, Catz,  Drewbie, etc as I find them, please feel free to post links to replays or playlists in the comments.

Or requests for players you can't find here yet.

GL HF,

Cliff

Thursday, June 14, 2012

DreamHack Open Summer 2012

Looking forward to Dreamhack Summer 2012!  Updates to this page as needed, so check back, post questions in comments/requests if you have any.

Streams:

Playershttp://open.dreamhack.se/summer-competitors/

Brackets:
Brackets  ||  Dreamhack's Bracket page
Group 1  ||  Group 2  ||  Group 3

Schedule CEST:  http://open.dreamhack.se/summer-schedule/




Saturday - 16th of June
15:00 Group 1-16 – Round 1 (BO3)
15:45 Group 1-16 – Round 2 (BO3)
16:30 Group 1-16 – Round 3 (BO3)
17:45 - Setup Time -
18:15 Group 17-32 – Round 1 (BO3)
19:00 Group 17-32 – Round 2 (BO3)
19:45 Group 17-32 – Round 3 (BO3)
21:00 - Setup Time -
21:30 Group A-H – Round 1 (BO3)
22:30 Group A-H – Round 2 (BO3)
23:30 Group A-H – Round 3 (BO3)
00:30 - End -

Sunday - 17th of June

09:30 - Setup Time -
10:00 Group I-L – Round 1 (BO3)
11:00 Group I-L – Round 2 (BO3)
12:00 Group I-L – Round 3 (BO3)

13:30 - Setup Time -
14:00 Group M-P – Round 1 (BO3)
15:00 Group M-P – Round 2 (BO3)
16:00 Group M-P – Round 3 (BO3)

17:30 - Setup Time -
18:00 Group 1-4 – Round 1 (BO3)
19:00 Group 1-4 – Round 2 (BO3)
20:00 Group 1-4 – Round 3 (BO3)

21:30 - Setup Time -
22:00 Group 5-8 – Round 1 (BO3)
23:00 Group 5-8 – Round 2 (BO3)
00:00 Group 5-8 – Round 3 (BO3)

01:00 - End 

Monday - 18th of June
13:00 - Setup Time -
14:00 Eight Finals (BO3)
15:00 Eight Finals (BO3)
16:00 Eight Finals (BO3)
17:00 Eight Finals (BO3)
18:00 Quarter Final RO8 Set 1 & 2 (BO3)
19:00 Quarter Final RO8 Set 3 & 4 (BO3)
20:00 Semi Final RO4 Set 1 (BO3)
21:00 Semi Final RO4 Set 2 (BO3)
23:15 Grand Final (BO5) - DreamArena Extreme



Map Pool:

  • Antiga Shipyard (Cross-only, no gold bases) 
  • GSL Daybreak
  • ESV Cloud Kingdom
  • ESV Ohana 
  • TSL4 Metropolis LE 


More Info: http://open.dreamhack.se/summer/

Nerd Gear: Teardown of new Retina Mac Book Pro

http://ifixit.org/2753/macbook-pro-with-retina-display-teardown/

From sounds of it only thing that might be replaceable/upgradeable is the SSD eventually.

Mycerion vs Catz Bo3

eli.Mycerion vs Root Catz in a Bo3 cast by Zander

Game 2  ||  Game 3 

Great Series!!!








GL HF

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Bruce Schneier: Teaching the Security Mindset (Teach people to Cheat)

Bruce Schneier is an interesting person, for those of you that don't know who he is, he has worked with Truecrypt, and is considered a crypto and computer security expert.

I have been following him for a while now, very educational and useful IMO even if your not a computer geek. 


Today, he has a great post that covers Security Mindset, and points to a great paper "Embracing the Kobayashi Maru: Why You Should Teach Your Students to Cheat" by Gregory Conti and James Caroland.

Just wish I would have had a class like that when I was in college!


WhiteRa Special Tactics ^_^

http://www.twitch.tv/whitera

Go WhiteRa!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Nerd Gear: Sensordrone, serious sensors for your Android or iPhone!

http://www.sensorcon.com/sensordrone/

We are getting closer to real Tricorders!!!

The Sensordrone combined with Terahertz frequencies.


"Lessons Learned from Cracking 2 Million LinkedIn Passwords"

This blog post on Qualys Security Labs blog, shows what someone using John The Ripper can do on a old machine.

Francois Pesce spent a little time using John The Ripper with some password dictionaries, and in the first 5 hours, he cracked 1.4 million of the ~6.458 million passwords in the data base.

That is over 21% in 5 hours on an old machine that was using CPU for the work, instead of a newer machine using more efficient GPU cracking.

GPU (Graphics Processing Unit/Graphics Card) are not more powerful than the CPU (Central Processing Unit) in your computer, but they are optimized for different types of work.

And with modern software GPU's work a lot better for password cracking.

If you want an analogy, or even if you don't, you can think of CPU & GPU like a Race Car and a Semi, they both might have similar horsepower, but they lot of differences in transmissions, gearing, torque, etc because they are designed for different types of driving.

If you want to learn more about CPU's & GPU's in connection to password cracking, read the excellent article "Password cracking, mining, and GPUs".

Back to Francois Pesce's password hacking, one he cracked the first 1.4 million passwords, he was able to use those passwords to fine tune his password cracking.

Part of the reason this works is that people tend to follow patterns, and lot of people still rely on passwords they can remember, so they tend to follow similar decision trees when they chose a password.

So with that tweaking, and some additional refinement after the first pass with the passwords already cracked, he got another 572 thousand passwords, bringing the total to ~1.972 million cracked passwords from the total ~6.458 million.

That works out to about 30.5%, and those were all done with Dictionary attack, not brute forcing!

So read Pesce's "Lessons Learned from Crakcing 2 Million Linkedln Passwords"

If that leaves you wondering about passwords, read my post "Steve Gibson's Haystacks & Needles (Understanding Passwords)" which covers the basic of good passwords in a clear way.

If you read these article you will realize you should use a password keeper!  That is only way to reliably and securely keep very many long & strong passwords.

Resources at bottom for finding a good password keeper, below I recommend a few.

For paid ones I like mSecure, that is what I have my family members using.

For free I believe Strip Lite is good, their website http://getstrip.com/ or iTunes.

Another free one I might suggest is KeePass, I have heard good things about it, and have a friend that uses it.

Stay Safe,

Cliff


See Also:


Monday, June 11, 2012

Hacking News: A Tale Of Two Pwnies (Part 2)

http://blog.chromium.org/2012/06/tale-of-two-pwnies-part-2.html

I really liked  Part 1 that I blogged earlier.

Going to read Part 2 as soon as I post this.

 For more on Hacking just click that Label, you can find more Labels in the Label cloud at left sid eof Blog, or at Bottom left of every post.

Blizzard says you have to use 2 Factor authentication for real money AH

Saw this on Ars http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/06/blizzard-ups-security-reqs-for-diablo-iii-real-money-auctions/

Blizzard link http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5594218404#1

I am sure this will annoy some people, but I like it, I am a big fan of Two Factor authentication, I wish more banks supported this honestly.

It is sad that Blizzard seems to have stronger security for online transactions than my Bank.

For more of my posts on passwords or Diablo 3 just click click on those Labels, Labels can also be found at the bottom left of every post, or in the Label Cloud at left side of my Blog.

WhiteRa vs Dimaga on ChanmanV

http://www.twitch.tv/chanmanv

Go WhiteRa!

Apple's WWDC 2012

Update:  14:00 CDT 6/11/2012

iOS 6 looks interesting but it won't be out for a while for users, but is being released for devs, as expected.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: 13:00 CDT 6/11/2012

Apple link for new Mac Book Pro is up http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

For gamers the Mac Book Pro 15" looks like the most interesting, starts at $2,200.00 has 220 ppi (Retina display), 2880 x 1800, GTX 650M GPU, up to 768 Flash (SSD), i5 or i7, up to 16 GB RAM.

HDMI, (2) USB 3.0, (2) Thunderbolt ports.

But from the sounds of it, the hardware will be less user changeable than previous Mac Book Pro's.

It is supposed to be shipping today.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know gamers tend to prefer PC over MAC, but even so, many gamers use iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or some other Apple device.

So if your interested you can check in here from time to time, I am not planning on blogging lots about the WWDC, unless something seems neat to me.

But I will be putting links up to streams and such for people that are interested or looking for quick update.

Main live stream I am following is http://live.twit.tv/ same network that Steve Gibson's Security Now show is on.

I like that Twit.TV offers various stream options, from Audio only, to Video with 400 Kbhps, 800 Kbhps, & two different choices of 1 Mbps.

Updated:  The Vergs, http://live.theverge.com/wwdc-2012-live-blog/ has live updating good pics, I find watching The Verge while listening to http://live.twit.tv/ for Audio works best for the main.

Live Blogs of WWDC 2012:


WhiteRa Streaming

http://www.twitch.tv/whitera

Some special tactics for my breakfast ^_^

Saturday, June 9, 2012

PSA: LoL has been Hacked

League of Legends Account Security Alert

http://eune.leagueoflegends.com/news/league-legends-account-security-alert

It still looks like just EU accounts that were hacked, as far as anyone knows so far, but at times like this I like to mention on of my favorite Tom Clancy quotes, a Submarine Skipper in a Clancy novel said to hemself, "I know I am paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?"

So change your password, and use a good password, I suggest reading this post on passwords, http://cliffsesportcorner.blogspot.com/2012/05/steve-gibsons-haystacks-needles.html 

I am starting to think, with all the different places that have had password issues in the last week or two, it might be a good idea to change any of your important passwords, or at the very least, make sure your not using the same password on more than one account.

For all my posts on Password issues click the Label passwords.

Stay Safe,

Cliff

Elfi vs Daisy

I don't care for mirror matchups much, but this was an interesting game, my comments, with spoilers below the VOD.





I am a fan of Phoenix openings, but I think they are best suited to large maps, the larger the better, that is because IMO in the early game Phoenix are best used for scouting and harassing mineral line.

They are a mana/spell unit, so when mana is out they are much weaker till it regenerates, and in the early game you can have very many Phoenix, so they will not be able to lift many units.

Also you will only be able to kill low HP light units, like Workers (SCV/Drone/Probe), efficiently until you build up to a critical number of Phoenix.

Elfi defended the first push fairly well, but Daisy timed it very well, and Elfi had not made an Immortal (I think Immortal would have allowed Elfi to defend the first push easily, 3 Phoenix can't really do much to Immortal other than lift it, which would leave Sentry/Stalkers to keep fighting) and was relying on Sentry + Forcefields to defend, and the Phoenix + Gateway unit mix was designed to hard counter a Sentry defense.

If Daisy would have expanded or teched after winning the first engagement he probably would have won the game, but he didn't and Elfi managed an impressive come back.

I need to watch this game a few more times to understand exactly when & why the balance tipped in Elfi's favor, I think it was the fact that he had higher or better tech with the Twilight Council into Blink, while Daisy didn't transition out of Phoenix + Gateway at all, he didn't take his Natural or Tech or anything, just kept doing more of the same.

But flash has been buggy for me since last update this week, and VOD keeps crashing on me T_T so it might be a while before I can watch this game in enough detail to be sure.




Nerd Gear: Neat Form Factor 4x4 inch (101.6mm x101.6mm) from Intel

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/23066

$400 for current i3 one, but i5 & i7 are on the way, comes with dual HDMI, which is what grabbed my eye after the small form factor.

I really like small form factor computers, probably because I tried to pay my way to tournaments in High School, by helping older buddy that was computer programmer haul his desktop system plus books & software that he sold at events up and down way to many stairs.


Friday, June 8, 2012

Neil deGrasse Tyson

https://twitter.com/#!/neiltyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a smart, sharp dressed, uber Nerd, what more reason do you need to follow him on Twitter? 

Not to mention he took out a planet without even having a Deathstar.

^_^


Duckvillelol streaming

http://www.twitch.tv/duckvillelol

Duck is a very good caster from Down Under, with ties to some Korean pros and SEA people.

He also likes to ladder on Korean ladder a fair bit.

Follow him!

Nerd Gear: Innergie Magic Cable 3-in-1 with Micro USB, Mini USB and 30-pin iPod/iPhone Connectors

I saw this Innergie Magic Cable today on Terry White's Tech Blog, I suggest any people into photography or photo editing to follow Terry's blog!!!

This cable looks really neat to me, having mini & micro USB to USB in one cable for my stuff, and the Apple 40 pin for gf's iPad.

I would probably use it more with an external battery pack, than anything else.

I am an Amazon Associate, which means I make a little money from people buying things from my Amazon links, click traffic also helps a little, here is my link for the Magic cable.

Or your can just highlight Innergie Magic Cable, with your mouse and right click to Google it if your using recent version of Firefox or Chrome.




Thursday, June 7, 2012

PSA: Last.FM users should change their passwords now

http://www.last.fm/passwordsecurity

From link above:
7th June 2012
We are currently investigating the leak of some Last.fm user passwords. This follows recent password leaks on other sites, as well as information posted online. As a precautionary measure, we’re asking all our users to change their passwords immediately.

Mechanical USB Keyboard that switches via Bluetooth to Smartphone or Tablet, & maybe Laptops?

Update/correction 7/31/12 Thanks to anonymous poster comment.

The Matias One Keyboard (Standard $99) is a dome switch keyboard, I thought at that price it would be mechanical.

The Matias Tactile One Keyboard ($199) is the mechanical keyboard, the mechanical one is not yet available, but the dome switch keyboard is currently available.


*********

Last year I was looking for a keyboard that would let me switch between desktop and laptop at home, so I didn't have to use little keyboard on my 13" ASUS lapptop when I was at home.

Nothing existed that I could find.

So I was pretty excited when I stumbled across the Matias One Keyboard, available in both PC & Mac versions, it is marketed at iPhone users, but it works via Bluetooth and will work with Android, Blackberry, etc smartphones, I think it would work with Laptops that support Bluetooth Keyboards as well.

It should certainly work with an iPad.

Note it doesn't charge your smartphone, but does provide a dock/cradle to hold it on the keyboard.

The Matias One Keyboard is a dome switch keyboard, but the will have a mechanical keyboard with the Bluetooth switch, that will be called the Matias Tactile One, that will use Alphs keys and not the Cherry, I am not a keybaord expert, but from what I understand Alphs are good, and Alphs vs Cherry is pretty much a Honda vs Toyota difference.

Fanboys will argue one is better, but in reality it is more a question of slight tradeoffs AFAIK.

I have a Das keyboard that I love, wish I would have spent the money on a Das years ago, they are worth it for people that spend a lot of time gaming or working on a computer.

But I am putting this Matias One Keyboard Matias Tactile One on wish list to get for my girlfriend, she spends all day working on computer, but she also has an iPad and we are getting her an iPhone for Xmas, and this would give her a quality Mechanical keyboard that could double as full size keyboard for her iOS devices when needed/wanted.

Though I will have to test it out of course!  Quality Control.

Link here to Amazon for the Matias One Keyboard (NOTE: the Matias One keyboard that is available now is a Dome Switch model, the Mechanical Matias Tactile One is not available), I am a Amazon Associate, so I will get a small amount of money from Amazon if you buy from that link, doesn't affect the buyers price.

Computer & Password Security: Salting & Hashing explained clearly

A well written article on 1Password's, a password keeper, blog Agilebits, explaining Salting & Hashing in connection to LinkedIn, eHarmony, etc recent pasword database hacks.

http://blog.agilebits.com/2012/06/06/a-salt-free-diet-is-bad-for-your-security/


For more information, click Label passwords or computer security, Labels can be found at bottom left of every post, selected Labels can also be found in the Label cloud at left side of Blog.

You can also book mark a label if you want to check on just that topic from time to time, or if you want to reference the topic.

Stay Safe,

Cliff

Watching WhiteRa Stream

http://www.twitch.tv/whitera/

<3

Monday, June 4, 2012

Minigun Streaming!

It's been awhile since I saw Minigun stream. 

http://www.twitch.tv/colminigun

Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Late Game TvZ

GL.Snute(Z) v Empire.Happy(T) - Shakuras Plateau - 6.3.2011 cast by Ipp from RageQuitTV

Late game play from Terran & Zerg, my comments, with spoilers below the VOD.





Very interesting, seemed to me like both players were playing for the late game.

I am going to focus on Terran's play in this game, I do coach for all three races, but Terran is certainly my weakest of the three.

I have thought for some time though, that Terran is the strongest of the races in the Late Game.

Because of Ravens, Ghosts, Orbitals, & PF's.  In Late Game and End Game situations, as the map get mined out, mana using units become  stronger, since you can trade mana for enemy units.

PF's are nice because they don't count vs food cap, and though not many people do it, making pairs of them close together (touching even), so they can support each other, makes it much harder for enemy to snipe a base.

Not to mention, they have to actually kill both PF's then to stop mining completely, and with mass Ravens, you can afford to leave a couple of auto turrets up as a defensive measure, they last for a long time.

I like the Raven play, but I think Happy's unit comp was less than ideal.

Adding a few Banshees or BC's, or a mix of both, with all those Ravens would have been a lot more effective IMO than trying to rely completely on Ravens.


PDD is really strong vs Zerg, especially when combined with BC or Banshee, since it block Hydras, Mutas, Corrupters, Spores, and Queen's air attack.  With enough PDD's a Zerg would have to use Fungal + Infested Terran to shoot BC's or Banshees.

And HSM's from the Raven's one shot Infestors & Infested Terrans, with splash, and having a couple BC's or a few Banshee's will let you reserve more Raven energy for HSM or PDD as needed, instead of having to spam auto Turrets for defense.

I also really like Ghosts with Nukes for Late Game & End Game, because Cloaked Ghosts with Nukes are a serious threat, and by using a few of those, your going to force your enemy into making more detection and anti Ghost units and structures.

They have no way of knowing how many Ghosts and Nukes your going to make.

PSA: Microsoft Emergency Bulletin: Unauthorized Certificate used in "Flame"

Check your Windows updates.

Sources:

Sunday, June 3, 2012

CSL Grand Finals Day 1: Spanishiwa Innovation

Thanks to Thewaldo for the heads up and link!

Many of you have heard of the Spanishiwa build, he calls it the Icefisher build, well here is another example of Spanishiwa's creativity, he reminds me of TLO at times.

The game, cast by Day9, starts at 1hr 29 minute mark here http://www.twitch.tv/cstarleague/b/320173842

For today's games, Day 2 CSL Grand Finals, the stream is http://www.twitch.tv/cstarleague/


WhiteRa vs Hyuen

WhiteRa vs Hyuen Bo3 cast by Crota (BlizShouter)

Game 2  ||  Game 3



Saturday, June 2, 2012

Catz & Root

Impressive, also hats off to KavikTV for the youtube magic.




Gigabyte Esports (GESL) SC2 & LOL LAN

Updates, for SC2 & LoL added.

(GESL) Gigabyte Esports LAN at CAl Poly Pomona's Campus (30 minutes from Anaheim CA home of Blizzard)

When:   June 15th to June 17th

Casters:Rachel, Gwin, Thundertoss, Doa, Azael, Zoia, Jorosar, Axeltoss

Stream (updated)http://twitch.tv/GESLoL  http://thegesl.com/ 

Brackets http://cyber-sports.net/event/gigabyte-esports-starcraft-2-invitational-group-stage#matches


Full info at http://www.eclypsia.com/en/news-312.html

It now also welcomes the title League of Legends with a first LAN tournament that will take place from June 15th to June 17th on Cal Poly Pomona's campus (South California). One shall notice it is about 30 minutes away from Anaheim where MLG and Blizzard World Championship Series (USA Nationals) shall take place only a week before.


Root having a Bo21 Qualifier: puCK(P) vs Fitzyhere(Z)

http://www.twitch.tv/rootcatz
or
http://www.twitch.tv/RotterdaM08

Winner gets $200 and a spot on Root.

TL link http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=341734